Bennett Pope, Chapter 9, question 3

In chapter 9, Wheelan talked about one of the causes of recessions, and the remedy he suggested was interesting, but ultimately impractical. On page 202, Wheelan describes how people spend less when they are under pressure financially. This is common sense because we have less to spend. However, Wheelan says that by saving more money, we actually increase the problem. By not spending money on the things I would have before, bussinesses have to lay people off to maintain costs. This person who was just layed off will, in turn, not spend money on other bussinesses, and the whole economy goes into a downward spiral. Wheelan says that if people would keep spending, then we would be better off, but he also recognizes that this method is incredibly impractical. When people have less to spend, they aren't going to want to spend it. Even if everybody chose to keep their spending up, we could still easily run out of funds quickly. Wheelan himself describes the situation as a paradox. While it may work if everybody pitched in, I do not foresee a situation in which everybody actually would.