Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
The notion of consumerism as the religion of the United States is nothing new. That said, Warren Pollock did an excellent job explaining just how corrosive this mindset can be to a society. We were particularly taken by the idea that since the vast majority of people define themselves almost entirely by their level of consumption, or by some desired level of future consumption, their consciousness becomes easily controlled and their worldview easily managed and molded.
They simply cannot see life in any other context and so they become trapped within a very sick and twisted form of human existence.
And then there’s George…
“…But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They DON’T want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that, that doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. That’s right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting FUCKED by system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin’ years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want OBEDIENT WORKERS. OBEDIENT WORKERS. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it…”
I’m confused.
In your last article “RETAIL DEATH RATTLE GROWS LOUDER”, didn’t you point out very succinctly that the consumer was failing miserably? And that the economy of growth of -more stuff 4ever- has gone down the toilet?
I think the game is up. We are now in the second decade of the 21st century and many of the false promises of the consumerism of the last 50 years have been laid bare, the western economies have been strip mined for most of their value – most of what is left now is wrangling for the scraps in resource wars.
Stainless steel refrigerators and designer handbags be damned, people really have come to realize that they need water and energy and that may be all they can possibly pay for.
But your postings are really all over the map. Which is it?
Trying to keep up with the Jones …… is pure covetous lust and envy, that’s what is so corrosive to individual morals.
“In your last article “RETAIL DEATH RATTLE GROWS LOUDER”, didn’t you point out very succinctly that the consumer was failing miserably?” ————- whatever
No, that’s not what Admin said. Admin acknowledges that we have a Consumer Based Economy, and that it is THAT model that has failed. There is a difference. Nowhere does Admin EVER advocate that the consumer should spend more, neither does he blame consumers for the failing economy. Again, for emphasis, it is the Model that has failed, as he stated ——— “The exponential growth model, built upon a never ending flow of consumer credit and an endless supply of cheap fuel, has reached its limit of growth.”
Admin is also a Cheap Bastard who advocates, (gasp!), saving and thrift —– “Savings, capital investment, and debt reduction are the necessary ingredients for a sustained healthy economic system.”
Where’s the confusion?
I’ve heard George Carlin’s “owners” routine at least 100 times. And I still love it. He’s more a “truth teller” than he is a comedian …. and a timeless one at that.
THEY GOT YOU BY THE BALLS …. AND YOU AIN’T IN THE BIG CLUB!!!!
Stucky, ….Pride , greed , lust and envy is the reason every man made MODEL fails. Where’s the confusion?
Just as the fish is unaware of the water that it is immersed in, humanity is unmindful of the severity of its enslavement.
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“We have turned a thousand useless luxuries into necessities.”
———- Mark Twain
“A man is rich in direct proportion to the number of things that he can live without.”
——— Henry Thoreau
“It is our preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.”
———- Bertrand Russell
I’ve just been through bullshit with DirecTv. As with many things – if you don’t have it – you don’t have anything. We watch maybe 6-8 hrs of TV a week.. anyway what happens is:
I had a Sony Directv receiver – from 2004. It died – OK replace receiver – not so easy all those video outputs that were popular in 2004, well now it’s HD – different connectors – the Sony VEGA tv from 2004 – doesn’t have HD. I have all the wiring neatly in the wall – but now – not the right wire.
So I need to buy a new receiver, and a flat screen monitor. Pisses me off!
This feels so much like a throwback to “old days” now, mainly because we’re firmly in the 4T and all this has changed dramatically. This is 3T behavior — Bush telling people to go shopping after 9/11 was a 3T / Unraveling mindset. We’re far beyond that now, and Jim’s reporting on how retail is dying is indicative of just how much the consumer mindset has changed.
Even marketers will tell you that the “New Normal” mindset that occurred after the 2007-2008 recession has morphed into something new. Study after study shows that consumers no longer feel the need to purchase something (or spend money) to show off or feel better about themselves. Now, they look for experiences instead of “stuff.” They’ve decluttered, they’ve sold off all the useless junk in their garages, they’ve adopted a more minimalist lifestyle and they report they’re happier for having done so.
And some recent reports show that Millennials, in particular, eschew spending on needless junk (tech devices aside) because they just don’t feel they’re important or worth it. Fewer young people are buying cars and houses than ever before, or even getting married and having kids. They value the experiences they have in life and really don’t care about ever earning a huge salary — they want just enough to be comfortable and happy. Anyone who’s studied the GI Generation knows they started out that way, too, having come of age in the Great Depression.
Eventually, those of us who do consumer research will get across to companies / marketers that this is more than just a temporary thing, driven by the recession. There is no “recovery” happening, no matter how much the PTB want to try to assure that it is. We are in a 4T mindset that will last at least until 2025, and people will not be buying anything more than they absolutely have to. If you’re a company or an investor, you need to take a serious look at how your business will evolve to survive during this time.
To my point above, here’s a CNBC story talking about holiday planning that’s already going on at major retailers. Remember, this is CNBC, so they’re going to push the O-Administration position that the recovery is strengthening. With that in mind, pay particular attention to the comments posted.
Christmas already? Retail gambles on consumer mood
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101701339
It’s hard enough to get a good read on how the consumer is feeling today, so how are retailers expected to know what they’ll be thinking this Christmas?
As tall as this order is, it’s precisely the guessing game retailers are forced to play as they place—or in many cases, have already placed—their holiday orders.