Consumerism

What is it really? It dominates our whole life, but how much do we really know about consumerism? How did this behavior appear in one of the thriftiest country's in the world in the early 1900's?

Back then Americans bought what they needed to live and very little else, they paid for their homes and everything else in cash/gold. Edward Bernays came along with a massive discovery, by linking products to our subconscious desires, he could influence people to buy goods and services.

a little reading on the subconscious brain and how easy it is to twist things...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/health/psychology/31subl.html

it's from the NY times, but it does give source's.


a little reading on Bernays and some sound bites from an interview with Bernays.

http://www.bookrags.com/biography/edward-l-bernays/

bio


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4612464

it's npr, so that might scare away you repubs out there reading my blog.....lol, don't worry, I'm an independent, so you can tell your friends about me.

A great place to start is a free video online called the century of self, here is the link for that.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1122532358497501036#docid=3676423646869922954


What got me started even thinking about all of this was a video on the news when the iPhone came out, all those people standing in line to buy a phone(no matter how cool it is), already talking on a cell phone.

how could people needlessly go out and spend money like that i wondered? While some people have a need for such a device, most people do not.

a telling quote from the movie provides us with a look at the answer.

He cites Paul Mazer, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in
the
1930s: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People
must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been
entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs."

From our first days we have been breed to be consumers, to keep buying, borrowing, and spending. So much so that 40% of Americans SPEND more then the earn every year.

It's very telling about what lies ahead if we cant keep borrowing and spending at this reckless pace. 70% of US GDP is consumer spending, which means for US GDP to go up each year, consumer spending has to increase each year or you have to make up the difference in other places.

The company's help along your decision to buy thru the use of two tactics, planned obsolescence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

and perceived obsolescence.

With perceived being the worst of the two, anyone who was a teen in the late 50's up to today knows what high school was like if you did not have the right clothes/cars/etc.

Perceived obsolescence or "keeping up with the Joneses" is what has driven this consumerism madness.

Every person reading this knows what I'm saying is true, deep in your heart you have judge and been judge by what you wear/eat/drive/etc.

We are social creatures and feel the need to fit into whatever little group(circle of friends) we feel we belong too, we adopt their habits,clothing,goals,beliefs of many of our friends,lovers, co workers and family members in order to be accepted.

We need to stop this behaviour.

Please leave any questions or comments and/or insults in the comment section.

Biometric IDs..

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904575110124037066854.html

FDIC is after pensions!

By Dakin CampbellMarch 8 (Bloomberg) --

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to encourage public retirement funds that control more than $2 trillion to buy all or part of failed lenders, taking a more direct role in propping up the banking system, said people briefed on the matter.

Direct investments may allow funds such as those in Oregon, New Jersey and California to cut fees for private-equity managers, and the agency to get better prices for distressed assets, the people said. They declined to be identified because talks with regulators are confidential.


Story here

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-08/failed-banks-may-get-pension-fund-backing-as-fdic-seeks-cash.html

Riots in Greece

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2010/03/riots-in-greece-over-debt-cris.html

So here's some pics from lovely Greece where they decide to cut services and up the taxes!! This of course is already happening here, but most Americans have a lot more apathy about politics then our European cousins.

Hey, as long as we have mtv, bud light and American idol, who cares right? We(on average) work, come home and sit down to drown out our day, be it with TV,computer,drinking,drugs,etc. A large portion of Americans lead a reactionary life, not only do they not plan their day, most don't plan their lives either, or include a vague plan along the lines of work,house,wife,kids,etc.

Life passes most Americans by without them even noticing. We have become one of the most brainwashed people on the planet, knowing little of what our government does, and caring even less then that.

But there is no greater duty of the patriot to insure that our government is being true to it's principals, not only for our benefit, but for those of us not even born yet.

Fear not brothers and sisters when i say the currency will collapse, while this time will bring death and hard times, it will also allow us to return to our roots and hopefully empower us to erect the country our fore fathers had intended.

Prepare now to soften the impact later, for this will be a hard fall.

The 2009 Financial Report Of The U.S. Government Is Out A MUST READ!

Published on 03-04-2010

By Michael Snyder - BLN Contributing Writer

The 2009 Financial Report Of The U.S. Government has finally been released, and the news is not good.

It basically confirms much of what we already know - that the United States government is a complete financial mess. The U.S. government budget deficit for 2009 was a record-setting 1.417 trillion dollars. The total liabilities of the U.S. government rose from 12.178 trillion dollars at the end of 2008 to 14.123 trillion dollars by the end of 2009.

At their present rates of growth, the interest on the national debt and spending on entitlement programs will gobble up almost every single dollar of federal revenue by the end of the decade.

Throughout the report, the word "unsustainable" is repeatedly used. The authors of the report understand that the U.S. government simply cannot keep spending and borrowing like it has been recently.

But if the U.S. government slows down this reckless spending even a little bit it could literally plunge the U.S. economy into a deflationary depression. In fact, even with all of the "bailouts" and "stimulus packages" there are many who would argue that we are already in a depression. In any event, the authors of the report make it clear that the United States government is facing a financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude.Just consider the following chart below.

This chart comes straight out of the 2009 Financial Report Of The U.S. Government, and it shows how explosively federal deficits have grown in recent years....I can't do this article justice, but highly recommend reading.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-7657-0-13-13--.html