Daniel Gross was on The Colbert Report tonight talking about his new book Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation.
Daniel’s main point is that people react to a bad economy by saving, but they should do just the opposite. This is the paradox of thrift. Wikipedia says:
The paradox of thrift (or Paradox of Saving) is a paradox of economics propounded by John Maynard Keynes. The paradox states that if everyone saves more money during times of recession, then aggregate demand will fall and will in turn lower total savings in the population because of the decrease in consumption and economic growth.
At this time, especially people who are well off should be spending money instead of saving it.
Amazon: Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation