DL not doing enough to maintain worldwide beer sales

You would think that people would be drinking more beer during a recession, since beer tends to be cheaper than other alcoholic drinks, and...well...you need a few more drinks to deal with the daily economic carnage. You'd be wrong.

As the BEA shows, beer sales (line 85) fell off a cliff in the last quarter of 2008. Why has this happened? Nate Silver has a few thoughts, some of which point to a "beer bubble" of sorts (i.e. prior quarter sales were somewhat inflated and due for a correction).

But this is perhaps the most important line of his post:

Perhaps people are substituting Michelob and Coors for more expensive microbrews like Alpha King and Dogfish Head. (This is unpatriotic, by the way, since all the macrobrews are now owned by foreign-based multinational conglomerates. Stimulate your country -- and your tastebuds!).

There's the lesson. If you're going to help get the economy back on track, quick drinking the watery swill and start drinking good beer!