I have recently heard from numerous people from both political sides and all kinds of beliefs that "they" want us to spend more to save the economy.
"They" in this instance are the government officials. What I find interesting is that in general these people tend to agree that spending, or rather consuming is not the answer. The only premise I can gather is that the practice of consuming is bad. The idea that consuming is bad I can go along with in most cases, but I am not sure I can write off the practice of consuming goods as evil in general.
One thing we need to remember is that we live in a capitalist society. Oooo, I said capitalism, we all know that is inherently evil! Or is it? Sure, it can be a breeding ground for greed, but that doesn't necessarily make the economic structure greedy in itself, it means the people using it can use it for purposes for which it was not intended. In a capitalist society buying and selling are needed to keep the structure going. Buying is consuming.
Where I think we often get caught up though is that we equate buying/consuming with greed. Surely it is when we buy things only for ourselves, for our own use, and especially when we do not have the money to do so. Such consuming is greed. Let me flip that now. How different is that from storing up our goods or money so that only we have access to it and no one else, especially when we have plenty for ourselves in the foreseeable near future, and calling it savings? To me it's two sides of the same coin. Both are greed and have numerous theological implications, perhaps I'll get into that later.
Consuming goods doesn't have to mean we have to use or keep goods for ourselves. What it can mean is that we use the resources we have been blessed with to help and bless others so that the society we have been blessed to be born into can continue, if that is what you want.
Every time we buy a meal for ourselves (or somebody else) and tip we are paying wages for numerous people. Just something to think about.
Thoughts? Comments?
Great topic Marc!
ReplyDeleteOur culture is steeped in consumerism going back several generations. Mainstream corporate influence has most of our society distracted, chasing things we don't need and usually spending money we don't have.
On the other hand, I prefer to live in a capitalist society where I have the freedom to spend my money where I want and the right to start my own business and compete and thrive.
Everyone needs to buy certain things to sustain themselves(food, clothes, transportation) but if people were more conscience of what they actually needed, where they spend their money and the implications of their choices, we might become a bit more enlightened as a society.
I think you are on to something Ronsta. So what you are saying is that it isn't necessarily that the system needs to change, but our attitudes in how we use it?
ReplyDeleteYes, basic consumption isn't bad and in our society it's a neccessity, but excessive consumerism probably isn't healthy. The free market does a good job adjusting to peoples needs but it definitely blurs the line between needs and wants. As a modern society our basic needs are met fairly easily, its our wants that we percieve as needs that have most people chasing false happiness. Are you buying something because you need it, or are you buying it to impress others? Or is it a distraction from what's really important in life? If people thought about these things more often we'd have a very different market place and probably culture.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in where I'm coming from and have 20 mins to spare, check out this program on modern consumerism on Youtube:
Story of Stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM
For those that say it isn't true or its a left wing propaganda, I can tell you I onced worked for a company that followed that linear model to T.
-Ron
The video is interesting, although I am always leery of stat driven presentations, because in Statistics one learns that with enough research or tweaking there is a stat to back up any point.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most interesting was her point about the unhappiness cycle of consumption coming from a purely secular humanists view. There are some theories out there that consumerism at its worst has become the national religion. It sets up one's self as god, and worship is done by consuming goods, and of course the consumption is momentary, making the worship of self almost always empty. Leaving one in cycle of consuming trying to appease his or her god. It's more in depth than that, but that's the gist.