The recession is not about the money that we are spending — or not spending — now. The recession was caused by our spending habits in the past, where we as a culture spent money that we didn’t have. The press is filled with stories of greedy companies who offered sloppy credit to people who couldn’t afford it for the sole purpose of fattening corporate coffers. The subprime mortgage market ultimately failed, and things generally collapsed from there. They can all be traced back however to general incompetence on both the corporate side and the consumer side. Perhaps we have learned a lesson — managing money effectively is a skill that many people simply don’t have. Hopefully, you are not one of them.