Now who thinks America is backwards and stuck on stupid? The focus is always on Americans shopping instead of Americans producing. Why doesn't our trade deficit or the shrinking middle class cause such an uproar?

The focus on Americans as simply consumers is part of the problem.

Bloomberg on Retail Sales:

Consumer purchases fell 1.2 percent in September, extending the decline to three straight months, the first time that's happened since comparable records began in 1992, Commerce Department figures showed today. In another sign of weakening demand, prices paid to U.S. producers fell last month on lower fuel costs

Here's a disconnect:

The Labor Department reported that prices paid to U.S. producers fell 0.4 percent in September, while so-called core producer prices that exclude fuel and food increased 0.4 percent

Why would consumers pay more while producers are paid less?

And here is something frightening on auto loans:

GMAC LLC, the lender once owned by General Motors Corp., said this week it will grant financing only to buyers with credit scores of at least 700, who represent about 58 percent of U.S. consumers

That means half the country will not be able to get a car loan.

Considering how absurd FICO scores are, unmonitored, highly questionable factors weighing in that are not proven to correlate to high risk, such as profiling consumers by the type of purchases they make....

That's not a good sign.