Quote Originally Posted by 300miles View Post
You hit the nail on the head! Our economy is not supported by people saving their money! Over the decades it has been propped up from everyone spending as much as they can... and then even more by going into debt. Debt had been made very easy to obtain via credit cards, low interest rates, and mortgages that don't even require down payments. THIS is how our economy boomed. It's coming to a screeching halt people people are (rightfully) afraid to spend now.

The "right" thing to do is to live within our means, but unfortunately, that policy will not improve our economy for years, until the whole system is realigned to reality. It will be a painful switch. The more likely scenario is the govt will attempt to prop up the debt/credit house of cards again and hope we all forget anything happened.
If you remember during the 40's 50 and 60's the US had one massive advantage to most other countries. We had a trading SURPLUS!! However now we have nearly an 800 BILLION dollar a year deficit, THIS has been a major cause for the slowing of the economy the last 40 years!

This country can survive by "living within it's means" as long as we have a trade SURPLUS, how do you think Iran or SA are growing so fast? It's not because they spend more than they make and go inot debt. It's because they have a mutli BILLION dollar trade surplus, meaning they bring in Billions a year so they can afford to save!