Do one person's finances have an appreciable effect on the national economy?

yes. George bush’s finances keep getting larger, mine keep getting smaller.

touché playthebanjo touché

Well, if you happen to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, then absolutely yes. You and me, not so much.

It’s a good question. I think Tipping Point principles probably apply, which would agree with the ideas above.

Well, I will take devil’s advocate on this one. I think individual finances definitely matter. Here are two examples occurring right now in our culture:

1. There is a climate of having more debt. The debt we as a society are failing to pay back is increasing interest rates on credit cards for all of us.

2. People’s willingness to suspend common sense and indulge in insane ARMs and Zero interest loans for preperties they could not really afford is one of the major factors of the current economic woes causing a domino-like failure cascade with foreclosures homelessness, and slows in housing starts (because of the property glut) leading to slowdowns in construction, higher unemployment, etc.

Absolutely – Bill Gates is one of the big money backers of the Orphan Works bills- if they pass the art industry will take a heavy hit. Especially licensing and decorative arts.

His finances will affect an entire industry.

Of course he will make a ton of money in the process.

No. The U.S. GDP is around $14 trillion dollars. Gates and Buffet have a lot of money, and produce a great deal per year. But it’s inaccurate to think of their wealth as, say, $50 billion in produce per/year. It is assets. And even if it were, that’s still negligible – less than half of 1% of GDP.