Shame on you, for not spending money on things you don't need.

I am intrigued and a little irritated by news reports about companies going out of business, not because the company was overextended or because they have not been able to get loans or are suffering from many of the other ills we have been inundated with recently, but because people have "stopped buying things they don't need." The report itself is not what bothers me, we have many non-essential industries that are being hit hard by the current recesion. What bothers me is the accusatory tone of some of the reports towards people who have cut back their spending on non-essential items.
What does it say about how we have been running our economy when the fact that people don't buy things they do not need is looked on as being a BAD thing? And, people who do not buy things they do not need are looked on as unpatriotic. This perspective is an example of how skewed our perspective has become regarding how our economy should function, and how ferverently some choose to ignore the fact that we have created an economy that revolves around rampant consumerism that is not sustainable.
I cannot help but wonder how different our situation would be now if, after 9/11, Bush would have led a nation wide reflection instead of encouraging spending as a form of showing our patriotism. Of course do we really want to reflect on what he wants to reflect on?