Ladies and gentlemen, I have an extremely personal question to ask you. To avoid your own embarrassment, you need not blurt out a reply in a crowded eatery and you do not need to telephone, e-mail or meet with yours truly to offer a response.

For this query, answering in head and not with your voice will suffice.

Have you bought any upper-echelon skivvies lately? That’s right, have you plopped down a hunk of change on some ultimate underwear?

Remember: I said to keep any “I just received a UPS shipment of leopard print undies just yesterday” quiet.

Economists say we are in a recession, while most of you rather would say we in a depression because we certainly are depressed. I say we should follow a recent MSN Money writer’s work that details how all of our underwear can track the “recession.”

The basics of Michael Brush’s published writing is if you open up that underwear drawer to see garments that may have been bought during George W’s first term in office and you aren’t inclined to drive down to the store to replenish your stock, then the recession is, unfortunately, very much with us.

Years ago during a public radio interview, Alan Greenspan, now former Federal Reserve chief, said that since only a select group of individuals see a man’s underwear, that is the first thing males stop buying when the economy goes sour.

We are in the early days of June in 2009. So has the economy gotten better based on the sales of undies? I am happy to say “yep.”

After a 12-month, 12 percent drop through the end of January, men’s underpants sales leveled off in February and March, according to the NPD Group which tracks consumer behavior.

For the females, bra sales were up 4 percent during the first quarter. That is considered a heck of a reversal since women became more frugal this recession than the men.

This is great news. On a personal note, men and women in our community and nationwide now should have a boosted confidence level to upgrade that less-desirable collection of drawers in your drawers. On a more serious note, new Fruit of the Looms with working elastic in the drawer means the economy is getting better.

I am not a financial guru and have never claimed to be one, but I continue to stand behind my logic that if you, your family and your business can survive the pitfalls of 2009, next year has promise.

I firmly believe that 2010 will be more pleasurable.

But to get through the valleys of the upcoming six months, be prepared to endure more pain – physically, emotionally and financially.

Earlier this week General Motors filed for bankruptcy. This is the largest U.S. industrial company ever to enter bankruptcy.

An estimated 21,000 jobs and 2,600 dealers will be no more.

Through a packaged bankruptcy deal, the U.S. government now will have a 60 percent controlling stake in GM, once the world’s largest automaker. An additional 12.5 percent will be under Canadian ownership.

President Obama says he has no interest in running GM, but instead wants to get GM back on its feet and get out quickly. A total of $50 billion has been pledged to GM to make this happen.

Now I know you, the reader, are wise enough to understand this already, but I deem it necessary to state the point.

That “government” in charge of GM is you. You are the taxpayer that will help fund those billions of dollars. You, your Aunt Myrtle, Uncle Clarence, Cousin Johnny, Grandpa Pappie, Granny Me-Maw, and neighbors Rufus and Norton – you all will be paying for GM.

You already have been paying for other massive bailouts.

Days before Obama was sworn in as the 44th president, the creamery at Penn State University whipped up three new flavors of ice cream. Two of the flavors were “Biden Berry” and “Obama White House,” but the other one is very insightful – “BaRocky Road.”

The road to recovery will be a rocky one. The road is filled with countless potholes and gullies that must be repaved with American spirit and support.

I know life is tough now and for every 10 economists’ “can’t miss” plan, there are 20 other bean counters out there with completely opposite theories, but we are a strong community, state and nation. We will bounce back and we definitely will take harder looks at our decision-making patterns in the future.

So take a deep breath, go buy yourself a new pack of underwear and a scoop of ice cream. When you return home, pull out that copy of the book “The Little Engine That Could” and read it to your children.

“I think I can. I think I can.”

Just like that engine, if you think you can then you can make it through these stagnant economic times.

You can and you will make it.

Enoch Autry is the publisher-editor of the Sylvania Telephone.