American Spending

I came across this article, which I found fascinating; this, in particularly, is astonishing:

"The cutbacks by the Muirs and others their age mark a particularly profound shift. In the American buying spree of recent years, the most profligate spenders were those under 35. As recently as 2006, for every $100 these Americans earned, they spent about $117. Those aged 35 to 55 had negative saving rates nearly as large. Only the large number of Americans 55 and older, who have always had high double-digit saving rates, kept the overall saving rate above zero, according to data from Moody's Economy.com and the Federal Reserve."

I know we want to get the economy back to good, but isn't spending $117 for every $100 earned, and then hoping that your house, or your mom, or the lottery, will bail you out, utterly unsustainable? How can people expect increased spending to get us out of this recession? I know this has worked in past recessions, but as with everything, it seems we've come to a day of reckoning with regards to our spending. If American's habits change, as they are, we'll have a prolonged recession. This however, is the painful process that is needed to get us back to a healthy economic place! We need to stop overspending and learn to live within our means. While this may astonish some people, you need wealth to create wealth. The way to gain wealth is to live within your means and then use your discretionary income to generate wealth by making wise investments. This downward adjustment in both personal spending habits and overvalued assets is needed in order for our country to regain a strong economic foundation.

On a more pragmatic level, I hope my wife doesn't get laid off, cause she wouldn't be happy sharing my meager income, and we'd lose the house, and life would really suck.