I'm not watching the financial news anymore

I've been watching the financial news through out the day for the last few weeks. I watch CNBC TV, and BNN TV when I need to get a five minute break from what I'm doing.

The problem I have is that the commentators seem to say the same things over and over again. (Maybe I'm watching too frequently) They're talking about how bad the economy is. They're talking about subprime. They're continuously talking about all of the problems.

One of the things I try to listen for is, how consumers can help themselves during this time of financial stress... I don't hear the answer to that very much.

The commentators and guests on CNBC are eager to talk about what the companies need. They talk about what the banks and lenders need. They don't really talk about what the consumers need.

The consumers NEED to put some cash reserves in their accounts and get fiscally responsible. They need to get their household debt paid down, and cash reserves up. This is a completely unpopular point of view on international financial broadcasts.

WHY CNBC ETC WON'T TALK ABOUT CONSUMERS NEEDS?
Financial stations won't talk about how consumers need to save money and pay down debt, because that would pretty much kill the conversation. That would stop all of the commentary about what the consumer needs and how companies can innovate.

Companies need consumers to spend money in order for them to grow and for their stock prices to keep rising. Consumers wouldn't be spending money if they were saving money instead.

Consumers saving money would be economic suicide for the economy... in the short term. In the long term, consumers with a healthy savings account and low debt would be the best for the economy.

If all of a sudden all consumers who had no savings and high debt started saving their money, they wouldn't be spending money.. That would take the wind out of the corporate profits in all consumer sectors. The stock market would crash in a very short time period.

THE CONSUMER NEEDS TO WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE CONSUMER
I hate to take the unpopular stance that consumers shouldn't do what's necessarily good for the corporate world... they should do what's best for themselves.

Consumers need to build up their household financial strength. This may be less exciting than spending all of their money, but it's really the best way to go.

Corporations will take care of themselves. If you're worried about corporations going bankrupt because of your lack of spending, then don't.. Corporations will look after themselves. They'll get better at giving the consumer what they need instead of what the corporation feels they need.