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I'm caught up probably just as much in the consumer culture as the next person.

The American consumer is also the American worker, and if we don't do something to protect our manufacturing base here at home, it is going to be hard to buy any retail goods.

I think we are living in a time where the consumer has lots of choices, whether it's coffee, newspapers or whatever it is. And there is parity in the market place, and as a result of that, the consumer is beginning to make decisions, not just on what things cost and the convenience of it.

Americans reading the paper, listening to the news every single day, and all you hear is things are getting worse and worse. And that has a psychological effect on consumer confidence. That's what consumer confidence is.

I think traditional supermarkets have to pay attention to the fact that America is more and more conscious of lifestyle.

The world has changed. It's not enough to simply buy American; we have to sell American, sell our products and goods and services throughout this world.

When people move from poor countries to America, they quickly adapt in at least one way - their consumption habits.

Consumerism is so weird. It's a sort of conspiracy we collude in. You'd think shoppers spending their hard-earned cash would be highly critical. You know that the manufacturers are trying to have you on.

The U.S. has been living in a situation of excesses for too long. Consumers were out spending more than their income and the country was spending more than its income, running up large current-account deficits. Now we have to tighten our belts and save more.

The days of trying to get a consumer to come to you are over. You really have to be in the consumer's world, wherever, whenever and however.