Okay, I’m paraphrasing in the title, but Unstable Isotope made an interesting comment:
Even people with a job right now are not feeling too secure. That’s why consumer spending has fallen off a cliff – it’s not just the unemployed, but the underemployed and the people who are afraid of job loss.
Americans are walking on a razor’s edge and I believe the days are gone for outrageous consumer spending. The American people are done with that. It is obvious with confidence so low in the economy, Americans are cutting back on their “essentials”: leftovers are being eaten more, cell phone service is being cut back, cable channels dropped, going out to dinner less, not buying a new computer, not buying a new car . . . . you get the point. Having Americans spend to get us out of this economic meltdown is not a valid option.
Austerity has set in and its not going to leave anytime soon. An example of America’s new found austerity would be our driving habits. Throughout the country, we all curtailed on driving when gasoline was well over $4 per gallon. Now that gas has dropped to less than $2 per gallon, take a look at yourself, are you driving any more? Or are you in the same mindset as you were when gas was twice as expensive?
So while the Republicans in Congress and the Senate dilly-dally, confidence is going to keep on slipping. And if the Republicans think that by making the economy sink even lower, they are going to increase their chances in 2010, I believe they are sadly mistaken. Americans know that the economy is not going to be an easy fix, that it is going to take time. If the Republican continue on their same path, after 2010, they will end up with Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Idaho.