WTF is happening to the U.S. economy?

Lil Wayne isn't the only one with money on his mind. The top issue this election is the economy – and how to fix it. While senators McCain and Obama don't agree on the best response, no one disputes the U.S. economy is in deep trouble.

Feeling Yucky.

If our economy was a person, it would have a fever, aches and pains, some weird-looking spots and, depending on who you ask, either a really bad cold or a life-threatening illness. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the basic things we buy in stores are getting more expensive more quickly. That inflation is being caused by higher oil and food costs. But not only are things more expensive, today's consumers have less money to spend.

The number of unemployed people looking for work is now the highest it's been in six years. When there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs, companies don't need to raise wages to attract workers. So everyone – unemployed and employed – ends up with less income.

Less income means less spending and less spending doesn't just hurt the families who are skipping a trip to the mall. Our national economy is powered by consumer spending. This summer the consumer confidence index is the second lowest it's been in 28 years. When consumers stop consuming, companies lose money and there are even less jobs and less shoppers.

When our economy had these symptoms in the past, we just took a pill and felt better in the morning. That pill was credit or borrowed money. Guess what: we've overdosed.

High times.

In 1998, the average household debt was $70,220. Last year it was $121,650 – it nearly doubled in less than 10 years. While much of that debt is in increasingly painful credit cards, most of it is money Americans borrowed against their homes.

When Internet company stocks went bust in 2000, people started to invest in real estate. For the next five years, housing prices nearly doubled in many major cities. This meant that someone could borrow money to buy a house, wait a few months, sell the house and make a profit. It was like magic money and soon everyone wanted a piece of the action.

Wall Street investors backed banks who were lending money. Companies started borrowing money to build more homes. People with no money – and sometimes, no jobs – were borrowing ridiculous money to buy homes. And people who already had one mortgage borrowed more money – just to spend it. All of them thought they could eventually sell their home for more than they borrowed. Until last year.

Where's my money at?

For the last 22 months straight, home prices have dropped in 20 key cities across the country. In some cities, prices have dropped 25 to 30 percent. There are too many homes and too few people with the money to buy them.

An estimated 9 million homeowners now owe more money for their homes than those homes are worth. Banks and investors around the world are owed as much as $1 trillion they may never get back. Some institutions don't even know how much money they're owed.

When lenders began to realize they were losing money, they panicked and stopped making new loans. For a minute, it looked like much of the global economy was close to collapsing until the U.S. and European governments had to put some of their money in the mix.

The mornings after.

As American consumers, companies and banks recover from six years of bad choices — President Bush describes it as "Wall Street got drunk" – the U.S. economy is struggling to crawl forward. (Latinos are among the worst off.) Europe, Asia and Latin America are now catching what we've got. There may be no one left standing to help us up.

If you're over 18, register to vote. If not, help register someone who is. Get invested. It's your future.