I listened, compassionately, to a friend go off about the fact that she has no space in her 3 floor colonial for all her stuff. Dresses, blouses, suits, jewelry, cosmetics, lotions, soaps, books, magazines, and above all, her freaking SHOES! Racks and bins of clothes everywhere! Her basement looks like Filene's Basement in Boston! So what does she do on Black Friday? Go shopping!
No she wasn't one of the throngs that hit a mall at 5:00am. For her, 9:00am was more than adequate. But the question I ask, which drives her straight up a wall, is why are you buying all this?!?!?!?!? The larger question of course, is why do any of us buy the junk we buy?
I know people don't read newspapers anymore, but have they stopped watching TV news as well? We are now suffering the curse of living in a consumer society run amok. We buy things we want, not need. These things are not manufactured in our own country, which means we transfer our money to other countries, namely China, while robbing ourselves of savings. These countries take the money we send them and use our dollars to build their infrastructure, human capital, and in the case of China, their military. Think about that next time you go into an Old Navy or Wall-Mart.
The other piece of this is energy consumption. Retail stores use A LOT of power. Then there is the gas people use to get there and back. Don't forget the gas used to transport the stuff from the point of manufacture to the store. Last, think about the amount of petroleum used to create paints, dyes, plastics, and packaging.
Think about it, how much stuff can you use at one time? How many clothes or shoes can you wear at one time? Societal demand being what they are, you probably don't want to wear the same clothes everyday, even if you are in the military. We don't need all the crap we buy. Yes, I know, retail is a major sector of our economy. But if you think about it, it makes more sense to either save or invest the cash we don't spend on essentials like food and housing. Remember, if you keep up with current events, you know that we are going to have to develop new technologies. If Americans en masse save and invest their money, American banks and financial institutions can fund the development of these new technologies. This could all help to re-grow the American economy, and create new jobs in America, for Americans. In terms of the big picture, isn't this more important than a bath robe, a Hancock DVD, or a commemorative plate?
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You said it. I've been saying it for years. Amy Daczcin wrote about it in "The Tightwad Gazette." Benjamin Franklin said it back around the time of the Revolutionary War in his essay "The Way to Wealth." And there was that song: "Too Much Stuff."
Believe me, you are preaching to the choir at this house. The only place I went on Friday was the dog park.
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