In a column on tomorrow's (Thursday's) Opinion page, David Broder refers to a recent report that American businesses are holding back cash at an unusually high level, apparently as a hedge against further economic downturns.

In the meantime, the Federal Reserve has adopted new rules to protect credit card customers from huge penalty fees for such infractions as late payments.

Given what the country has gone through, to some extent because it was too easy to get financing for big-ticket items like houses, should the Fed maybe be encouraging consumers to do what businesses are doing?  Or, would it make sense to make consumer borrowing harder rather than easier?

Oh, yeah, economic recovery depends on consumers spending -- even if it's beyond their means.

What are your thoughts on that or any other issue?

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