When I was a kid I remember mom telling me that growing up during the depression was an experience that changed her for life. Nothing came easy for mom, or dad for that matter, as the children of struggling mid-west farm families. Of course they grew their own food, raised their own livestock, repaired their own vehicles and farm implements, patched their own houses and barns, and sewed some of their own clothes. Mom knew how to stretch a pound of 'ground round' about fifteen different ways and she was pretty good at turning rags into rugs. Nothing was taken for granted. When it broke or wore out everything was repaired or patched until it could no longer be repaired or patched, and then a different use was found for it. Whenever possible most things were bought second-hand and with the exception of gasoline, heating oil, electricity, and phone service very little was bought on a regular basis.
I say that not as some kind of nostalgic look back at the 'good old days', just a statement of historical fact.
I went to the store today and bought some 'stuff'. If you asked me exactly what I bought, I'd be hard pressed to tell you. I just know I bought some 'stuff' that at the time seemed like a good idea to buy.
I'm addicted to buying. My name is Mark Thoma and I'm an addict. There I said it.
Actually I've known for years that I was addicted to buying.
I get a thrill out of buying. The thrill is bigger the more I spend on a particular object, but it quickly wears off leaving me with the urge to buy again.
George W. Bush knew I was an addict. For that matter so did Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Barack Obama certainly knows it along with all the people he works for, you know the captains of corporate America. They all get just a little pissed off if I quit buying because it pays their bills. In fact right after that whole attack on corporate America we now refer to as '9-11' Bush realized that the worst thing that could possibly happen was if I (and of course the 300 million other Americans addicted to buying 'stuff') quit buying for even a day or two.
Because that's what we've become during the past 70 years...a nation of shallow consumers. Ever since the end of WWII Americans have shown an absolute single-minded pursuit of buying stuff. And while corporate America has been filling that 'need' they've been busy buying too. Buying politicians, lawyers, judges, lobbyists, pundits, and anyone who can give them an edge in controlling the addicts, like me.
I honestly don't think that most of my fellow American consumer/addicts see anything wrong with buying a lot of stuff. On the contrary. In some weird way they see it as one of the blessings of being American. We saved the world from truly bad guys like Hitler, Stalin, Tojo and Mussolini, and our reward was the ability to buy (or in many cases, take) things that raised a lot of collective eyebrows around the world. Like all that Middle Eastern oil in the 50's and 60's for a penny on the dollar. Or all that South American fruit and coffee for a penny on the dollar. Or all that sub-continent cheap labor for a penny on the dollar.
And as any addict will tell you, he/she doesn't really care where the stuff comes from, or who pays the bill, just as long as it keeps coming.
Here's the funny thing though. We're supposedly a country of good Christians. And nowhere in the Bible did Jesus tell his disciples to keep buying stuff. In fact he said a person couldn't serve two gods; the first being him and the second being 'stuff'. But today his faithful don't have any trouble with a little bit of mental gymnastics when it comes to that choice. In fact most (a generalization here) get downright nasty if they think someone with less 'stuff', i.e. the poor, tries to take any of theirs.
But I don't have that problem. I don't worship, or follow, or even believe in Jesus or any other god. I only believe in 'stuff'.
All hail 'stuff'.
All hail mammon.
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