Less is now more....... (credit, status, buy, interest)
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"It's been two years since 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death by a frenzied crowd of Black Friday shoppers at a Long Island Walmart. The stampede is a twisted symbol of what's become of the American Dream: We'll apparently stop at nothing in the quest for more stuff.
But that wasn't the holy grail that James Truslow Adams had in mind when he first coined the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book, The Epic of America. Instead he believed in "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone ... It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position"
I am very interested in this mostly to geek out on it, sociology style.
I believe the issue boils down to this: people at their core are social animals concerned with status, both overtly and subconciously.
A McMansion and the whole "living large" thing really just boiled down to a display of status... but one that at it's heart was a phony display. The appearance of living large was created by credit, creative financing, cheap-o poor quality construction and cheap quality stuff that "looks rich", 2 income families ... in a nutshell the whole " putting lipstick on a pig" phenomenon. None of these people were truly "rich" to begin with; they just were putting on a charade to make it look like they had "arrived". What erruped was an arms race of sorts between the Joneses, which has only now come to a head and finally collapsed on itself.
So now that it doesn't work anymore, will people grow up socially, stop looking merely at appearances and give/earn status honestly (i.e. by doing status worthy deeds or demonstrating true worth in other ways)?
How will people identify and/or flash their status to the world now?
....to add to what I was saying, there really were 2 worlds of the wealthy.
The "old school" wealthy were easy to tell apart from "new money" (at least what I see here in UT) because they were not nearly as concerned with making a display of their wealth. Their luxury was pointed inward, used quality "ingredients" (never a shred of pressboard or off the shelf accessories) with truly unique, finely crafted accoutrements. Their homes blended into the surrounding environment and were more often than not invisble from the street. They would drive normal, late model cars or pickups around and often had something "special" in the garage to take for a spin on weekends, like a rare supercar or an immacuately restored Muscle car.
The other half build mostrous houses with off the shelf home depot crap, usually in faux "Tuscan" style and did their daily driving in blinged out Hummers, Escalades or other "loud", expensive but not necesarily rare or exceptional vehicles. Their homes would be outfitted by the local purveyers of finely mass-pressed pressboard furniture and they never seemed to fail to insist on special treatment wherever they went.
Since the bust, the type 2 rich person is getting kinda rare, while type 1 rich people hardly even noticed there was a recession going on.
It's very telling to me and I feel vindicated, being that I've felt distgust for the phony, superficial way those "type 2" folks went about life even at the height of the boom. I could never undertand why people seemed to follow the trends set by the "type 2ers" as opposed to the "type 1ers", but I guess I know now. The "1ers" didn't care or even want a fan club, but the "2ers" did, in a big way. They actively sought attention and craved the envy of other people, and did what ever it took to get it.
Hmmm......an event happening to millions in America that is of so little interest that no one cares to discuss.
Or is it to painful?
You know - M*A*S*H is one of my favorite shows of all time - but after seeing the same episodes the umpteen-millionth time where I'm quoting every character's line without trying - it gets quite boring.
The one trick your dead pony was doing wasn't even that interesting to begin with - but feel free to keep beating on the carcass!
You know - M*A*S*H is one of my favorite shows of all time - but after seeing the same episodes the umpteen-millionth time where I'm quoting every character's line without trying - it gets quite boring.
The one trick your dead pony was doing wasn't even that interesting to begin with - but feel free to keep beating on the carcass!
Find some good news and we'll discuss it. Otherwise, I'll continue to post the news of the day as it's found.
I'm finding less is more is quite rewarding.
I've always marched to a different beat throughout my life and didn't care for the "keeping up with the Jones crowd". I'm a white collar worker who lives a blue collar life and am quite happy.
I've got a BS in Computer Science and work in tech all day long yet at home I live low to no tech.
I see a lot more folks starting to move in that direction lately. I think that's good as most of the tech stuff costs money to both buy and use (electricity).
Given how quickly sales of large vehicles rebound at the slightest hint of economic recovery, I don't hold much hope for some new dawn of smaller living.
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