Taking this to another direction.. I just came out of a 1 1/2 hour presentation on consumer trends and the economy.
There's a free white paper (haven't looked at it yet but I believe its the same subject matter of the presentation) here:
http://www.darwiniangale.com (edit: just looked and you have to fill in info to get it, be forewarned).
Basically how we've gone from an age of indulgence to an age of consequence where folks are more aware of the consequence of risk. They will still spend but prioritize their spending more and shop on value not just price.
Technically we're no longer in a recession but slow growth recovery (with bumps in the road).
Anyway, not going to bore you will all the details, but I took notes
