So should I rush out and buy a big screen television then to save the economy?
Unless that television is 400 billion dollars, I'd suggest you keep your powder dry, tiger. This is a
bigger problem than you. That said it's not a horrible idea, and gets right to the heart of the matter: American's are good at consuming things. In fact, it's probably the one thing you do better than anyone else in the world.* Something like 70% of the American economy is simply you guys buying stuff from each other, or increasingly often, the Chinese. When you stop buying things, the economy slows down, and indeed that's exactly what's happening now.
*Your donuts are excellent as well, I'll add.
Here's the rub though: What if you need that money to eat? You'll feel like a real ass if you go drop eight hundred bones at The Sharper Image only to lose your job in the spring. It will feel like a noose tightening around your neck every morning as you brush your teeth with your talking astrolabe toothbrush. So unless you're really sure your job is safe, it might be wisest to just sock that money away in whatever you traditionally sock things away in (bank account, coffee can, sock.)
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So is there any way out of this?
Not an easy way, no. The traditional way to get out of a recession involves the government spending a shit-ton of money on things, preferably big, expensive, durable things. Something that will take a lot of people to build and be useful in the future. Bridges for example, as opposed to hand-jobs. Not to say that 10 billion hand jobs might not take the edge off for everyone over the next few months, but there wouldn't be much to show for it in the end, aside from a country full of cramped wrists and awkward silences.
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