As time goes by and I age, I find myself questioning more and more things around me. My degree is in economics and throughout college we were taught that spending is what creates a strong economy. It’s how we sometimes measure it, we cater our legislation around it, and our entire pop culture is based off of it. Spending is the glue that is holding our economy together… or is it? Perhaps , it is the force ripping our economy apart?
Today we are in more debt than ever, in fact our private debt to GDP ratio is the worst its ever been since the height of the great depression. The average US household is carrying around 15k worth of credit card debt and yet the government continues to incentivize spending. When spending stopped after the financial crisis in 08 the government thought of Quantitative Easing, which basically in its very bare form was a way to disincentivize the holding of cash. People were either forced to the stock market or figured it was better off to spend their money. How much is enough before we as a society say enough is enough? How much shit do we need to be happy? Is that extra pair of pants from Ralf Lauren or that Armani suit what is making us happy or is it all an illusion that has been pulled over our eyes?
To take a quote from Fight Club
“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Every day I look around and I see people obsessed with the brand they are wearing, or the model of the car they are driving. People who think they are expressing their individuality with those $200 pair of pants. I don’t see free people, I see slaves who have bought into a system that perpetuates spending until you have no more money left to give and when you hit that point you take out a credit card and buy some more. We have been convinced that the brand we wear establishes our identity, without which, we would be just another forgettable person. We have created a society that revolves around money, how much we have, how much we make, so we can continue buying into absurd identities that some soulless corporation dreamed up.
Those who see past the bullshit of our consumerist society and actually make the right decisions are further punished by the government. Our investments are taxed to the point where it sometimes doesn’t even make sense to pull the money out. When I was younger I was a big believer in helping everyone in our society and in some ways I still think that, but in the back of my head I have a growing feeling that doing so would be throwing money into a pit. Until people can open their eyes to the crap they have been fed, our economy is going to continue down a road of debt and destruction for all involved. Look around you, be aware, don’t become another slave of debt to these massive corporations that will control your life. Once you go far enough there is no turning back. The debt doesn’t go away, you can’t out pay it, all you can do is declare bankruptcy.
Don’t let our culture make you feel obsolete for spending only what is necessary, don’t believe the idea that you are “cheap” because you don’t want to spend 60 dollars on a shirt that you’ll wear only a few times. You are the smart ones, you have the potential to achieve freedom and buy yourself out of the system of debt that we currently live in.
-Calaber24p