My take is that consumers got a reality check with the economy in such turmoil of late.
The good thing about consumers is their short memory span. Once they see their open to buy increased and cash flow impoved the lust for aquisition will imporove.
Most noted is the new orders being placed for goods for Spring by the major retailers. This is in many sectors of consumers products.
Enjoy the hiatus, as we look to all be busy going forward.

How long will this last. I doubt very much if this trend will last more than a year or two. I agree with you, that once you have spending in your blood, it will supercede the call of conservative spending. In the future, it may not be as intense as in the past, but it will be there.

I believe the “propensity to spend factor” is repressed right now due to the greater worry of losing your job which of course fuels the saving desire instead. Credit card debt has started to drop as people also focus on reducing their card balances and of course more balances get written off with the rise in bankruptcies.

It’s all linked – when the worry factor goes down the spending will return however the bigger question for me is whether it will ever return to the levels seen over the past couple of years? Eventually it will of course as the population increases and also some people like to forget their troubles and celebrate by spending

I also believe however, as many others have commented, a new era is here where the banking sector has taken such a jolt they are unlikely to fuel spending with such easy loans and tempting credit card offers as previously.

The holiday shopping season will be starting soon and that will be another great indicator as this saga continues to unfold.