Boston Gal's Open Wallet

So how did Sinner end up with a bulging storage facility and playing guessing games with trucks and boxes?

The problem is connected to lamps and rugs.

Beth Hagovsky's new house in Philadelphia is beautiful. It's also mostly empty, with bare walls and just a few pieces of furniture. She says she goes to Crate and Barrel and Target nearly every week to buy things for her home — but then she hesitates to buy them.

"When you think, 'Oh my god, my retirement plan is just shot right now,' " Hagovsky says, "should I buy this lamp? Should I buy this rug? Because are we really gonna be in some sort of decent financial position a year from now or are times gonna get even tougher for us? And as you're looking at some stupid rug, you're thinking, 'Is it really worth it?' "

She answers that question the same way many people have been answering that question lately: No. She walks away and her floors remain naked; her living room corner stays dark.

Americans aren't buying as much, which means they aren't importing as much. This is how Hagovsky — and probably most of us — are linked to Sinner. We usually buy rugs, couches, teddy bears and shoes, and all those goods ride over from Asia or Europe in containers. And that's how Sinner gets his containers: They have to come from overseas so that he can fill them up with soybeans and wheat and then send them back.

So Akemi in Japan might want to buy Sinner's cheap soy products. But if Hagovsky doesn't take out that credit card and furnish her house, Sinner can't get his stuff to Japan or anywhere else.