The bigger picture is a monumental tug of war between the huge, unresolved, real world problems our economy is facing and the self-serving "things are good" spin from the financial services industry and, until now, from our government. We are facing huge unresolved economic problems that have been building for 15+ years and that our government cannot solve- problems with jobs, housing, burdensome government regulation and mountains of consumer, corporate, and government debt that must be wrung out, and painfully, in the real world. News like today's should be taken as a reminder and a motivator to put your own financial house in order.