End of Consumerism?

As I listened to Talk of the Nation this evening, I heard an interesting notion being thrown out there, that we may be seeing the end of “The age of consumerism”. Really? Have we really gotten to that point? I’ve talked many times about reducing consumption, and I do truly believe that somewhere therein lays our future economic model. A lot of people – bloggers, pundits, activists and ordinary folks alike – are out there touting the benefits of abandoning our consumerist ways. Back to the land, simple living, DIY’ers or whatever the reason, there is one thing that we need to keep in mind. Whether or not we like it, we need an economy in this world. If it should it be a global or a local one I don’t pretend to know, but it will mean that we are consumers to some point. Some kind of goods or services will be exchanged. As I said, I’ve talked about this before, and I stand by my general belief that we need to reduce what we consume. I don’t, however, think that we should try to eliminate consumption, or should hold as the ultimate goal, for that matter, the elimination of consumption. But I do think that we should take a look closely at how we’ve been doing it.

As I see it, the conundrum with the whole consumerist - vs. - non-consumerist argument is that the conventional wisdom holds that economic growth is the solution to our economic problems, and that more buying is at the root of our economy. Buy more…better economy…where’s the argument right? More people buy stuff, which means more money is floating around, which means that more people get hired to service the buyers, which puts more money back into the system; it’s trickle-down economics at its core. Well the argument is valid if we take it at face value, but we aren’t are we. We’re not actually buying things when we’re out shopping. Alright some of us are, but most folks have been out there charging it or financing it. Don’t mistake that for buying, it is not the same thing. It’s merely a promise to buy something a little at a time. If that person and oh…200,000 or so friends of his… default on their loans, debts, credit cards, homes and whatever else, the manufacturers are left holding the bag. They can’t then pay their debtors, who in return say “Screw this!! I’m just gonna hold on to my money before I lose more!” And then you reach the point at which we find ourselves today don’t you? It’s financial gridlock or, to coin a phrase, “Trickle-up economic crisis.”

Take a look at the past 35 years with me. In 1972-75 and again in 1980-82, we had two 2 year recessions that were caused primarily by “oil shocks” where our need outpaced what we produced or could import. In the late 80’s/early 90’s we had another recession mainly attributed to a decrease in Industrial production and manufacturing-trade sales (Read: Chrysler (Sound familiar?)) And then in the late 90’s we had the infamous “dot-com” bubble burst. All three, whether energy based, manufacturing based or investment based, caused a major glitch in our economic system at the time. Right now we’re looking at all of them at the same time. Our housing bubble has burst, energy prices though lower right now have just come down from historic highs and OPEC is trying to get them back up there soon and the “heart of our industrial and manufacturing base”, the auto industry, is poised for bankruptcy. Add to that the fact that our banks are flailing and looking for ever more of our taxpayer dollars which can only cause enormous inflation in the future and the downward spiraling stock market and we’re looking at some tough times ahead whether we like it or not; many are already feeling them.

So let’s revisit that notion of reduced consumerism shall we? Let’s say that we don’t buy as much stuff, but when we do buy stuff we actually do BUY it. (Meaning of course that we pay for it with real money at the time we purchase it.) So now, the money that is flowing into the system is real money, meaning that it has been spent and transferred in ownership and can now be invested, loaned, kept or used for other REAL purchases. Wouldn’t the economy still grow? Wouldn’t there still be the opportunity to build wealth and use a free market, albeit perhaps a more equitable one? I can’t help but believe that it would be a more stable one. What if we started to embrace the idea of a green economy, where we were employing people in the professions of building and maintaining our own power so that then the money that we were spending on power could stay here in our economy as well rather than to send it oversees. What if we looked at our homes, not as banks to pull money out of when we wanted a new toy or wanted to pay off the ones we already bought and where we don’t even know the neighbors name but can tell you what kind of car he drives, but rather saw them as long term commitments where we helped to build communities and raise our kids. What would that be like huh? How would it be if we saved some of our money and invested it in our local banks, banks that by the way are one of the only sectors of the banking industry to be still afloat on its own? Am I being “pie in the sky here?” Is it possible? I don’t know but I’m tired of living the other way. I will still consume. I have to, and so too do you most likely. But I do know that the way I consume is changing and that’s for sure.

And look on the bright side, if we handle this the right way, maybe we’ll see a much better foundation on the other side.

Here's to hope!!

P~

I wanted to clarify something from the article as well. It stated that “…President Bush's advice when asked, after the 9/11 attacks, what Americans should be doing. He urged Americans to keep shopping.” That isn’t actually completely accurate, although it does cut to the core of it. What he actually did say was “I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy.“ and at the time I think that that was good advice. We had been hit by something beyond our control, and we were scared. Our economy suffered then, but it could be healed by “business as usual”. He did however directly urge us to keep shopping in another speech, much more recently, when in a Dec. 2006 speech he stated, “A recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country -- and I encourage you all to go shopping more.” Just holding the media to a modicum of accountability there.