“Self-indulgent” US consumers are the “weakest-link” in a global economy that could come off the rails at any moment, according to Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley Fxstreet.com

I must say I see around me over-the-top spending and complete disregard for saving or prudence, in fact anything other than immediate gratification. It certainly brings out my Puritan streak. I know the economic identity, that savings = investment and so we’re not getting any investment except to the extent that we can import savings. (We are importing more than 80% of the world’s savings, through the trade deficit, but we’re turning them right into consumption). Yet it doesn’t seem to matter. The money-printing continues and the spending continues. I was about to say economy rather than spending, but it doesn’t seem fair to call it an economy when it is just a continuous debt pump, not a balance of consumption and production.

When is the piper going to want to be paid?