The case against thrift

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/02/25/thrift_levine/


The case against thrift

The downturn is giving us new excuses for moral flagellation. But saving money won't save your soul.

By Judith Levine
Pages 1 2

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Type "recession is good" into Google and you get more than 35 million hits. Some of these are from unreconstructed bulls, explaining how the downturn can help entrepreneurs, supermarkets, something called "cloud computing" -- and, of course, thrift stores. Marketers are linking bad times with good selling. Trend hound Faith Popcorn -- who could find consumers among the residents of a Darfurian refugee camp -- identifies the next surefire ploy: empathy. She attributes Burger King's recent gains to its "we-feel-your-pain" ads rather than to the desperation of laid-off workers driven to subsisting on French fries.

NPR's Martin Caste notices another theme, "dignified deprivation." He plays an Allstate insurance ad: "People are getting back to the basics -- and the basics are good."

The basics -- unemployment, bankruptcy, foreclosure -- are allegedly good for community (increased donations to soup kitchens, at least from those who aren't eating at them); for family (playing Scrabble together aids both parent-child communication and spelling); for love (bonking is free; just forgo the platinum dildo); and good for health, thanks to more home cooking and less junk food consumption (except for McDonald’s).


snip//

I'm thrifty by upbringing and environmentalist principle and, as a writer, by necessity. For decades I've dutifully put money into my IRA. This year, like everyone else, I lost half of it. Did thrift reward me? I cannot say it gave me much spiritually, unless you count a sense of security. And that turns out to have been false.

So I have reflected on what else I might have done with that money. I could have spent six months in Paris drinking wine and perfecting my French, financed a small movie, or bought oceanfront property in Nova Scotia. What effects would I have reaped from my profligacy? Knowledge, adventure, pleasure: riches perhaps exceeding those of a fully funded retirement account.

You can’t take it with you. That's what St. Paul told Timothy before warning him that the love of money was the root of all evil: "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." What lesson does the recession teach? Live now. Be merry. For tomorrow we -- or the stock market bull -- may die.

[rolltideroll]

1. First rate post

I feel better about being bad with money.

[yellerpup]

2. Nice find.

Thanks. K&R