Photo: iStockphoto

Way to go, American Consumer. First you screw up the economy by buying all kinds of crap — a flat-screen television and a Swavaroski-studded Razr and a shiny new SUV and ten kinds of fancy jeans and a pair of cute antler sconces that you saw in Domino and granite countertops for your kitchen that will probably enhance the value of your apartment like you saw on Flip This House — and now you're fucking up the recovery by not buying any of those things. Yeah, you. You with your worries about feeding your family and losing your job and your health insurance, you with your sensible plans to pay down your maxed-out credit cards with the steadily rising interest rates and maybe even create a little savings for yourself because you listened when Obama said we all needed to be little bit more financially responsible. But we'll tell you one thing, American Consumer. You are fooling yourself. You not spending your money or money you don't have is not helping America. It's hurting America. That's right. We'd be out of this recession if it wasn't for your ass "hunkering down" and "just buying the basics." You know what you're doing? You're holding us all back. So, yeah. Think about that for a while. And talk to us when you're ready to be an American again.

Reluctant Shoppers Hold Back Recovery [WSJ]