"Look, there's nothing wrong with wanting 'stuff'. Unfortunately, the government made it very easy for us to borrow money and get 'stuff' instead of work hard and save our money so that we can buy things that we can actually afford. And that's what we have to get back to in this country, we have to have a real economy. We just can't keep borrowing money from the rest of the world."

— Peter Schiff, prophet.

Incidentally: that's Peter Schiff's deflation, in a specific asset class. Sure seems good for us consumers, don't it. Falling prices for homes nobody can get credit to buy and many people are trapped in - the hallmark of civilization.

— whip_lash, dolt.

Emphasis mine, because it shows that the lessons have not yet been learned. The pain has not yet been deep enough to cause a real change in attitudes, the change we need to get this country moving again. I'm with Kunstler on this one. Stop calling yourself a consumer. Consumers are the problem. You are a citizen. A worker. A producer. A saver. Of course the people who need credit aren't going to buy those houses at cut-rate deals. It's the ones who have savings. Capital. That's why it's called capitalism, not consumerism.

The sooner we reject the notion that prosperity is credit-based consumption, the better off we'll all be. I expect whip_lash will cling to it forever, but everybody else on my friends list is smarter than that.