Excellent questions, and I don't have an answer either. I see exhortations to spend "to help the economy" as cargo cult logic. Yes, in a strong economy indicato

Excellent questions, and I don't have an answer either. I see exhortations to spend "to help the economy" as cargo cult logic. Yes, in a strong economy indicators like consumer spending and home ownership will be high. That doesn't mean you can improve a weak economy by getting people to spend more. Although you can apparently get people to go deeply into credit card debt and buy houses they can't afford.