Americans may not be consuming these days, but the streets of Manhattan are clogged with overseas tourists buying like crazy because of the cheap dollar. They come in on cheap package tours for a long weekend with giant, empty suitcases (or they buy the suitcases once they get here) and fill'er up. Because of the VAT and the degraded dollar, it's cheaper for them to come here than use the internet. Maybe other American cities and towns can lure these visitors to their depressed shopping malls and toss in a free tour of the local sights. It would be good for these visitors to see something other than New York.