Americans are getting financially smarter. They are spending less and saving more. This is something that our leaders should be praising. But they are doing just the opposite. They are trying to encourage us to spend more. Why would they do that? Because of an economic fallacy. Their thinking is this: Since such a large part of our economy is based on spending, the way to have a stronger economy is to encourage more spending. But this makes as much sense as advising a junkie to take more drugs because so much of his biochemistry is dependent on drugs.