I can see what your saying but cant agrea with it completely because even though I live in one of the poorest counties in Georgia I see the strip malls are busy along with the sit down resturaunts and the downtown section here in Athens is busy as well. I drive by the movie theater up the street daily and most of the time it has a half full or better parking lot and the weekends its around %75 full. We went to the $2 movies today and they were packing them in as well and the main mall had a hustle goin on.

Yes I do agree that people are spending less but I think its more at the boutiques that charge exorbant prices and at the specialty stores such as Earthfare which is a local health food store that has prices for organic foods that would blow your mind. People are also spending less at the dealerships because the banks wont lend and at the home repair places because it would be senseless to do unneeded upgrades and repairs when they could loose their job and eventualy their house.

I think that the banks are mostly responsible for the recession because even after getting stimulus money they're still not lending any money and have went the route of forcing early loan payments and in a local incident forced the closure of an auto dealership which put alot of customers in a bind with newly purchased cars ( way to go Bank of America ). Talking with some of the local dealers when I was considering a new used car I was generaly the only person at the lot and when I went to see about a small loan from my bank they turned me away even though I have decent credit and a stable work history at a solid company. Everything you hear on the news about the banks not lending is true and the same goes for the CC companies such as capitol one which is raising its rates to %29.14 next month which I have opted out of and my account will be closed shortly.

Most Americans are responsible as well because of spending money they dont have to buy things beyond their means such as homes and vehicles and now their paying the price for their gluttony and so are many others who may or may not have followed them down the same path.

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