In an economy that's 70% based on consumerism

[SoCalDem]

There's one big issue being missed..

consumers must be able to consume
that takes money
that means jobs
jobs that pay enough for extra spending money

The fatcats at the top (in government and commerce) seem to have forgotten the basic tenet of business..

If your customers cannot afford to buy your stuff, you will go broke..

There has to be a balance..

Rich-people-spending cannot restore our economy..The majority of the people are pretty broke these days, and WILL cut back.. They have already..

Look at any car lot...lots of "deals" to be had...lots of cars & trucks..

Any mall, and major department store (are there any left??)There are lots of "close" parking spots..

People HAVE to buy:

shelter
food
medicine
gasoline (gotta get to that job)

they do NOT have to buy:

electronic gadgets
NEW cars
jewelry
fancy duds
$200 sneakers
Toxic Chinese toys
dinners out at fancy restaurants
movie tickets
vacations


Trickle UP, works... Trickle DOWN..never worked..never will

[louis-t]

1. Combine lines 2-5 with this:

Big corporations will NOT "expand their business, create jobs and grow the economy" with their huge tax breaks unless they are SELLING THEIR PRODUCT.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. I completely agree. Yet wages and salaries were left out of the equasion

almost by design.

Do you have to be a rocket scientist to know that pegging minimum wage to the inflation index, just as is done for Soical Security would have been a good idea? Wages and income would have gradually floated upward along with everything else.

One other complaint I have for business in general. If you are in business, you KNOW that most likely, the cost of goods is going to go up, gas, utilities, raw product, etc. Why would you NOT plan for the cost of wages and salaies to go up as well?

SOMEBODY's incomes went up, way, way, way, way, UP, but it was not the American worker bee.

[raccoon]

3. That's what I've been thinking for the past 20 years! Rec'd. nt

[anarch]

4. I have a good-paying job

not great, but good...solidly "middle class", if the cost of living wasn't what it is--and if we were a two-income household, which we used to be, but which has been blown out of the water by the declining economy over the past several years. But, I mean, I'm in what I would consider a relatively fortunate position as far as income...and I can't even afford to pay all the bills and feed us every month.

I'm constantly behind. The credit card is maxed out, largely from food and medical expenses, and we basically eat nothing but rice and beans for at least half of each month. It's been like this for a while. I have bought no new clothes for several years...not even socks, even though most of mine have holes in them and are fairly threadbare. I don't even have a car...we used to, but it broke down and we can't afford to get it repaired. I live in the city, so I commute on public transportation, but the cost of everything (especially rent) has increased each year in excess of the increases I get in my pay, so anything I save that way has been eaten up by other expenses. My s.o. hasn't been able to get a job despite sending out something like four resumes a day for some time. I contribute NOTHING to the "consumer economy", except the occasional alcoholic beverage right after I get paid. If I represent the middle of the road here, our economy is in way worse trouble even than is evident from the financial market crisis.

I feel like this massive bailout is akin to the last ditch, frantic efforts to save a dying man in the hospital. Or maybe the whole thing's pretty much been on a respirator for awhile now...but at this point even that isn't working, since various vital organs are failing all at once....

[izzybeans]

5. My org's president makes my years salary in a month's time.

...a month's time...yep...my year's salary...in a month's time.

Her yearly bonus is equal to four years on my salary...four years on my salary...yep...her year's bonus...four years.

[Holly_Hobby]

6. Everyone I've talked to in the past few days says they are

going to stop spending on non-essentials. The economy is going to tank if a lot of people do that, no matter if the bailout is done. They need us. Why don't they see that?

[Hydra]

7. They do

There's no way that they don't know this already, so the question is: What are they really doing here?

[SoCalDem]

8. Grabbing all they can..on their way out

:(