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'Clunkers' Spending Siphons Savings

Like Pavlov's dog, consumers were conditoned to spend, spend, spend. Me included. Eighty-four percent of the nation is still not experiencing a Great Depression as are the jobless 16 percent.

Maybe a high percentage of the still employed are still spending in hopes the Depression will not spread to them. They have been mentally conditioned with the mantra that spending is good. Spending keeps the system working. Spending now may keep them employed tomorrow.

Only when the money runs out do we become mentally conditoned to cut back and save....and then it is too late.

Strange that the government says it is trying to stimulate spending - then turns around and freezes Social Security recipients, who as a group always needs more money to spend. The government cliams it has to cut SS because it needs to save money. See, the government is following your advice and cutting back and "saving"., (Even though the government could bypass the Fed and just print entitlement money without borrowing it and having to be stuck with interest.)

We can all see how muddled the picture really is. If savings is so important the first item to be chopped from the spending plan was bank bailout program, which has merely saved Wall Street but done little to stimulate Main Street, where the jobs are created.

Wall Street will have to save more to close the savings gap. Every dollar Wall Street saves can be leveraged tenfold for lending. So Wall Streets better not buy yachts or bargains in the Hamptons.