By Gene Ayres

What a surprise. It turns out the most important election in any of our lifetimes (does that sound hyperbolic?) is going to come down to a consumer issue.

Yes, it's all up to us consumers. And here's why: this entire global house of cards that has just collapsed, was based on luring, misleading, hyping, and ultimately betraying us consumers into spending beyond our means, which these days, is approximately zilch.

We were told that housing prices can only go up forever and ever (strangely, unlike, say, wages and incomes). Hence all those great adjustable rates for those nifty 1200 sq ft $500K bungalows.

We were told that the coolest people drive Hummers, Explorers, and fat pickups, the bigger the better because hey, you gotta be able to haul tons of stuff like boats and seadoos and drive the back roads to test out your new ORV. Hence those handy car loans at only 11%. Who cares about gas consumption? Drill, baby, drill. (Historical note: Howard Hughes' father patented the drill bit used for drilling oil, thus the Hughes Tool Company monopoly, forbearer to Halliburton Inc.) Guess what? Detroit is still trying to unload all those gas-guzzlers and telling us how sexy they still are (did you see those World Series ads?). But hey, no problem. Gas prices are coming down again, right?

Just like, say, house prices? And maybe car prices, too, while they're at it. And if some politicians have their way, also the minimum wage.

If you ever take only one piece of advice from me it is this: don't buy any of it. Literally. Not now.

Just down the street from me a developer is putting the final coat of (no doubt cheap) paint on a brand new townhouse complex. “Starting at $389,000.” Is he serious? This was all financed by us to begin with, just like those sports stadiums, because that builder used borrowed money and it's all coming out of that bailout.

What the still-clinging-to-their-powers-that-were are still trying to sell us is to keep on doing, yet again, what got us into this mess in the first place. Which is to buy, buy, buy. The bigger the better, the more the better like there's no tomorrow because up until now nobody gave a rat's butt about tomorrow (because there is a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow to pay for it all and besides you definitely have that winning lottery ticket because the number is your favorite lucky number and so, because you are going to be rich in three days, you are definitely voting for whoever is going to cut taxes the most because you, like “Joe the Plumber”, don't want to pay any).

What happened to the debate about affordable housing and health care? And safe, edible food, while we're at it? Let alone clean economical fuel? And decent schools, and bridges that won't fall down? And for that matter, how about affordable green products, such as hybrids that don't cost a year's wages like houses used to do?

How about jobs somewhere this side of Bangalore that actually pay enough to pay for all this stuff they want us to keep on buying? All on credit, of course, because God forbid we should have to actually pay for any of this with, say, taxes? Because if the way things are going is not apparent, not obvious, listen to what Henry Paulson has been shouting for the last month until blue in the face yet again (in economic-ese, of course): what we all need more of is credit. Credit! In other words, debt. That's what is supposed to bail us out. We are supposed to want the banks to start lending cheaper money again. To each other, they say. To small and big businesses, to buy more equipment, hire more workers, to expand, and grow, and drill, baby, drill.

OK, that's great. Even though we consumers, being the only taxpayers left (the rich have been avoiding them for years with those Swiss bank accounts anyway), are the ones paying for it. But hey, if it means jobs, no problem.

Except for one thing: none of that is happening. What is happening is that yesterday my wife and I both got something in the mail: a warm invitation from our bank, WaMu, as it happens, to take full advantage of a wonderful limited time offer for two new credit cards. With a credit line up to $30,000 each! And no annual fee! And no APR on balance transfers (presumably all our other debt) for a whole year (after that it is somewhere between 9.99 and 19.99 percent). Hello? You used to be able to borrow from Cosa Nostra for that. And meanwhile, the Prime Rate the banks get to pay is down to one percent? No wonder they still plan to dish out $20 billion of that bailout money in bonuses to themselves.

But the point isn't the APR. The point is that I'm supposed to use this card to run out and buy one of those cheap SUVs. Or make a down payment on that town house. Or fly to Vegas.

So as we all head to the polls, hoping that diamond lanes will be a thing of the past and everybody can drive home solo in their own V-8 pickup again, in their own private fast lane, on cheap gas to their new townhouse, here's my question for you: How, exactly, are we consumers supposed to pay off all the new debt this time around, after we do yet again what GWB urged us to do after 9/11? Maybe with that trip to Vegas? (Or maybe just the local casino, to save gas, but you definitely know that your number is going to be a winner this time. No wait, what the hell, gas is cheap again so go for it. Vegas it is.)

Here's an idea: let's start to live, once again, within our means. And if that means cutting back on non-essentials, so be it. Regardless of who wins on Tuesday, we need to get busy figuring out how to become real consumers again. The kind that get what they actually pay for. And can actually pay for what they get.