I honestly had to check the URL twice, because I was shocked to see articles from The Onion here.
It's scary to think that our economy was so strongly based on financial irresponsibility.
It's scary to think that our economy was so strongly based on financial irresponsibility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spending_multiplier
...the reason people like Krugman want the government to increase the deficit (the opposite of savings) is to plug the gap. Japan's extra-high savings rate is one reason why it's had 20 years of near-recession.
By saving money, people are (in an indirect way) buying government debt.
If the dollar dies, especially if doing so removes its status as a reserve currency for much of the world's economies, the US economy/nation-state will be in for a long time of restructuring.
The only part of the economy I see any potential real growth is the creative sector. That too is in some serious trouble with the number of science/engineering grads decreasing and the test scores for science and math being as dismal as they are for high schoolers.
That's why I like gold ;-)