I'm bumping this article because it's an important read for a time when our trade deficit is hitting record levels. I can understand the mechanics of our marketplace. If our workplaces become so brutal that even those who have jobs are made to feel miserable and are forced out to make room for backstabbers, younger workers and relatives....(don't ask me why I wrote that)....then when those newly unemployed people can't even get a menial white collar job because call centers are outsourced to India....the only alternative is for them to make T-shirts for sale at the local craft fairs. Make soap. Write stories. Work four hours a day at the Dollar Store, or work eight hours between two retail stores because no one is hiring full time so they don't have to pay benefits.
When we get to this point, and when we all know people who are at this point, then we stop spending. I myself am spending sparsely. It's a different ballgame now.