REV. LAUREN R. STANLEY Whoops! I messed up the economic revival

I have a confession to make: The state of the economy is all my fault.
You can blame me for everything. Stagnant growth. A high unemployment rate. A record trade deficit.
Why is it all my fault? Because I am not a good consumer.
I do not buy many things. And when I do, I tend to pay by cash or check. My theory is, if I don't have the money, I can't spend it. I refuse to carry a whole lot of debt. And what debt I have is at 0 percent interest until I pay it off. (OK, I have a mortgage -- but I refinanced it to lower the rate. And I have a car loan, but it's at a low rate now, and I'll probably refinance that, too.)
I also have a small amount of investments that are geared toward my distant retirement, and a small savings account to boot.
And I give 12 percent of my gross income to the church and to charities of my choice.
How do I know I am at fault for the lousy economy? Because telemarketers let me know every time they call. Oh, they never say to me, in their multitudinous phone calls, "The economy is faltering because of you!" They just sound disappointed and even shocked sometimes when I tell them I am not interested in another credit card or vacation offer.
And sometimes they simply laugh when I tell them, "Nope, never bought that; never intend to."
I'm not trying to ruin the economy; truly, I'm not.
Careful choices
It's just that I don't buy a lot of, well, stuff. And when I do buy something, I tend to think about it first, pray about whether I need it, and then make my decision.
I'm not an impulse shopper, and loads of debt horrify me. Which means that all in all, I'm a marketer's worst nightmare. Which means, obviously, that the state of the economy is all my fault.
I truly am clueless as a consumer. I see ads on television and wonder why in God's name anyone would want to buy some of this stuff. And not just the obvious weird stuff, like hair-removal concoctions and slicer-dicers. I'm talking about cars that cost thousands of dollars too much and aren't going to get anyone a hot date anyway. And giant TVs and fancy electronic devices that do things I'll never need done. Or clothing that costs thousands of dollars. (Have you seen the cost of athletic shoes lately?)
Why, I wonder, would anyone spend money so indiscriminately? Doesn't being a good steward mean anything anymore?
See why the stagnant economy is all my fault?
Tax cut
Two years ago, when most of us received President Bush's first so-called tax cut of $300 per adult, I managed to mess the economy up then as well. Instead of taking that money and putting it back into the economy by buying stuff, I simply used it to pay off debt.
According to a friend of mine who is an economist, this was a no-no. I was supposed to buy something, not reduce debt, because the former stimulates the economy while the latter apparently does nothing for it.
Of course, in wrecking the economy as I have, I've received a whole lot of help from the government, both federal and state. The former keeps spending money irresponsibly -- the war in Iraq alone could end up costing us more than $100 billion, by some estimates, at the same time we are cutting taxes by billions. Meanwhile, the latter cut taxes and then suddenly can't figure out why it can't afford to pay for basic services.
Standing firm
Despite the terrible things I am doing to the economy, I have to admit I'm going to continue everything I'm doing right now. I'm going to continue being as frugal as I can. I'm going to continue saving what little I can. I'm going to continue tithing to the church, and helping the charities and nonprofits as best I can.
I'm not going to spend indiscriminately and I'm not going to throw my money away on silly things or my ego. So I guess the economy is going to have to continue to stagnate.
Sorry.
XThe Rev. Lauren R. Stanley is an Episcopal priest.