Continuous stagnation

Capital goods purchases by businesses continue to improve. That's good. Orders for consumer goods, however, remain flat. That's bad because consumer spending represents about 65% of our GDP. Like the government, consumers are deeply in debt. Many consumers have reached their credit limits, and because they are already having difficulty paying interest and principal on loans, consumer purchases are not growing. Unlike the government, however, which continues to increase its spending, consumers cannot manufacture money with a printing press and use it as legal tender to settle its obligations without going to jail.