Is there a Patriotic Duty to Spend All Your Money? The "Paradox of Thrift"

Back in December, I posed this question:

As an American citizen, is there a patriotic duty to spend hard earned money to help the economy out of its mess?

My answer is NO.

David Leonhardt opines in To Spend or Save? Trick Question:

"It’s your fault. Part of it is, anyway. You, the American consumer, spent too much money. You bought too much house, took on too much debt and generally lived beyond your means. Your free-spending ways helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

And now you’re going to have to do your part to end the crisis. How? By spending. Enough already with the saving that many of you have suddenly begun doing. This very moment, Congress and President Obama are preparing to send you a tax rebate, to inspire you to stimulate the economy. So go out and stimulate. Spend as if the future of your country depended on it...

...It’s enough to make you wonder what exactly you’re supposed to do. At his news conference on Monday night, Mr. Obama was asked directly whether people should spend or save their rebate checks. He ducked the question."

Mr. Leonhadrt goes on about Keynesian Economics, and that Paradox thing - The Paradox of Thrift, and how people should start spending money, but this time doing it wisely. He ends his column this way:

Whenever this recession finally ends, our future selves are going to be facing some very big bills. They can use all the help we can give them.

"Future selves" is code word for our children. If you don't have children, I guess you don't have a dog in this fight. I say its all Hogwash. Some have blamed all this on the Chinese. Why? Because they saved too much money, and then they loaned it to us. puh-lease.

But there is some sanity. David Blankenhorn, the president of Institute for American Values, counters the Paradox of Thrift:

The “paradox of thrift” is an idea that needs to be put out of its misery once and for all. It’s been losing support among economists for many years, and for good reasons.

It’s never an act of patriotism for individuals or families to buy stuff they cannot afford. Whether it’s rainy or sunny outside, saving a portion of one’s income for future use is always a wise idea. There is nothing paradoxical about these concepts.

At the heart of the alleged “paradox of thrift” is the belief that private citizens behaving unwisely (thriftlessly) can at times produce good societal results. That belief is false. The idea that overindebted, chronically undersaving American consumers would somehow be serving their country in its time of need by maxing out yet more of their credit cards is surely an idea whose time has passed.

This is my teaparty: Saving every stimulus dollar I get.