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News & ArtsTuesday, January 13, 2009
Retail The Good Trend
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 10:57 AM
In a speech delivered at the annual conference of National Retail Federation’s, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of Wal-Mart, H. Lee Scott, stated that the most troubling trend for retailers at this moment is not that Americans are spending less but are enjoying spending less. 
“Some people are giving up eating out; some people are giving up movies; some people are giving up other things like shopping,” Scott said. “And they were talking about how good they felt about doing that. Those are fundamental changes that will continue.”
The meaning of 21st century freedom—freedom from the credit-forged manacles of consumer spending—turns out to be a break from a postmodern form of slavery that was perfected at the end of the 20th century. If this process of emancipation continues, if Americans buy less and less and feel good about doing so, then truly a better world is just around the corner. What those in power see as pain at the pump, crashing markets, hurting sales, I can't help but see as signs of hope and a possible return to the road to actual social democracy. All of this bad news is in the long run the best news possible for the world.
1
All well and good, but the question I have is: once the economy starts to swing back upward, will this trend persist? The recent rise in gas prices spurred a shift in consumer thinking that quickly reversed itself once prices fell back down. Who's to say the same thing won't happen with this trend?
2
It is unfortunate that none of the media or politics have tried this point of view on yet. You are absolutely right.
3
That's a joke, right?
Walmart slightly misses it's quarter and suddenly we're on the social democracy? The "best news possible for the world"?
This is better than even ECB's enthusiastic endorsment of the guy who wrote the American economy is only lawyers and movies.
Slog is a joke, an embarrassment.
Walmart slightly misses it's quarter and suddenly we're on the social democracy? The "best news possible for the world"?
This is better than even ECB's enthusiastic endorsment of the guy who wrote the American economy is only lawyers and movies.
Slog is a joke, an embarrassment.
5
I have been given a 50 dollar gift card for WALMART and have no diea how to sue it. I'm not near enough to an outlet to buy food or brows and they have a lot less variety of things or deals on their web page than Fred Myer.
If I wan's poor would give it away, but technically I am poor (temporarily I hope).
If I wan's poor would give it away, but technically I am poor (temporarily I hope).
10
I wonder how a slave, in the truest sense of the word, would feel at having modern American consumerism compared to slavery. I wonder if one would find the comparison to be galling.
It's like a multi-millionaire pro football player comparing what he does to "fighting in a war."
It's like a multi-millionaire pro football player comparing what he does to "fighting in a war."
12
But I think actual social democracy requires a bit of steadfastness, and all this article indicates is the fickleness of our enthusiasms.
13
Charles,
As someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum from you, I wholeheartedly agree with your observation. If spending less makes people feel good, great. What I hope it does as well is make people (especially Americans) look better. It might enable Americans (a very obese people) to exercise more. As a result, they will be less and less "enslaved" to consumption. That is, buying for the sake of buying.
As someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum from you, I wholeheartedly agree with your observation. If spending less makes people feel good, great. What I hope it does as well is make people (especially Americans) look better. It might enable Americans (a very obese people) to exercise more. As a result, they will be less and less "enslaved" to consumption. That is, buying for the sake of buying.
14
@5,
Can you sell it for, say, $30 to someone who can get to a Walmart? I'd rather have 30 bucks in hand than some cheap crap from that store.
Can you sell it for, say, $30 to someone who can get to a Walmart? I'd rather have 30 bucks in hand than some cheap crap from that store.
15
@10
I wonder how a writer illustrating an idea would feel when the point is missed because a reader insists on hearing an unintended meaning in a single word?
Granted, the slavery image is somewhat hyperbolic, but the larger point is still quite clear.
I wonder how a writer illustrating an idea would feel when the point is missed because a reader insists on hearing an unintended meaning in a single word?
Granted, the slavery image is somewhat hyperbolic, but the larger point is still quite clear.
16
The real problem is all the bailout money to banks just resulted in them jacking up credit card rates for most consumers to the 26 to 30 percent level and tripling the minimum payments, which of course meant that consumer spending dropped.
WalMart is evil, in case you didn't know.
Go to CostCo instead. They're local.
WalMart is evil, in case you didn't know.
Go to CostCo instead. They're local.
18
Talk to anybody who lived through Depression 1.0 and you will notice that they tend to have a very different attitude towards money and consumption; rather than feeling entitled to live whatever lifestyle they choose whether or not they can afford it, they tend to be frugal and to regard credit as a con game. It took generations of affluence and constant commercial indoctrination to convince Americans that a flat-screen TV is their God-given right, and I imagine it will take at least a generation to reverse that way of thinking.
What I think Mr. Scott is really expressing alarm about is that financial reality is at last intruding on the carefully-constructed magical thinking on the part of the American consumer that tells them they are defined by their purchases, and that buying on credit is equivalent to ownership. The fall in real wages has been occurring for 30 years, but now that they can no longer make up the difference with imaginary money, people are starting to notice.
What I think Mr. Scott is really expressing alarm about is that financial reality is at last intruding on the carefully-constructed magical thinking on the part of the American consumer that tells them they are defined by their purchases, and that buying on credit is equivalent to ownership. The fall in real wages has been occurring for 30 years, but now that they can no longer make up the difference with imaginary money, people are starting to notice.
19
There's a difference between living beyond your means (past), living within your means (future) and living below your means (present).
It's a good thing for our society.
Eventually.
It's a good thing for our society.
Eventually.
21
For an entertaining and informative documentary on why and how Americans were trained to be consumer whores, check out "Century of the Self"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=…
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=…
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