After 9/11 Bush told Americans to go shopping. And they did

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/08/911.overview/index.html

<snip>In addition to increasing government spending after 9/11, Bush asked Americans to go shopping, and they did -- bringing an economy shattered by the attacks back to full speed within a few years.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/09/12/afx5416431.html

US home foreclosures climb again in August--report

09.12.08, 6:29 AM ET

WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Foreclosures on U.S. properties climbed again in August, but emergency measures to help troubled homeowners may be tempering the housing crisis, foreclosures database firm RealtyTrac said on Friday.

One in every 416 U.S. households got a foreclosure filing in August, affecting 303,879 properties nationwide, for increases of 12 percent from July and 27 percent from August 2007, the firm said in its monthly analysis.

The total number of properties affected and the national foreclosure rate 'were both the highest we've seen in any month since we began issuing our report in January 2005,' said RealtyTrac Inc. Chief Executive James Saccacio.

Nevada ranked again in August as the state with the highest foreclosure rate, followed by California and Arizona. As in months past, other hard-hit states included Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Illinois and Indiana.

http://www.forbes.com/finance/2008/09/12/credit-card-debt-pf-ii-in_jl_0911creditcards_inl.html

Choking On Credit Card Debt

Joshua Lipton 09.12.08, 5:30 PM ET

<snip>The average amount of credit card debt per U.S. household was $9,840 in 2007, up 25% since 2000, reports CardTrak.com, a research company in Naples, Fla. Overall, Americans today carry $2.6 trillion in all kinds of consumer debt, up 24% from just 2003, according to the Federal Reserve. At the same time, Americans don't save like they used to: The nation's savings rate, which was 7.2% of disposable income in 1950, stood at 0.6% in 2007, says the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Increasing debt and decreasing savings--coupled with an economy making headlines for all the wrong reasons--spell trouble for many of those in hock. Delinquencies for credit cards are on the rise. During the first quarter of 2008, according to the American Bankers Association (ABA), bank-card delinquencies jumped 13 basis points to 4.51%. That is now above the five-year average delinquency rate of 4.4%.

[Billy Burnett]

1. Just doing what they're told.

As Dan Rather said right after 9-11 something like 'wherever he (the president) asks me to line up, just tell me where', and 'we need to go after Iran and Iraq'.

you can see that here ...

http://vodpod.com/watch/234008-dan-rather-on-david-letterman-post-911

[babydollhead]

2. that's when we should have poured into the streets!