IMHO frugality still has a few breaths left. The recession is not over, despite trumpetings to the contrary. It won’t be over until people have jobs again. Unemployment rates are still hovering near 10 percent, and heaven only knows how many people have dropped off the unemployment rolls, are grossly underemployed, or simply have given up looking for work. HP just announced it’s going to eliminate 3,000 jobs; that’s 3,000 opportunities to make a living, gone. Three thousand people are gunna have to learn to pinch pennies.

I suspect consumption is rising because things are wearing out. Most consumer products are engineered to die in three to seven years from the purchase point. You can’t get by very well without a refrigerator or a stove. A bunch of those are crapping out about now, and so people are forced to go out and buy new ones, willy-nilly. The rate also has been artificially pushed up by government stimulus plans that benefited the automobile and housing industries. Not that these are bad things; only that they caused people to buy cars and houses that they would not have purchased if a window to a “bargain” hadn’t opened. When people take on new car and house payments, they have to cut back on other things.
.-= Funny about Money´s last blog ..Memorial Day 2010 =-.

I’m not a big frugalist myself, but I am disappointed that the Personal Savings Rate is dropping so dramatically. Americans seem to have a really short attention span when it comes to the economy. Maybe, we watched too much MTV.

You should create a standalone FIP site! Keep up the good (for me) work…

Although I’m romantically hopeful American consumption and spending habits have changed, realistically the data cannot be ignored. *sigh* Oh well, at least my wife and I (along with a sensible minority) are still saving more and spending less.