Cash, cost average, or jump both feet

[NW-Bound]

We will consume less as a country in the long term?
...

Current commodity quotes suggest that is not high on the list of public concerns.

I would also include either the availability of credit or the necessity for increased savings as potential resources that could squeeze out some of the consumption we've come to see as our birth right.

I suspect that American consumption will rebound, but not to the level of past years, due to credit limits. On the other hand, the 3rd world countries will learn to produce for their own use.

Last year, I read anecdotes of Chinese families scrimping to save 50%, and freezing their lifestyles to the level prior to their industrialization. The reason was simply that the economic hardship that they endured under their totalitarian economic regime was still fresh in their mind. Their government had also abrogated the promise of economic security for the old, forcing them to save for their future. I would think the younger Chinese would want some more comforts of life than their seniors.

I have been watching commodities producer stocks to try to ride their rebound.