"The End of the Consumer Based Economy" ~ Annapolis Capital Punishment
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

"The End of the Consumer Based Economy"

The most sobering piece of economic news I have read yet was in today's Baltimore Examiner:

"This is the end of the consumer-based economy," said Peter Schiff, who runs the investment firm Euro Pacific Capital Inc. in Darien, Conn. "Americans have been buying too much stuff, and now the epic shopping spree is over. It is a permanent change." See: bad news

Wow! The epic shopping spree is over!! Maybe our neighbors who own four or five cars and spend, spend, and spend and who think those of us who recycle, compost, buy stuff at yard sales, drive old cars, ride old bikes and walk instead of drive everywhere and actually bake and cook at home instead of eat out every night, fix things instead of buy new ones, read books instead of go out to movies etc., etc. will rethink a thing or two.

I think it's going to get worse. I'm no economist, I don't play one on t.v. and I don't presume to teach my readers about economics, but I will say this--there appears to be a huge downturn in consumer spending underway and I find the resultant decline in profits in consumer and retail businesses and the potentially massive loss of jobs really scary. To make it worse, many retailers make a great chunk of their annual profits in the December holiday season that usually starts in a couple of weeks.

Are we going to be told to go spend and spend and spend??? My so-called "economic stimulus check" (actually more borrowing from China) was spent on a new washing machine (the old was beyond repair) before it even arrived--and you could have heard a pin drop in the Sears Appliance store where I was greeted by half a dozen bored salespersons. By the way, none of their appliances are made in the US apparently.

Should our goal as a nation be to shore up the housing market and the credit markets to lend people the money to make their home payments or should it be to ensure we have jobs, keep our jobs and make new jobs? Like I say, I don't even play an economist on t.v.. I just know that it seems that every time there is a piece of good economic news, there seems to be a downside...and vice verse. I'd say it's time to hunker down for the winter ahead.

See my recent piece on the Depression:
Ohhh.....I Am So Depressed and more economic news from outer space


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1 Comment:

Stephen said...

This is not the end of the consumer-basedeconomy. It will simply be put on hold until this current economic crisis is over. Our consumption-based economy in the United States started during the prosperity of the 1920's and survived the GreatDepression of the 1930's so I have no doubt our thirst for useless and meaningless goods will resume once this mess is over, whether it's in 2010 or 2020.

In response to your comment that our neighbors will have to "fix things instead of buying new ones". Look at the stock trends of AutoZone (AZO), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), and O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY) since October 2008.

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