Don't Listen To Me!

As I walked through the mall a few weeks ago, it occurred to me that if everyone listened to me we would be in big trouble!  If we all suddenly developed perspective, began living out our values that people are more important than things and suddenly stopped reacting to advertising hype and peer pressure, half the retail establishments would go out of business - and with them the jobs.  The stock market would tank and with it our retirement investments – so many IRAs, 401(k)s and union pension funds.

What if we all started buying things because we needed them, not because someone else told us that we needed them?  What if we stopped trying so hard to impress our friends and neighbors?  How many shoe stores would one mall need?  Would people rush to buy the latest electronic gadget the day it came out or fight over the latest athletic shoes or pay outrageously for fashions with a designer label or logo?  Would we continue to buy four-dollar cups of fancy coffee?   Instead would we have a nice bowl of cereal packed with fiber and vitamins in the morning and make ourselves a sandwich for lunch a few days a week, saving money and feeling healthier instead of living on a fast-food diet?  Would we be willing to pay those high prices to watch millionaire athletes, actors or singers perform, camping outside the door for hours; or would we wait until the prices seemed more reasonable, more in perspective, forcing those entertainers and promoters to meet (rather than set) our expectations?

Think about it –how many of the 1% that the occupiers rail against were able to join the top1%  because we met their price or kept their companies in business by buying stuff that we could have easily lived without?  Whose spending drove the housing bubble, the Internet bubble and all the other bubbles that made someone else rich?  How many people have basements and garages full of things they once “needed” but now rarely look at – and storage containers rented to accommodate the overflow?

But let’s not all get perspective at once!  There are common folks out there whose jobs depend on Americans buying new cars every few years, stopping in for fast food and a cup of coffee, making a meal with our family a special event instead of a regular practice, preferring designer labels on everything they buy, putting appearance ahead of substance, and planning their lives around what others think of them.  It’s OK if a few try this perspective thing, but let's not get carried away.  If it spreads too far too fast, we are all doomed!