Where are we going?

I haven't spoken English for awhile. I used to talk a lot with two guys, from US and India, in my client's office but before I know they are gone. One was laid off and the other went back to US office. No good news around us these days.
The guy who went back to the US was very talkative and quite eager about learning Japanese. Our conversation was funny because I spoke in English and he in Japanese. But in the meantime his Japanese got "contaminated" with English words and gradually overwhelmed by them until eventually conquered by them. I always enjoyed this process. He was told to be back to the US office on very short notice. So he did not have time to say good bye, he wrote in his email.
This recession is deep. Nobody can tell he still keeps his job tomorrow. We know sooner or later we will get out of it. But I have a feeling that Japanese economy is the last to recover among advanced countries due to missing strategy of the Hatoyama government. Perhaps we will achieve an even society. But people living in it are evenly poor.