The economy depends greatly on consumers’ spending habits.

Associate economics professor Neelam Jainsaid people are not buying as much, which has had negative effects on the economy.

“When consumers cut back, it affects companies by cutting jobs,” she said. “And this makes things worse with more people being unemployed, creating less spending.”

Freshman English major Zack Fowler said a lack of money has “caused me to watch my spending.”

Fowler said he only buys things he considers worth spending money on.

“I’ve cut back on luxury items and only spend on things I consider necessary such as food and clothes,” he said.

Like Fowler, Grant Carter, senior history major, has been making spending cuts as well.

“I’ve had student loan problems causing me to save my money,” Carter said. “Once I graduate, I plan on using the money I saved up toward the debt.”

Carter said he doesn’t go to stores as much as he used to as a way of saving money.

“I used to go grocery shopping twice a month, but now I only go once a month,” he said. “And I also was spending $40 a month on DVDs, but I haven’t even bought one in quite a while.”

Jain said a decrease in consumer spending is attributed to several factors.

“Fewer jobs, smaller income and the housing market have led to people spending less,” she said.

Jain said confidence is needed to get consumers to spend more.

“Confidence needs to be built up, and that can only be done by people seeing improvements made in the economy,” she said.

The government needs to look at various areas in order to get people to buy more.

“They have to focus on other elements besides making tax cuts because that alone won’t get the job done,” Jain said.

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