Author: Susie Gharib, Anchor

This week, Americans across the country will be watching fireworks as they celebrate Independence Day -- an important day in U.S. history. So it's fitting the nation will mark another milestone this week.

On July first, Ursula Burns takes over as the new chief executive officer of Xerox. A recent Business Week cover noted the news with a bold headline: "Xerox: An Historic Succession."

It's historic for many reasons. Ursula Burns, 50 years old, will be the first African-American woman to lead a major U.S. corporation. It's also historic because she is taking over from another female CEO: Anne Mulcahy. This is the first time that one woman CEO has groomed another and handed her the top job. That hasn't happened before -- at least not at a fortune 500 company. And Mulcahy will continue as chairman of Xerox, so there will be two women in two very powerful jobs at the same company -- that's a first.

Now I have a confession to make.

Ben Bernanke says the US economy will begin growing by the end of this year. Everyone was encouraged to get that forecast from the Fed Chairman yesterday. But now the critical question is when the recovery does come, what will it be like?

When I ask economists they talk about the recovery in terms of "L," "U," "V," and "W."

"L" is the shape of a recovery after the economy has fallen sharply and then it goes through years of stagnation. This is what happened in Japan in the 1990’s. The "Lost Decade" that everyone talks about. Most economists doubt the US will have an "L" because the aggressive moves by the Fed and Treasury have added so much stimulus to the economy.

We could be in for a "U." Dramatic drop, gradual growth, followed by a bounce back.

Warren Buffett calls his Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting "Woodstock for Capitalists." Every year thousands of faithful Berkshire shareholders make the pilgrimage to Omaha for a free-spirited celebration of wealth. But I felt this year the mood was more like Sunday School than Woodstock with the Oracle of Omaha in his pulpit preaching the Buffett catechism to shareholders.

Buffett had reason to be preachy. Shareholders came to the meeting feeling bruised and less rich. Their Berkshire shares tumbled more than 30 percent since they gathered here last May. More than once, Buffett reminded shareholders that "stocks go up and down; there were three times before when Berkshire shares went down more than 50 percent; this country will do wonderfully over time, it always has; the government is doing the right things;" and on and on. Even the usually pessimistic Charlie Munger, who is 85 years old and Buffett's long-time business partner, delivered an upbeat message. "As I move close to the edge of death, I find myself getting more cheerful about the economic future," he told the crowd. (I also blogged about interviewing Munger.)

Mention the name Warren Buffett and everyone knows he's one of the richest men in the world and the successful billionaire investor behind Berkshire Hathaway. But say Charlie Munger and most people look confused. Charlie who?

Charlie Munger has been Warren Buffett's business partner for 50 years. He's also a powerful figure at Berkshire Hathaway where he is Vice Chairman. He's 85; Buffet is 78.

The reason most people don't know much about Munger is because he shies away from the spotlight, unlike Buffett, who craves it. But at Berkshire annual meetings he shines. On the dais, sitting next to Buffett he gives his views on the markets, the economy and life, as he responds to shareholder questions. He acts like Buffett's sidekick and takes a lot of ribbing from the Oracle of Omaha. But he holds his own and is quick-witted, smart and funny. I've always wanted to interview Munger. Today I did.

I was a writer at Fortune magazine when I first heard about Nightly Business Report. It was 1979.

Reporting business news on television was a new concept back then. I remember Dan Cordtz left Fortune in 1974 to become the economics correspondent at ABC News. Around the same time Michael Jensen went to NBC from the New York Times. And Newsweek's Jane Bryant Quinn reported business news for CBS. That was it. There was no CNN. No CNBC. No Fox Business News. So it was a really big deal that Nightly Business Report came on the scene with an all business news program five nights a week.

The timing was perfect. The U.S. was in a recession when NBR got started and there was tremendous interest in understanding what was going on -- very similar to the economic situation we're in today. Not surprisingly, NBR quickly established itself as the show of record in the world of business -- a concise wrap up of the day's business and economic news.

This financial crisis is a real downer--not just because of all the gloomy headlines, but for something deeper. Recently, I realized that we Americans have been going through the "Five Stages of Grief."

I'm referring to the famous Kubler-Ross model that describes the five stages that people go through when dealing with a tragedy.

Denial. That's the first stage. "This can't be happening." That's what we all thought when the credit crunch first hit. We thought this was just another "down" business cycle. "It's not my problem."

Then there was anger. That was a tough one. We realized the crisis is for real. "No! No! How did this happen?" And we looked for someone to blame. We blamed the fat cats on Wall Street. We blamed the politicians in Washington. We blamed Alan Greenspan. We blamed people who took out mortgages they couldn't afford. And we were angry that "we" had to cough up 700-billion dollars in bailout money.

I have a fun job. I get to interview lots of famous people--from the White House to Corporate America. But what a special treat today to interview Magic Johnson. I was talking with the legendary basketball star about his book: 32 Ways to be a Champion in Business (32 because that was the number on his Lakers jersey). We met at a Best Buy store in Manhattan -- Best Buy because Johnson is advising the consumer electronics store on how to be successful selling in urban, underserved communities.

Everywhere I go these days people ask me whom should President-Elect Obama choose as Treasury Secretary. This was a hot topic of conversation at a dinner party I went to over the weekend. My dinner companions were business leaders and investment bankers and everyone was throwing out names. We ruled out most of the rumored candidates on Obama's short list; the consensus was Ivy League professors don't have the necessary skills to pull the U.S. out of this nasty financial crisis.

We finally agreed that the best person for the job needs these characteristics:

The worst of the financial crisis is ahead of us. That’s what Nouriel Roubini told me the other day.

He should know. The NYU economics professor -- who has been nicknamed “Dr. Doom” -- predicted the financial mess we’re in way back in 2006. He gave a speech at the International Monetary Fund warning of an impending crisis: homeowners defaulting on mortgages, an oil price shock, the unraveling of mortgage-backed securities, the collapse of the global financial system, declining consumer confidence and a deep recession. The audience was skeptical. But as we all know now, Roubini was right.

Now everyone asks what does Nouriel think? When I met with Roubini at NYU’s Stern School of Business, he had already had a full day: he just returned from London, he did a 4 a.m. radio interview on Bloomberg, and taught a class. He was scheduled later in the day to participate on a panel discussion about the financial crisis moderated by Charlie Rose. “All I do is media, teach, media, teach,” Roubini sighed, although it was clear that he is enjoying his new-found celebrity status.

Who's to blame? Who got us into this financial mess? That's a question I've been asked a lot lately.

We won't have the answer for years on how the U-S economy got tangled in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We will have to wait for historians to unravel the whole story. But for now, everyone wants to find somebody to blame.

If you listen to the presidential candidates these days, Wall Street is to blame. It's corrupt and greedy. In fact, most people on Main Street are blaming their problems on Wall Street. It's a convenient explanation.

Some people blame former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. He's to blame because he kept interest rates too low, for too long. Every time there was a problem, you could count on Greenspan to cut rates.

Talk to Europeans and they say it's the whole United States that got us into this mess.

But you know what, we're all to blame.

Let's step back for a minute and analyze this.