Conspicuous Consumption Makes the News!

In today's New York Times came an article about the demise of conspicuous consumption because of the recession.  I am shocked!

What these kinds of articles do, however, is set up a dynamic (a conflict if you will) between the folks who believe this recession (I really really want to use the "d" key instead of the "r" key, and then a few "p's") is a cultural policy window and those who, like the current and past federal administrations, understand that unfortunately, our economy is dependent upon consuming.  Those who see this as a cultural policy window are savoring the moment of  "I told you so."  They saw the worst of the worst, the McMansions, the expensive cars, the gaudy jewels, the $1,000 Sex In The City Jimmy Choo shoes, and consistently (in their minds) said our culture was far too out on a consumption limb.  They are thoroughly enjoying the idea that we'll all give up our cars, our McDonald's Big Macs, and our Nordstrom credit cards for a simple life growing lettuce instead of grass in our front yards.

But then there are the folks who are coming late to this debate.  Laurie David and her stopglobalwarming.org who is currently on a rant about toilet paper.  This from a woman who lives in a huge mansion in LA and probably spends on clothing in a month what many of us spend in a year!  Or Arianna Huffington, who once wrote a piece about how many Blackberry phones she owned.

Culture wars or divisions will always be a part of our society.  And this combined rush for "sustainable" living (local food sources, green architecture, transportation etc) along with an energized policy initiatives on the environment, we may gradually move our culture toward a renewed sense of "just enough" rather than "too much."  But I think pundits expounding on how everyone else should live is not good.  If it's one thing we do well it's seeing through hypocrisy.  In order to sway a cultural shift, we  need to let the impacts of this depression (oops, recession) seep in as well as provide positive answers.  In other words, yes, we can all live well with two pairs of Jimmy Choos not four!  The reality is while this depression will alter all of our lives, it will not be a radical change in our culture.  Radical takes time.  A major concern is that while this depression will alter lives, it may also further expand the disparity between the rich and poor, further eliminating the middle class.  And that is not good at all.

But the good news is, we're beginning to have discussions in the "public town square" about how much stuff is enough.