It was nice to hear that American consumers are not quite as prone to frivolity as is commonly believed. At the same time however, this gives me a sinking feeling -- the consequence is that individuals will find it far harder to cut budgets on housing, transportation, and healthcare than on impulse purchases like big televisions. We are, in fact, in worse trouble than we thought. If you have seen suburbia recently, it shouldn't be too surprising to find out that the 'necessities' have become more expensive; the past few decades have seen bigger cars, homes, and commutes than ever before. In order to downscale costs, there is going to have to be some serious downsizing, and this is something that does not come easy for those in the land of the supersizes (especially with regard to living in higher density/urban areas and sourcing locally).
For me, the big take-away from this article is debt-financing. For many years, the U.S. government and its average citizens has been spending beyond their means - acquiring now and hoping to meet the mounting payments in the future. This has certainly demonstrated itself to be a losing strategy, and a habit that is especially difficult to kick. I am interested to see how this country will rise to meet these challenges.