Shop!
Spend!
Buy!
Obey!
Remember there are thousands of production workers in China and call centers in India that depend on you spending money you don't have.

W.D. Russell

East Liverpool , Ohio

I am no economist, but shouldn't a strong economy be based on something more than consumer spending?

Norman Ravitch

Savannah, GA

What a beautiful article! When we, in Russia, read about the economic crises in the USA, we think: "What crises, they still have bread to eat". But it's true, if your main occupation is to buy, what to do if you cannot do that anymore. But don't worry, we are taking over your job. Since we've turned capitalist, Russians are learning fast and soon shopping will be our main occupation. Pity that our houses are still so small, not much space to put anything, but also that will change when the Western real estate markets keep crashing.

Vladimir Chelkov

Chelyabinsk, Russia

A good article! The purpose of globalization, open borders, and Free Trade is to drive down wages! However, low wages equals no disposable income to buy products! If no one buys anything, business makes no profits! No well-paying jobs, and no consumer market!

Western business interest have been salivating over the China market, with its millions of people, for centuries. The problem was and is, that most of those people do not have the income to buy anything. China, India and Indonesia will become great markets when wages rise. However these countries require high tariffs to protect local workers, industries and farmers from being dumped on by low-wage countries. China has the industries, but not the wages to support a local economy.

In the "Dictionary of Military Terms" by the Joint Chiefs of Staff , one aspect of the word "dispersion" is "the spreading or separating of troops, material, or activities, which are unusually concentrated in limited areas to reduce vulnerability." This concept has obvious economic uses. Relying on one market to support a worldwide economy is stupid! When that market does not have the income to support that market, it is bound to fail. A failure in that market means a global economic failure.

It is therefore better to have many independent national markets, so that global trade is not dependent on one market and subject to global failure. Similarly, within national markets, concentrating economic power in the hands of a few companies, invites failure when economic elites make bad decisions.

Decentralized national economies also spread the risk around within nations. It is also rather obvious that these national economies must have an industrial base and the wages to support a consumer-based market. No part of society can be left behind, because we are all dependent on one another for survival. All boats must float on a rising tide of development, or they all sink!

Pervis J. Casey

Riverside, CA