Consumers spend more today in our daily living than they did just a few short years ago. There has been a shift in priorities related to saving and spending money, making it harder than ever to be frugal and out of debt. We have been talking about some of the reasons that we spend more today. If you missed those earlier articles in this series, you can read them here: Reasons We Spend Today: Availability and Reasons We Spend Today: Buying Power.
Now we will look at one of the bigger reasons that we spend today: our social and economic cues.
The messages we get today out in the world, especially in America, is to spend and spend some more. We are told that spending money is good for the economy, and so it is our patriotic duty. Spending money leads to more goods and services which leads to more jobs. This is good right? There is no doubt that the economy is stimulated by spending, but at the same time, citizens are in more debt than we have ever been before. We must work harder and longer to afford the things on which we are spending money.
Back in the early part of the 20th century, the message out there was to save, save, save, especially during the world wars. People were told that saving was a matter of national security and a core value. Anyone who didn’t save was scene as a threat to society. Buying something on credit was scene as a very negative and embarrassing thing.
The economy did not place such a huge burden on its consumers. Of course, there are other issues that it had, but that is the subject for other articles.
Nowadays, everything from the government to corporations to our households are based around debt and how much debt we are qualified to carry.
The stigmas that used to be attached to debt have melted. No longer is someone embarrassed if they need to use credit for a purchase. We aren’t worried about a salesperson judging us for using a credit or a debit card. In fact, our media commercials tell us that when we use cash, we slow everyone else down.
What do you think?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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