People are buying fewer gizmos and gadgets - i.e., living within their...
Its a good thing for them personally but if you consider the economy as a whole, it is not a good thing. People spending puts money in circulation and the selling of these gizmos and gadgets creates more jobs to develop and sell these gadgets. Of course, too bad that most of these jobs are in China 
npm has a much better grasp of this.
People should get out of the JFK style thinking that you, as a citizen, have any responsibility towards your country beyond what you already do: "the economy" is just another name for the country, by and large, and your government will happily see you in hoc for it's own ends. Unpatriotic? Bugger that, the US has systematically stolen from it's own people since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 so the people have done plenty. Often without knowing it! Besides, any country that wants it's citizens to spend more than they can afford, and has also spent more than it could ever afford is not the entity you want to listen to, despite their co-opting of the language of patriotism to serve a relative few who benefit.
You are correct: By living within ones means is a good thing, and having a savings plan (and keeping to it) is even better for you, and actually for the country. Do what I have done: get out of all debt: mortgages, loans, lines of credit, accounts owing, CREDIT CARDS, all of it. Serve your country be being debt free.
I was broke six years ago, scared and living in a caravan. I realised that the knowledge I had was telling me how to fix my situation. I found some people to help me and paid off everything I owed and later developed additional sources of income. I made my first million, free and unencumbered by debts, five years later and in the past year have been able to help a lot of other people by giving to charity and so on, and even a few more who have done as I have.
There is more to my situation than what I have relayed above, including a lot of personal stuff, but we all have that.
Note also, that I an not American, and I see your government covertly and openly support a consumerist culture: to it's own detriment.
If you are living within your means, keep doing it, and pay off all debts you own.
Here are some resources. The DVD is a very good bit of info, using mainly American examples, that shows the state of your nation. My email is open if your want more info on what I did to get debt free. It was not painless though, and did involve sacrifice, but then again, I no longer live in a caravan so it worked.
People should get out of the JFK style thinking that you, as a citizen, have any responsibility towards your country beyond what you already do: "the economy" is just another name for the country, by and large, and your government will happily see you in hoc for it's own ends. Unpatriotic? Bugger that, the US has systematically stolen from it's own people since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 so the people have done plenty. Often without knowing it! Besides, any country that wants it's citizens to spend more than they can afford, and has also spent more than it could ever afford is not the entity you want to listen to, despite their co-opting of the language of patriotism to serve a relative few who benefit.
You are correct: By living within ones means is a good thing, and having a savings plan (and keeping to it) is even better for you, and actually for the country. Do what I have done: get out of all debt: mortgages, loans, lines of credit, accounts owing, CREDIT CARDS, all of it. Serve your country be being debt free.
I was broke six years ago, scared and living in a caravan. I realised that the knowledge I had was telling me how to fix my situation. I found some people to help me and paid off everything I owed and later developed additional sources of income. I made my first million, free and unencumbered by debts, five years later and in the past year have been able to help a lot of other people by giving to charity and so on, and even a few more who have done as I have.
There is more to my situation than what I have relayed above, including a lot of personal stuff, but we all have that.
Note also, that I an not American, and I see your government covertly and openly support a consumerist culture: to it's own detriment.
If you are living within your means, keep doing it, and pay off all debts you own.
Here are some resources. The DVD is a very good bit of info, using mainly American examples, that shows the state of your nation. My email is open if your want more info on what I did to get debt free. It was not painless though, and did involve sacrifice, but then again, I no longer live in a caravan so it worked.
It's good for some things such as savings and conservation, but bad in other cases. For example, if there is a new gadget or gizmo that helps cure cancer or makes more efficient solar cells that won't get developed because the companies that would have funded it didn't have enough money from their other gizmos and gadgets, you can see how that's a bad thing. The best thing for people to do is not buy crap, but to spend money on really good and innovative gadgets, even if it's a little expensive. That directs the money in the best way.
First, forget anyone who says, "It's good for the economy." We don't care about "the economy" in the abstract, we care about PEOPLE.
Working together, people can produce a lot of stuff - cars, TVs, houses, good food, etc. Then other people can use that stuff. Great!
But what if we buy too much stuff? How can that be a problem? If the stuff is there, we should enjoy it, right? In general, yes, but the problem arises when, as a nation, we don't save enough. If everyone's busy making stuff for consumption today, they're not spending enough time doing things like building factories to make stuff tomorrow, or teaching kids so they can be productive tomorrow. This leads to undersaving and underinvestment. That's why economists worry about people spending too much.
But when you're in a recession, the problem is reversed. People spend so little that resources go underused. Instead of shifting from consumption for today to investment for tomorrow, we've overshot the target. Now there are a lot of resources - such as factories and workers - going idle. Unemployed people aren't producing anything for today, and they're not building factories for tomorrow. In fact, there are a lot of factories that are already built that no one is using.
This is why the government is trying to stimulate the economy, so those idle resources can be put to good use.
This is obviously a big oversimplification, but I hope it helps.
Working together, people can produce a lot of stuff - cars, TVs, houses, good food, etc. Then other people can use that stuff. Great!
But what if we buy too much stuff? How can that be a problem? If the stuff is there, we should enjoy it, right? In general, yes, but the problem arises when, as a nation, we don't save enough. If everyone's busy making stuff for consumption today, they're not spending enough time doing things like building factories to make stuff tomorrow, or teaching kids so they can be productive tomorrow. This leads to undersaving and underinvestment. That's why economists worry about people spending too much.
But when you're in a recession, the problem is reversed. People spend so little that resources go underused. Instead of shifting from consumption for today to investment for tomorrow, we've overshot the target. Now there are a lot of resources - such as factories and workers - going idle. Unemployed people aren't producing anything for today, and they're not building factories for tomorrow. In fact, there are a lot of factories that are already built that no one is using.
This is why the government is trying to stimulate the economy, so those idle resources can be put to good use.
This is obviously a big oversimplification, but I hope it helps.