According to Mohamed A. El-Erian, co-chief executive officer of money management firm PIMCO and former president and chief executive of the Harvard Management Company, the American consumer has finally stopped spending.  In his recent book, “When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change,” El-Erian argues that this unprecedented cessation has fundamentally changed the investment landscape, undermining the long-term case for investment in US equities and simultaneously buttressing the case for non-US investments.  In his book, the author explains the current turmoil in the global markets, outlines what investment strategies to use to take advantage of the changing landscape and offers advice to policy makers about how to handle the rapidly changing global economy.