That article and Lawsuit are almost TWO years old

Personally, I can't get people to respond to my inquiries on CL - 4 times in the last 2 weeks I have responded to ads for Porsches and no answers.

CL enables a more efficient way to exchange goods and services (and to connect us in ways not previously possible). The reason an item might sell for $10 on CL that would have sold for, say, $1 at a garage sale is because someone out there is willing to pay $10.

That someone had a greater need for the item, so they were willing to pay more. The interweb simply connects buyers and sellers in a more efficient manner than was previously possible. IMO, this can't be a bad thing.

But in today's Craigslist world, the person who was able to sell the bike, now has money to spend. 10 years ago, he only had money if a neighbor needed a bike and had money to spend. CL simply expands the market area.

Your coment of CL ruining the economy may be valid if everyone was buying used stuff and nothing new - but things do wearout and new stuff is still needed.

People may be buying more stuff now, simply because the economy has tanked - but why did it tank? In my opinion, spending too rapidly based on false profits (i.e., equity).

The economy tanked in 2008 for the exact same reason it tanked in 1929 - speculation. In 1929 it was stocks. In 2008 it was real estate. Different product, same activity, same result. Predictable.

That and the fact that short sighted corporations are firing Americans and hiring people who live elsewhere to do work. We get the benefit of cheap goods, but at some point the locals are going to run out of money to buy said cheap goods if they don't have jobs.

Henry Ford paid his employees well and they were able to afford to buy the very product they manufactured. Current SOP is to do the opposite. Instead of paying Americans to make stuff we're paying the Chinese and Indians. Guess what? Now Chinese folks can suddenly afford to buy cars when they couldn't before. AND they need gas for those cars so suddenly there's an increase in the world wide demand for oil. Every job that gets sent overseas is another nail in the coffin of the American economy as we know it. Yep, Acme Widget Corp. posts higher profits as their COGS goes down, but that's just temporary. I'm waiting impatiently for American companies to figure out, like Henry Ford did, that someone in this country has to be able to afford their stuff if our economy is going to thrive.