Doing Our Part For the Economy

I loved Chuck Todd's question to President Obama in the February 9 press conference:
"...if your plan works the way you want it to work, it's going to increase consumer spending. But isn't consumer spending or overspending how we got into this mess? And if people get money back into their pockets, do you not want them saving it or paying down debt first before they start spending money into the economy?"

Thank you, Chuck! I've been trying to figure this one out, too.

I don't carry any credit card debt anymore, but it was a pretty herculean task to get rid of it, and I know most Americans carry thousands of dollars of debt on multiple cards. We've also been hearing that personal savings have just picked up after being nearly nonexistent for years. So why would we go spend more money instead of paying down our debt? Don't we need some breathing room to weather a layoff or an illness?

David Leonhardt at the New York Times finally answers these questions in a way that makes sense to me: investment spending. And now that I think of it, I AM doing my part -- I'm buying a house. So if I get a $15,000 tax credit, I'll put some toward debt, some toward savings, and some toward buying an energy-efficient fridge.

But I'm still going to cross my fingers I don't get laid off.