NYT:We Pledge Allegiance to the Mall(spending splurge=world econ stress)

[DeepModem Mom]

We Pledge Allegiance to the Mall
By LOUIS UCHITELLE
Published: December 6, 2004


The United States is now engaged in its greatest age of consumer spending - longer and more intense than the splurge after World War II, when Americans rushed to acquire all the merchandise denied to them during the Depression and the war.

That postwar surge in consumption, a pent-up response to years of unemployment, then rationing, subsided in the early 1950's. Not until the late-1980's did the nation - encouraged by market bubbles - once again devote three-quarters of its national income to consumer spending.

But this time, the pent-up demand has intensified rather than dissipated, and the global economy trembles from the stress.

The sequence is intricate. As consumption has risen in America, absorbing 80 percent of national income now, the production of goods and services has migrated overseas. That is the polar opposite of the post-World War II experience. Then, Americans consumed what they also produced; income from production paid for consumption.

Today, in contrast, 21 percent of what consumers purchase comes from abroad, and the figure has risen by a percentage point every two years since 1990, according to Commerce Department data. The figures do not include gasoline or fuel oil. The imports are purchased on credit - consumer credit - and therein lies the stress....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/06/business/businessspecial2/06global.html

[xchrom]

1. the hand writing on the wall

consumer debt along with a borrow and spend admin = disaster.
there is no rational conversation about this from economic talking heads like greenspan -- because they are ''true-believers''.
the free market system is a myth with most of the creative, verbal, and media support coming from those who benefit the most.
increasingly it becomes obvious that the debt american consumers take on in reality widens the haves and have not gap -- and stifles progress in all kinds of arenas.

[Zorra]

2. Cledit? They mistake - Made in China. Solly, Cholly, we no pay bill.

Start Monday.

You give cledit, you go suck egg, we no pay.:evilgrin:

[The Zanti Regent]

3. Oh, those Rapture beleivers are gonna get a rude awakening!

when they find out that Jesus won't pay the bills...

[izzie]

4. So many people love to buy I see this not stopping.

That great group that lived the depression and were in WW2 are also in the op-bits every night. I some times think they did not do this, so we all could.

[amber dog democrat]

5. I wonder when it will happen?

The crash, i.e..
Years ago we stopped carrying balances on credit cards. Have no car payments and are being paranoid about money. I can't help but feel if things go down - we will still be caught up and effected by it.
interesing times.

[wicket]

6. And the personal debat of Americans gets deeper and deeper

:scared: