HRoth - 10:01 pm on Jan 14, 2010 (gmt 0)

Yeah, all these people unemployed are 10%, and then the people who got fed up with looking and people who are part-time because they can't find full-time add up to another 17%, according to an article I read recently. So that is a huge chunk of people who are not out there spending. This is the elephant in the room. I know people who just simply won't talk about it because it scares them too much.

I don't think manufacturing is the answer, though. I think it is making business a lot smaller and focusing on providing specialized goods and specialized services domestically and locally instead of importing and outsourcing--IOW, getting small. But I think we won't do that until more falls apart and we don't have any other choice.

I have no idea how or whether ecommerce is going to weather the future. I just keep working on developing other income and skills.