I bet this woman is the most hated woman at her company. Her materialism lead to the loss of the jobs of her coworkers:

A former bookkeeper embezzled $9.9 million, forcing her company to make layoffs as she bought 400 pairs of shoes that she kept in a room-sized closet decorated with a crystal chandelier and a plasma television, authorities claim.

Her spending spree at the expensive of her company is indicative of the times that we’ve been living in. Rampant materialism paid for by others, running up thousands of dollars of debt on each of the credit cards, buying shiny new cars and McMansions and then declaring bankruptcy when payments become overwhelming. We’ve been overindulging ourselves for years and now comes time to face the obvious, we have to stop spending. I think the economy reflects that realization, people are saving more and spending less. Which will further erode the economy but will ultimately mean a more mature population who practice self-control and not give into instant gratification. We will be a much more self-disciplined nation (well, at least the citizens will be, the Congress is too addicted to spending to give it up now).

We’re practicing this as a family now. We’re trying to afford a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer, so when we’re out, we only buy what we are in the stores to buy and we only buy wants needed (I had to buy a few new hats since my hair started falling out from chemo — my husband gave me a buzz cut, I might post pictures later today). I’m not buying the really cool purple jeans or cute vest for my daughter because we’d rather go to the beaches in NC than buy more clothes that will just wind up on her bedroom floor that she forgets about until she cleans her room 🙂 and I’d rather see the sights of NC than buy yet another pair of silver earrings (I put them back even though they were only $12). Even small purchases are verboten.
So, as far as the economy is concerned, we won’t be participating in the recovery until our vacation and then we plan to stimulate the local NC economy 🙂