THE SUBHEAD on your front-page story on Thursday, "Big slowdown in spending could bring recession," says it all. Rough economic weather lies ahead, and it's all the consumer's fault.
Americans have been chastised for decades for not saving enough and for our increasing dependence on debt. But now, a family that cuts consumption to pay down debt endangers the economy. Either way, the consumer is to blame.
Of course consumers should live within their means. But they should also take a peek behind the curtain of our consumption-addicted economy.
What if they found profiteering insurance and pharmaceutical corporations, unethical mortgage lenders seeking taxpayer bail-outs, and an astonishing concentration of wealth and power among the elite? They might demand a new set of rules and vote out the officials who wrote the old ones.
Scary business. Better to close the curtain and blame the consumer.
NEIL CLARK
Arlington
