consumerism

At the household level, intelligent consuming rather than consumerism, along with saving money, will help protect families from fluctuations in the market, especially with energy. Intelligent consuming is the simplification of wants and desires that arise from an understanding of the social crisis and its underpinnings.

-tom leh



i was involved in a virtual discussion recently regarding the downturn in the economy, the bailout, and all things political. there were perhaps 10-12 people involved in the emails, (four or five of whom were active,) and a friend of a friend's, tom leh, pretty much had the final word.

leh's last post was actually a lengthy diatribe on the various events and decisions that brought us to our current situation wherein we have stock markets plunging all over the world and the american people bailing out the wealthy class and ceo's who are most responsible for the problems. his analysis was pointed and accurate and he ended it with the quote above.

for all the corruption and greed and poor decisions which spurred this economic catastrophe, leh's final thought was constructive and hopeful and it gave me pause. i am chagrined by the fact that i have not been at good these things historically.

the american middle class has been notorious for living above our means. we use and rely on credit too much. we don't save. we're generally ill-informed as to the consequences of our consumerism.

as an example, i bought a truck a few years ago on credit. i knew it was slightly out of my league, or more costly than what i could afford, but i rationalized the decision on several levels. first, i bought this large, gas-guzzling vehicle because i had a new daughter and burgeoning family. i further rationalized that one by reminding myself how environmentally conscious i had been in the past with regards to my vehicles. recently i had owned a honda civic del sol and prior to that i had a daihatsu charade, which got 40 mpg in the city. in addition to those two i've owned a couple of other hondas, a toyota celica for a couple of years when i lived in japan, and my first car was a ford pinto so i am familiar with the small car.

the cost of the truck and the fact it was slightly higher than what i should have purchased, cut into my ability to save money. i figured since i did not have any other debts, no credit cards or outstanding loans of any sort, i could go ahead and bite the bullet on this one. it would be an asset once i paid it off anyway.

the point is, tom leh is right and i hope the american middle class hears this message and gets it. decisions like mine with the truck will be punitive in the coming economy. intelligent consuming means avoiding mistakes.

in my home we will continue to purchase the need-to-haves, while bypassing the want-to-haves or nice-to-haves. we're going to eliminate unnecessary bills and try hard to save some money even if it seems less than significant. we're going to try to simplify our wants and desires because we understand the social crisis at the heart of the economic crisis and the associated behaviors that beg to be checked.

at a time of a previous national crisis our president told us to go shopping. this time it will be important for americans to understand that this is bad advice. in this coming holiday season businesses who make the majority of their yearly profit in about a six-week span are going to fail and come january our financial crisis may look even worse than it does today.

unemployment is going to climb, as will crime and inflation and all the other indicators of despair. as a self-proclaimed champion of the middle class, i hope we all choose the behaviors that will help us to weather the coming storm and likely make us better citizens and more disciplined individuals for the future.