5 June 2011

The First World Connundrum

Simply living in the developed world pushes you towards over consumption and encourages us to live beyond our means. This structure comes from the top where everybody can afford everything and development is ever encouraged. Down the ladder it becomes a matter of 'staying with the times'. For a lot of people that means spending far too much updating to the newest of the new, relying on credit to keep up... when in reality they are forcing themselves deeper and further behind. This will never stop as long as corporate tyranny is the idealized form of economic governance; especially since it is the people at the top who are racking in the profits from both the credit purchases and credit debts.

Western ideals(as if),
will-full ignorance(same dif),
water supplies and
winter weather wanning worldwide.

2 comments:

  1. "Credit Purchases and Credit Debt". This is a great topic. Living beyond one's means obviously is fool hardy. Acquiring new and newer things is often just showing off. That's fine, if one can afford it. It is stupid if one can't. Who is to blame? Is it the mass media i.e. constant corporate advertising? Is it fear of shame being heaped on us by one's peers, if one is observed not keeping up with the Joneses? Is it following the example of spend, send, spend by one's parents? I sometimes wonder if one might be better off learning how to budget monthly and then pay for everything with cash i.e. without using one's credit cards or debit cards? Yes, I realize that this would make it much more onerous when acquiring necessary living things. But, wouldn't that be a good thing? Why does one feel driven to spend/buy when one a) does not need the item or b) cannot afford it? My wife and I have never owned a Cell phone. Our favourite car is 8 years old. We have the money in the bank to buy a 150,000.00 Mercedes. But we don't even think that we need to update our '04 VW Jetta with another new Jetta. We don't own a flat screen TV, notwithstnding the fact that we can pay cash for the biggest and best one in the stores. Are we happy living like this? You bet! Do we feel badly that we are not keeping up with the Joneses? No.

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