Quote:
Originally Posted by d-ray657
I'll close with a question or three. If more and more people actually scaled down their consumption to needs rather than wants, what would be the effect on our economy?
Would our economy be stronger in the long run with a lower private debt?
Would the financial institutions that have profited immensely from our dysfunctional consumerism see their just deserts if we as a nation were able to reduce our debt?
Could we survive the discomfort that would accompany a different focus on our standard of living?
Thanks for letting me think out loud.
Regards,
D-Ray
|
Don, I think your analysis is spot on. As to your questions, I just don't know. I think we as a society would benefit from pulling in our horns but I suspect that our economy has grown up on a culture of over-consumption and couldn't withstand a rapid retrenchment. Perhaps on a gradual basis.
Given my hobby of collecting old gear, I'm a frequent habitue of Goodwill and Salvation Army stores as well as county landfills. It astonishes me to see what gets thrown away, buried and forgotten in landfills. I've recently started going to our Goodwill Outlet Center which is an "as-is" store at the regional GW HQ. There I've seen the prodigious amount of stuff that they throw away without ever offering it for sale or, at best, putting it out on rolling tables for 20 minutes before rolling out the next table. Anything not taken gets dumped.
John