"Frugal" assumes that you have money and choose not to use it. It also assumes that the current recession is caused by people's fears, and if they could only t

"Frugal" assumes that you have money and choose not to use it. It also assumes that the current recession is caused by people's fears, and if they could only think rationally things would go back to "normal". That's fundamentally flawed. You can't be frugal when what you are is better described as poor. I know it's difficult for the boomers to understand this, but their "normal" is in fact a grand exaggeration that is not-sustainable. The average American carries far too much debt, live well beyond their means, and has enjoyed historically low interest rates. The reality is that this debt needs to be repaid, if not at this moment, soon enough. All we've done to "correct" this recession is throw money at the worst parts in hope that it all goes away. At best, all that we've done is delay the inevitable accounting that must be done. Prices are too high - across the board - for the average wage. People cannot sustainably live middle class lifestyles on the average wage. Even better, people's idea of what constitutes a middle class lifestyle has been inflated into a unmaintainable ideal. That needs to adjust, and it's going to hurt whether we like it or not. The problem with bailouts and such is that all they do is pass this eventual day of reckoning down to the next generation. (I suppose that fits with the boomer "me" ethos perfectly, after all.) The problem with articles like this is that they live in some sort of fairy land where people are still able to spend more, and just choose not to.