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It wasn't so bad when the only Americans interested in emulating Mom's austere lifestyle were other octogenarians reared, like her, in the depths of the Depression. (http://www.freep.com/article/20090104/COL04/901040359?imw=Y)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Chevrolet_Trailblazer1.jpgBrian Dickerson – Detroit Free Press - Jan 4, 2009

We spent our way into this recession -- Ed

It's taken some doing, but I've finally tracked down the individual most responsible for our current financial mess.

Sorry, Mom -- but you're taking the fall.

I know that many Free Press readers will find it hard to believe a widow living on her late husband's pension and modest savings could bring the global economy to its knees. And I admit the case against my mother is largely circumstantial.

But consider just a few of the damning facts I've been able to establish:… http://www.freep.com/article/20090104/COL04/901040359?imw=Y

Very funny.
How dare americans live within there means..
or (gasp) buy only what they NEED !!

LOL How true it is!!!!!!!

Yeah, we are supposed to SPEND to save the economy. At the same time we are chided for not SAVING enough. Pretty tough catch-22.

I was just telling my wife 2 nights ago that the trouble is with the sustainability of our current commercial practices. Planned obsolescence, short product cycles, speculation... all of it hinges on overextended paying. To get our economy back on track we need to spend, but we need to make the spending much more sustainable. In my eyes, the catch 22 is that sustainable spending isn't enough to prop up our overinflated economic practices.

This is going to hurt. No two ways about it. I'm just really saddened to see continued promises of "stimulus packages" and bailouts we will still be paying for decades from now. I don't think this wasteful society is salvageable and we need to get back to frugality. In other words, I really believe strongly that we can't buy our way out of this. :ccry:

In other words, I really believe strongly that we can't buy our way out of this. :ccry:

I somewhat agree with this. Only somewhat though...

We can buy our way out of this, but only if we have the money. And NOT with credit! We can't borrow our way out of this.

Combined with this would be a deflation of those overinflated economic practices you spoke of.

That's the whole problem with all of this mess. We borrowed our way into this mess.
Credit became easy, prices went up becuase people could "afford" more with the credit. Credit became too easy to get, people started defaulting, banks stopped lending making credit harder to get, prices started dropping, companies sold less, companies started laying off to preserve the bottom line, people spend even less, credit becomes even harder to get.

It's a difficult spiral we are stuck in, but we can get out of it.

The problem is, it's a spiral that never should have happened in the first place.

The problem is, it's a spiral that never should have happened in the first place.

Exactly.