Saving is back in style

A letter to the NY Times under the headline "Upside of the Downturn" shows that the difficult economic situation we are in is causing a new focus on saving and a general examination of the culture of consumerism.

Link to the actual letter which is copied below.


Having recently read “Goodbye Seduction, Hello Coupons” (Advertising column, Nov. 10), as well as considered the far-reaching social and cultural implications this economic crisis may have, I am beginning to become optimistic despite the struggles in front of us.

For the first time that I can remember, people will be forced to put their lives, their spending and their desires in perspective. The age of shallow commercialism, for the foreseeable future, is over. Our economy will have to restore its balance and focus on our necessities, not our desires.

Many articles in various news outlets have been discussing the far-reaching changes in consumer spending. My hope is that these changes will penetrate our psyches and forever change our perspective so that we may move forward and rebuild our economy and society based on real intrinsic value, not indulgent consumerism.

Joshua Shapiro
New York, Nov. 12, 2008

True Consumer Confidence

A letter in today's NY Times says that true consumer confidence is to be able to walk out of a store without buying anything. Having the courage to not buy something is a way of fighting consumerism. Yes, it is necessary for the economy that people have the money to spend, that they believe they will continue to have money and that jobs exist and there are products, but it is foolish to believe that the only way to a healthy economy is if people shop needlessly. It is comparable to arguing that people should go to the hospital even when they aren't sick in order to keep the hospital open. Perhaps it is necessary to get work done on ones car to support the mechanic. For that matter, it might be the right thing to junk ones car every few years and buy another one to keep the automobile industry profitable.

Here is the letter to the editor. The link to the letter follows.
I just finished “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee,” by Michael Kinsley (Op-Ed, Nov. 14), and I must admit: this concept of “consumer confidence” is beginning to bother me.

It seems to imply that we can portray “confidence” only by purchasing things.

To me, however, true consumer confidence is the ability to know that your life will not break down without the object you’re wishing you could buy, and that maybe, just maybe, your life could even be better without it.

It is the ability to walk out of the store with nothing in hand and not feel as if you’ve failed in any way.

So let’s call things for what they really are, and give credit, and even the term “confidence,” to those who rightly deserve it. Jennifer Duenes

Oakland, Calif., Nov. 14, 2008


Link to the NY Times letter

The Home Front

When pundits and columnists question the economics and marketing of shopping as an economic strategy, you know the war on consumerism has a new front (read the op-ed from today's NY Times by going here:)
It won't be easy to win this war and there will be casualties along the way. After all, there are many businesses and their employees who depend on dumb consumption to keep them going. But don't lose sight of the truth. You will shop and so will everyone else, but you don't need to buy what we don't need. There are other ways for the economic wheels to turn besides having consumers buy for the sake of buying.
Is consumption better than saving.
Are desires and wants the same as needs?