The changing economic landscape, domestically and globally, is creating opportunities for American citizens in particular to reexamine how we govern our individual and family lives, our values and priorities regarding personal consumption, spending, investing, and responsibility, and how and whether we possess the will to hold corporate and governmental institutions accountable and responsible for their fiscal and social decision-making and practices. The real power lies with the individual, their families, and larger communities when it comes to deciding whether or how financial resources are spent and allocated, which companies benefit profit-wise, and how taxpayer dollars are being prioritized. In the marketplace, our power is evident as we choose which companies to purchase from and invest with. In politics, we elect and remove legislators who don’t fulfill their promises to us. Citizen groups reject the expansion efforts of certain retailers into their communities if they deem them to be disruptive or unappealing. Now more than ever, the public at large must refocus and shift away from the undisciplined and irrational habits of recent years. We need to enforce our economic, social, and political capacity to be more responsible and informed consumers, investors, citizens, entrepreneurs, and voters.

While our tendency has been to want to blame someone for our pain, we really need to look in the mirror and examine our roles in creating the economic mess around us. It was individual zeal and greed that fueled the economic frenzy which has left so many consumers feeling duped and angry. We want to throw hot coals at those corporate and financial giants that reaped the financial rewards as a result of the public’s excessive consumption. The fact that so many of these firms are still standing while workers, families, and communities are still reeling from job losses, abandoned and foreclosed homes, and shrinking budgets breeds contempt in the same marketplace whose growth and exuberance was created by intense consumerism and patronage. People fail to realize that you can’t have it both ways -- you either consume more wisely or you suffer the consequences of unbridled spending and investment practices. Contrary to popular belief, the free market is not set up to benefit solely firms and entrepreneurs with large amounts of capital to expand and invest at their leisure. An important cog in the wheel of capitalism is the decisions and choices of the individual and corporate customer that spur economic activity at the lowest levels. The American consumer must exert its economic power in the marketplace and rethink its economic priorities, which will serve as a reminder and clarion call to the companies and financial institutions that rely on our deposits, investments, and purchases to maintain their own profitability and competitiveness.

As families, businesses, institutions, and governments scale back and redefine how they invest, hire, lend, fund, and spend resources, an era of austerity and frugality is being ushered into the American psyche that is long overdue. The irony is that the same companies and banks that produced goods and services, and engaged in marketing and advertising practices which motivated excessive consumer spending are now in a position to help people dial back their spending and consumption habits in ways that should produce moderation and sensibility. The current economic, social, and political challenges in this country should help us all refocus on what we value personally, spiritually, corporately, and as a nation. The shifting global landscape is causing individual firms, global conglomerates, and sovereign nations to adjust to the decisions being made by foreign investors as well as global competitors. The kinds and extent of government intervention that marked the 20^th century are truly a thing of the past, and the sooner people realize it, the better off they’ll be. The chickens may have finally come home to roost as it relates to government spending and the fraud, waste, and abuse that has accompanied too many of our federal government programs. America’s bad habits and fiscal irresponsibility render that kind of government intervention impossible in today’s climate. The politicians who are still trying to force new heights in government economic stimulus are doing so at the expense of our nation’s fiscal soundness and fiscal credibility around the globe. For those who refuse to see these attempts for what they really are or who want to believe otherwise, should only hope they aren’t still living when the ball drops on the American taxpayers. The power to change our bad habits is at hand; our task is to choose to embrace the opportunities to shift our thinking and practices to match our personal and national values and priorities.