http://community.newretirement.com/blogs/newretirement_news/archive/2004/12/03/15.aspxA recent, New York Times Article claims that consumer spending is getting out of control. As debts mount within the average American household, the consumer saving rate has plummeted to less than two tenths of one percent as of October. The articleen-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60120.2339)http://community.newretirement.com/blogs/newretirement_news/archive/2004/12/03/15.aspx#49Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:17:34 GMT0cbdbb94-8e3d-452e-b3c3-d52c29f9cca1:49Jae BurnhamI don’t think the consumer spending is out of control because as Americans are spending more on goods that we may not need. In recent research it has been reported that factually Americans are spending with credit cards for more banal items like groceries, gas for the cars, phone bills, etc. And the major reason for this type of spending is because of illness or downsizing causing the use of credit cards to subsidize out incomes. It has been surveyed the 50% of bankruptcies were due to major expenses due to illnesses. What we have in this country is that prices are going up and incomes are going down. It is known in the financial circles that we as Americans are making less than our fathers and grandfathers did after WWII. Our incomes have been able to keep up with inflation. After WWII only one parent had to work to comfortably support a family, now it takes two, and even then they may have to take another job. Consumer debt has surpassed the National debt. This does not bode well for the global economy. America is the largest consumer in the world. It is our dollars that supports the world. America has a debt bubble, and when this sucker blows the entire world will feel it. Americans are financially savvy people and are not going out there in the malls and just spending, spending, spending …whee. We are now only starting to see the cracks in the wall when it comes to consumer debt. The Fed has seen the light and has ordered that all the banks increase what they are charging for minimum payments. The minimums on credit cards will double starting on January 1st. They are starting to put higher restrictions on lending practices. They are increasing the interest rates to curb inflation. We have to wake up and eliminate our debts NOW! There is many places on the web where one can get the information to get out of debt. One place is www.sponduliqs.blogspot.com. Or just google “get out of debt” and see thousands of entries. Maybe, I helped in some way with this comment.<br/>