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04/25/2008: "R. I. P., great shopping spree"

Transfixed by unruly financial markets, we may be missing the year’s biggest economic story: the end of the Great American Shopping Spree. For the past quarter-century, Americans have gone on an unprecedented consumption binge â€" for cars, TVs, longer vacations and almost anything. The consequences have been profound for both the United States and the rest of the world, and the passage to something different may not be an improvement.

To say that the shopping spree is over does not mean that every mall in America will close. It does mean that consumers will no longer serve as a reliable engine of growth. Consumption’s expansion required Americans to save less, borrow more and spend more; that cycle now seems finished. The implication: Without another source of growth (higher investment, exports?), the economy will slow.

[ Such consumption is unsustainable and is coming to an end. ]

http://www.buffalonews.com/248/story/330560.html