<prompt> Human: Ive been living a financially responsible life for the past 1 year. Not incurring debt, saving for emergency, living below my income, investing for retirement and of course living by a budget. Im not crazy frugal but Ive became more of a saver than a spender and its been great.However, it seems like great portion of modern economy hinges on the fact that the people over spend. At least from my narrow point of view, most of the things they advertise on TV and things that see at retail stores are mostly luxuries that no one needs.This got me thinking. What would happen if EVERYONE including the wealthy and the poor in the world suddenly stopped over spending, lived under their means, saved and invested like we do here at rpersonalfinance? Would the world be less or more productive lower or higher GDP? What industry will fall first and which industries will cease to exist? Would the wealthy and poverty gap narrow? Would the world economy crumble? If the world economy would crumble, are we here at rpersonalfinance a secret society that need the rest of the world to be financially irresponsible in order for our savings and investments to thrive?I thought about posting this to reconomy maybe I will, but since the last question above is the one that Im most curious about, Im posting here first.Let me know your thoughts.Thanks.TL;DR: If everyone in the world suddenly became financially literate and responsible, would the world economy crumble? If so, do need most people to be financially irresponsible in order for our money to be safe?EDIT Same post at reconomy.  <response>: If everyone were to do that, there would be less colleges in the US. DeVry, Phoenix, Harrison, and others that charge private school rates for less than a community college education would be out because people would compare with todays dollars and not future earnings. The lottery would ran by private companies and almost unheard of. And Im not to sure the US armed services wouldnt be hurting too. Many friends of mine joined for the enlistment bonus and GI bill. Overall things would be much different than how they are today but not unlike they were in the past. Credit cards, student loans and car loans are pretty new. Granted in the scheme of things cars are pretty new compared to the age of the Roman empire. 