Reply #19: That's the essential, and painful dillemna that faces this country

[MadHound]

Our economy has gone from being a production/manufacturing based economy to a service/consumption based economy. This type of economy is essentially a weaker economy because it cannot survive or bounce back from economic fluctuations as well as a manufacturing based economy. In fact service/consumption based economies have a historical tendency to sink their country during economic hard times.

The only real way out of this is for the US to re-establish its manufacturing base. I think that Obama sees this, which is why he is pushing for the Made in the US component of his stimulus, and also pushing a green energy and green economy. The US can be at the forefront of a green economy, which would re-establish our manufacturing base.

But you aren't going to coax people to spend in hard times, especially hard times that look like they're going to get harder. In fact consumer spending is one of the last things to come back after an economy has tanked.