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Published on Friday, November 19, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
How Low Can We Go if We Shop Till We Drop?
Funny
how, back in 1929, we had a black Thursday and then a Black Friday as
the market crashed, plunging the country into a depression. Now we have
every retailer in every mall in America on their knees praying for a
prosperous black Friday the day after Thanksgiving.
If you read this argument before, it’s because I have been making it since 2007, year in and year out. That’s on account of the reality that our economy is driven more by consumption than production, and most consuming takes place during the holidays.
So once again we are being asked to join a global ritual even if we are broke.
Get in gear people, and get your wallets back to the mall: do your duty for Santa and Wall Street. It will be difficult for the economic recovery to make much headway without a pick-up in consumer spending as it accounts for two-thirds of the economy.
Here’s the scenario as this Thanksgiving rolls around. Once again the economy is in deep doo-doo with unemployment high, millions on food stamps, and millions more facing foreclosures. The big banks seem to have “recovered;” most Americans haven’t.
Nevertheless, Christmas is for the shopping, a time to feign merriment through gift gifting, to spend what you don’t have. And the process will be “stimulated” and we will be guilted and mesemerized in our own homes by a non-stop electronic sell-a-thon as TV advertising goes into hyperspeed.
Local TV channels will soon start hyping the “action” at the local malls announcing plans to “go live” without mentioning that they are doing it to attract more advertising, or as part of the deal they already have with sponsors to add news time to ad time.
If the past is any guide, we will be told how packed the parking lots are—and they will, thanks to the hype, probably be packed. Part of the reason is the deep discounting and special sales –what are called “lost leaders” to get customers into the store even if you have to bribe them to come. All night sales are the latest marketing shtick.
What happened last year was that most consumers only bought the sales items and left most of the other goods untouched. No wonder, a number of malls are now in foreclosure.
At the same time, all we hear publically from business is optimism, including the use of the term “surge” that has been used so deceptively in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Example news boilerplate: “Some e-retailers expect a strong surge in Thanksgiving weekend sales”, “Having already unleashed a flurry of deals, discounts and other incentives, web retailers are looking for strong sales the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. And unlike last year, when the tough economy reined in spending, many retailers believe this Friday after Thanksgiving, often referred to as Black Friday, will deliver significantly higher web sales.”
Higher until the credit card bills come and the returns start when folks realize they can’t afford what they bought. Almost every year, after Christmas, the credit card companies report sales described at the time as “historic” became in the end “disappointing” or didn’t “didn’t live up to expectations.”
But consumption requires people with money to spend or with credit cards that are not tapped out. This is no longer a sure thing especially as unemployment benefits run out and discretionary income freezes.
Quiet as its kept, banks are in many cases as tapped out as their customers. And at long last, some are being probed for criminal conduct. Reuters reports:
Here are 5 of them.
(This is the reason I and others have launched a “Jailout campaign” with a national petition calling for more prosecutions and incarcerations of wrong doers. See newsdissector.com/blog.)
So we go back to square one: A distorted and troubled economy. A population addicted to buying things. A manipulated media. And, many signs of deeper trouble ahead as wars are escalated and extended while the Congress is paralyzed along parochial and partisan lines.
The resurgent Republicans will not be ringing jingle bells but playing Scrooge this year. Many consumers will not be able to shop until they drop this year because they have already dropped to new lows.
Unfortunately, a feast followed by days at the mall will not change any of this, and remember, if you will, the price our first Americans paid so that we could stuff ourselves on the road to national obesity.
Happy Thanksgiving.
If you read this argument before, it’s because I have been making it since 2007, year in and year out. That’s on account of the reality that our economy is driven more by consumption than production, and most consuming takes place during the holidays.
So once again we are being asked to join a global ritual even if we are broke.
Get in gear people, and get your wallets back to the mall: do your duty for Santa and Wall Street. It will be difficult for the economic recovery to make much headway without a pick-up in consumer spending as it accounts for two-thirds of the economy.
Here’s the scenario as this Thanksgiving rolls around. Once again the economy is in deep doo-doo with unemployment high, millions on food stamps, and millions more facing foreclosures. The big banks seem to have “recovered;” most Americans haven’t.
Nevertheless, Christmas is for the shopping, a time to feign merriment through gift gifting, to spend what you don’t have. And the process will be “stimulated” and we will be guilted and mesemerized in our own homes by a non-stop electronic sell-a-thon as TV advertising goes into hyperspeed.
Local TV channels will soon start hyping the “action” at the local malls announcing plans to “go live” without mentioning that they are doing it to attract more advertising, or as part of the deal they already have with sponsors to add news time to ad time.
If the past is any guide, we will be told how packed the parking lots are—and they will, thanks to the hype, probably be packed. Part of the reason is the deep discounting and special sales –what are called “lost leaders” to get customers into the store even if you have to bribe them to come. All night sales are the latest marketing shtick.
What happened last year was that most consumers only bought the sales items and left most of the other goods untouched. No wonder, a number of malls are now in foreclosure.
At the same time, all we hear publically from business is optimism, including the use of the term “surge” that has been used so deceptively in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Example news boilerplate: “Some e-retailers expect a strong surge in Thanksgiving weekend sales”, “Having already unleashed a flurry of deals, discounts and other incentives, web retailers are looking for strong sales the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. And unlike last year, when the tough economy reined in spending, many retailers believe this Friday after Thanksgiving, often referred to as Black Friday, will deliver significantly higher web sales.”
Higher until the credit card bills come and the returns start when folks realize they can’t afford what they bought. Almost every year, after Christmas, the credit card companies report sales described at the time as “historic” became in the end “disappointing” or didn’t “didn’t live up to expectations.”
But consumption requires people with money to spend or with credit cards that are not tapped out. This is no longer a sure thing especially as unemployment benefits run out and discretionary income freezes.
Quiet as its kept, banks are in many cases as tapped out as their customers. And at long last, some are being probed for criminal conduct. Reuters reports:
“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is conducting about 50 criminal investigations at U.S. banks that have failed since the start of the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal said.This is just the tip of the iceberg. Paul Farrell offers 15 reasons on Marketwatch about how the people behind the economic collapse continue to get away with it.
The FDIC, which is responsible for dealing with bank failures, is probing former executives, directors and employees at failed U.S. banks and is taking efforts to punish alleged recklessness, fraud and other criminal behavior, the Journal said.”
Here are 5 of them.
1. Gross denial of any moral damage caused by their rampant greedHe goes on with an indictment that clearly suggests nothing has really changed when it comes to the folks who are making money and sucking in bonuses when others aren’t.
2. Narcissistic egomaniacs with secret 'God complexes'. Today, all of Wall Street is dual diagnosed: They're morally blind money-addicts who believe they're "God's chosen." AA would say: They haven't "bottomed," won't recover from their disease till a disaster hits, with another market meltdown and the "Great Depression 2." Then maybe they'll "quit playing God."
3. Paranoid obsessives about secrecy, guilt and non-disclosure
4. Power-hungry need to control government using Trojan Horses
5. Borderline personalities who regularly ignore conflicts of interest”
(This is the reason I and others have launched a “Jailout campaign” with a national petition calling for more prosecutions and incarcerations of wrong doers. See newsdissector.com/blog.)
So we go back to square one: A distorted and troubled economy. A population addicted to buying things. A manipulated media. And, many signs of deeper trouble ahead as wars are escalated and extended while the Congress is paralyzed along parochial and partisan lines.
The resurgent Republicans will not be ringing jingle bells but playing Scrooge this year. Many consumers will not be able to shop until they drop this year because they have already dropped to new lows.
Unfortunately, a feast followed by days at the mall will not change any of this, and remember, if you will, the price our first Americans paid so that we could stuff ourselves on the road to national obesity.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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16 Comments so far
Show AllHello Santa, (like so many on this planet) this year I want health care and a decent job enough to eat, a place to live, and a sustainable environment. You can keep all the plastic and electronic junk. Oh, and a little less war would be nice.
Thanks
We need a major sea change in the way we think which isn't likely to happen until there is a severe crisis.
There's an old story about how to teach a jackass a new trick. First you take a 2 by 4 and hit him in the head as hard as you can. Now you've got his attention. Then you might be able to teach him something.
I grew up in the affluent 50's and 60's. We had more and more stuff. Christmas was a cornucopia of stuff spilling out from under the tree in the living room. Every year there was more. At some point...actually more a process that an event, I came to realize that stuff didn't satisfy. It didn't go deep enough. There would be great pleasure in getting some new thing but that would wear off quickly.
There's a bumper sticker I've seen here that says...the best things in life aren't things. That has seemed obvious to me for decades now. When will others see that? What will it take?
That's a great recapitulation of the consumerist excess that has been masquerading as Christmas for decades. I recall having my own slow epiphany about it as well. We've really lost our way in this country, haven't we? We are able to idealize mythologized fables, like "A Christmas Carol", where the characters are satisfied with so very little, while simultanously gorging ourselves in our own real existence. Doublethink at its finest.
Maybe this is easier for me because I didn't grow up with a Christmas tradition and we don't have a TV. I can't afford the stuff that is being hawked anyhow. No tree, no gifts, no seasonal music. We respectfully decline just about all invitations for Christmas celebrations.
My family's favorite Christmas activity:
A few days before Christmas, we walk over to the local library and take out lots of books. I mean lots! :-)
On Christmas Eve, I cook up a pot of soup and bake some bread. Maybe an apple cake or pumpkin bread, too.
On Christmas morning, we sleep deliciously late. My son makes us some of his really good pancakes for a late breakfast. We stay in our pajamas - no getting dressed! We read all day. Sometimes someone will read an especially good passage aloud to everyone. Some time in the afternoon, someone says they're hungry and we have some of that soup. And the bread. Usually some hot cider on the stove. For my family, Christmas is one of the most relaxing days of the year.
If you wanna come over and read with us, we'll put another soup bowl on the table and find you a comfy blanket and a spot on the sofa. :-)
Buy less, love more,
dvorah :-)
Fortunately, my parents didn't get caught up in the narcissistic, consumerist, gluttony of Christmas. A few gifts, perhaps unappreciated at the time, were more than adequate. My parents were respectful of money and acted accordingly for which I am grateful although I've made a few thoughtless decisions along the way.
Fortunately, my parents didn't get caught up in the narcissistic, consumerist, gluttony of Christmas. A few gifts, perhaps unappreciated at the time, were more than adequate. My parents were respectful of money and acted accordingly for which I am grateful although I've made a few thoughtless decisions along the way.
Pretty warped times these are. Just the other day on television
crowds of people were commemorating world hunger by having a great big cookout sale! Really, couldn't they all simply fast for one day? Not eat for just one day instead of eating all day? How people justify gorging themselves on food in the name of millions going hungry is well beyond nominal norms of decency. Why not donate their money instead AND the food?! Oh well...
Ho!–Ho!.....uh....ho?.
Proud to say I haven't bought anyone a holiday gift in over ten years.
Instead, family and friends receive love, trust, good deeds, lots of humor, and, depending on my mood, a home-baked treat.
And no one is ever disappointed.
Remember - the only thing the twisted anti-American Upper Class wants is our money.
Stop giving it to them.
what strikes people from outside more than anything about america is
the rampant pollution by careless waste from consumption like there's no tomorrow.
Face it America, you've earned your Thanksgiving. The Colonists had a Thanksgiving each time they massacred large numbers of American Indians. Now, bankers have their Thanksgiving each time they financially massacre the American People. Bernanke added six hundred billion to the bankers Thanksgiving pie this year. Are you bleeding yet?
Your so right! America is devouring it's own now isn't it? When the streets are filled with homeless starving peasants in a few more yrs. and Bernacke is till issuing trillions to keep the Oligarchs in their castles it will be time for the dark legions to begin gunning down the poor like dogs. Welcome to Neo-feudal America folks just like their favorite country Mexico.
Rent a Lexus. Late X-mas eve, park it in some Republican bastard's driveway and put a big bow on top of it. Next morning, savor the excitement and joy immediately followed by confusion and deep disappointment.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Paul Farrell offers 15 reasons on Marketwatch about how the people behind the economic collapse continue to get away with it.
Here are 5 of them.”
What a wonderfully *American* article!
According to Danny and Paul, it’s all the fault of the *individuals* at the helm, a few ‘bad apples’ with *individual* personality faults — if only we replaced them with the likes of Ben Franklin and Horatio Alger, “Mom-‘n’-Pop” businessfolk like in the movies of the 1940s and 50s, then all would be well. The capitalist system, you see, is not a monstrous exploiter, ruthlessly gouging out surplus value to maximize profits, but a prefect system, designed, or at least endorsed, by someone’s invisible friend and run in zen-like fashion by an invisible hand to produce the greatest good for the greatest number.
To paraphrase a line in a Monty Python film: “I laugh in your general direction!”
Good point. The article endorses trying to scare people into not behaving like capitalists while everything else in society encourages and honors behaving like capitalists. If you don't like the fact that money and power ends up in a very few hands, get rid of the system designed to funnel money and power into a very few hands.
I remember the recession of the mid-seventies as a little kid. There was none of this revolting consumerism to the degree we see now. Most families had just one credit card, and middle class kids were content with a few books and clothes for the season.
The other day I saw the most absurd useless piece of trash destined to end up in someone's garage sale one day---A huge plastic Santa with a golden retriever's body (a lawn ornament). Hanging out of its mouth was a basket full of more plastic toys. Made in China. Price 129.99.
The ultimate example of how the majority of Americans are mindless consumers.