When will real economic growth return?

A robust economy cannot be based 71% consumer driven. Consumers are in debt up to their ears. Businesses are contracting and jobs are being destroyed because the debt bubble has burst and the ripples have spread through out the proverbial pond. House prices are falling because a large portion of the population cannot pay the mortgage schemes on their overpriced homes. The economy cannot begin to recover until housing bottoms, which is still at least a year away. Our finance based economy has been riding on the back of the consumer since 2001, when money was cheap and it was patriotic to spend. The main problem everywhere you look is too much debt. Why? People and businesses haven't saved because the thought was that the economy would continue to grow hence more profits, and the ability to take on more debt. This

logic is flawed.

The government has tried to solve this problem of too much debt, by adding even more debt. Rather than letting business slow down and let the free market work its way through this debt destruction period, our "leaders" have tried to reflate the debt bubble. This debt has been paid for, unknowingly, by the taxpayers. We go deeper into debt so that future generations will be so deep in debt, taxes will be through the roof and no one will remember what economic growth meant. Consumers have started to learn this. The savings rate has risen to its highest rate since April 1995. Unfortunately, the government doesn't understand that debt needs to be destroyed, not created.

Weak businesses will stay alive instead of failing. More money will be spent on unproductive projects such as strip malls, condos, hotels and garages. Those "investments" have short-term gain but no long-term producibility. This is going on now with Federal bailout money given to some states. We need to produce more goods and services that can be sold for profit rather than produce clothes, cars, televisions, which have no economic return. This is the only way jobs will be created for the long run

More unproductive government programs will be set up, which suck up more taxpayer money. This creates more bureaucracy. This gives politicians, with their individual agenda's, more power. We cannot continue to bailout companies due to political affiliations. By doing this we are setting up a privatization of profits and socialization of losses policy. This will crush any economy.

Until money is invested in productive assets, then this mirage of a healthy economy will continue to contract. The people are realizing they have to save rather than spend, don't you think our "leaders" should do the same? Real economic growth could be three years away, but we are taking the wrong path. The longer and deeper we go into debt, and do not invest in productive assets, real economic growth is, sadly, not even on the radar.