I'm reassured that many Salon readers understand the crux of the real issue here--that throwing shopping dollars at our problems will not fix what ails our economy.

"For American consumers to buy $400 billion worth of goods now would require maxing out a ton of credit cards, and digging themselves even deeper into debt"

Exactly, and yet we've heard a slew of industry pundits trumpet over again how our "duty" is to get out and shop. Who really benefits here when all this junk is shipped from overseas and tacked on to Americans already enormous credit debt?

So keep buying that stupid junk, because the banks need your business. The "economy" they care most about is their own. It's about time for Americans to care for themselves by getting out from under credit and not blowing money on this stupid garbage.

Does anyone remember what a real economy is about? Hint: it's not about "lifestyle upgrades".

I figure in that small percentage of people who own their home, have no credit card debt (for the simple reason that I use a debit card).

For the last item which apparently "guarantees" financial security : the well paid job, just how many of us can honestly lay claim to this one as an absolute certainty (not me, I stopped working last year) ?

If there is one thing that I learned from reading a great economist, it's that there is no such thing as financial security.

There is no such thing as autonomy, or financial independence, either.

For the simple reason that anything, just anything could happen tomorrow to radically change my situation, and yours, my fellow human beings.

These days I feel like getting "things".

Things I will be able to pass on to my children ; things that have value, and are beautiful (subjective, and emotional, but yes, we are all hopefully emotional ; we have managed to convince ourselves that being desensitized is the same thing as being rational...)

And I also feel like giving my money away. To people who are doing things that I believe in.

(NOT CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS BUT PEOPLE)

But... spare me.

I don't feel like BUYING/SELLING.

Protestant insistance on turning every human exchange into an occasion to BUY/SELL has succeeded in two things : permanently driving me out of the U.S. in search of a place to live that has not been overwhelmed by mercantilism and

Convincing me that MONEY is definitely the root of ALL EVIL.

...bridges to nowhere.

If government is capable of acting like a wise consumer of infrastructure or anything else, it's been very successful at hiding the fact in the past. Don't be surprised when government spends the money on the public equivalent of flat-panel HDTVs. 435 representatives, 100 senators, and powerful private interests, most certainly including business executives and union leaders, will be in the mob charging into the big store to consume, consume, consume.

It will be interesting to see whether Obama reprises the role originated by Jdimytai Damour in his off-off-Broadway debut.

I don't go shopping. Not in the normal sense at least. If I'm

looking for a particular item, my first stop is a pawn shop. If

it's clothing, I go to Goodwill or a church-run thrift store.

I bought a 20" flat screen Sylvania TV. I traded in a 13" older

TV. Cash outlay $60.00. I even buy my groceries at a locally

owned grocery store. (Minnesota)

While I certainly think that our bridges and roads need much attention, who exactly will be wanting to take these jobs? Who normally takes these jobs? So the 45 year old teacher out of work - do you want him or her to work on bridge work? First you must focus on who exactly is out of work and then try to determine how to infuse money into that field to get people back to work.

I am a restaurant owner. Over time, every town gets a sheer abundance of restaurants that simply cannot survive long-term. The failure rate with restaurant is 80 percent. So clearly this was NOT money well spent. Actually the hand writing was on the wall in the very beginning with many of these eateries. The only way restaurants stay alive is for customer to have jobs to afford to eat out. So no matter how good my food is I will not have any business if the economy continues to slide.

The money should be spent accelerating business sectors that will create jobs and thus keep the service industry alive.

I am not in favor of this depression era lift to rebuild infrastructure. In my neck of the woods, climate will minimize any work that could be done. We also had a ton of road/bridge work done this summer. So every state will have different needs I suspect. We have a large technology company that is laying off hundreds of workers this week. How about asking this company what it will take to zip start there production again with new projects that they probably have little money for now.

Lastly, as prices fall, I absolutely guarantee that some are watching those prices closely and will eventually snatch up the bargains and thus begins the cycle. Nobody wants to get left at the train station when the train is pulling out to recovery.

How about this? Give everyone who owns a car four years old or older a credit. Let them go to websites that feature American Car Companies or Car Companies that have factories in the U.S. like Toyota.

Let each person get the car of their choice with the features of their choice (like you can order now from some car manufacturer sites).

The people who sign up will be considered to be making a bid for that car with the amount of credit they have. I haven't decided if people can put in their own money to get extra features.

This way the money will go to car manufacturers who employ U.S. workers. The website could have on it the percentage of the car that is actually made in the U.S., where the parts are made, where the car was assembled, what the CEO's salary is, and so on.

This way we could vote with the money for who we want to make our cars. The car manufacturers who can supply the types of cars we want made by the people we want will benefit; the others will retool or revamp or disappear.

This will give the economy a boost here, help clean the air, get people into more fuel-efficient vehicles, and let the "consumers" have the choices of what cars and car companies they like.

Forget buying a TV screen made in another country in a store based in a different state--your money is leaving your community when you shop like this. Begin buying more locally and encouraging your elected officials to support small businesses and locally owned stores, factories, and restaurants.