> What happens to money that isn't spent?
The long-term trend (~30 years?) is for non-financial companies to sit on cash. Typically this gives a nice cushy job for a Comptroller who can come to work every day in a tie pretend he's a banker and buy treasuries.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/07/corporate-cash-has-been-piling-up-since-1982/
$73.85B GE $39.86B Cisco $36.56B Microsoft $30.06B Google $24.29B Apple $18.30B Intel $13.27B Exxon Mobil
...
/jordan