In the 1930s there was Roosevelt and in 2009, there's Paris Hilton. That's right: The heiress best known for reality television and jail has vowed to do all she can to save the economy. SFGate.com reports that Ms. Hilton told a British magazine that "It's really scary about the economy right now. So the way I'm playing my part in helping is doing a lot of shopping wherever I go."

That's right! I have mixed feelings in writing about this because obviously Paris made that comment with the intent of getting some easy publicity.

But shopping to save the economy. It has a certain appeal to it, and it's actually the road to economic recovery that has been preached by politicians. That's what those stimulus checks were for.

But remember: Excess borrowing and excess consumption will not bring us out of a mess caused by excess borrowing and excess consumption. Unless you have as much money as Paris, stick to saving. Let someone else be the hero.