Gallup poll shows Americans are still not spending like it's 2008 again

While the federal government continues to try to pull us out of the recession by spending money it doesn't have, on a personal level Americans have dramatically tightened their spending patterns, especially those Americans that have a lot of money. According to a new Gallup poll, In August we averaged $63 per person, per day, of discretionary spending on items like restaurants, clothing, entertainment and gasoline, compared to $97 in 2008.

That's a drop of $34 per day, or 35%. This is even down slightly from our spending level in August of 2009 ($65), when the overall economic climate was even bleaker.

Those earning $90,000 or more were spending $185 a day as recently as May of 2008. In August of this year, they spent only $109 a day, down 41% from that peak.