Glorious! More of this please :)

All true! But the people referred to will never listen; they are too busy consuming and whining.

We have friends who live in a $2 million house with an $800,000 mortgage, two four wheel drive cars, swimming pool, regular overseas holidays, all the mod cons - and they are constantly complaining about the pressures of modern life.

They never stop to think that their own insatiable media-generated wants are the source of the pressures. And if they just stopped for a moment to reflect on their manic consumption patterns, they might find a saner space in which to live and breathe.

A number of recent books have explored this same theme (eg: 'Affluenza', 'Status Anxiety'). Essentially, it is a disease brought on by a long economic boom. People's expectations gradually ratchet higher. Wants turn into needs. And material things are expected to provide all the worthwhile things of life.

The cure for all this - and it is now on its way - is a decent recession. As painful as it is, a decent economic downturn forces people to find value again in non-material things and to reacquaint themselves with the notion of 'making do'.

The world becomes a better place as people put down their electronic devices and reconnect.

When the RBA raised rates a while ago (January I think), I saw a great news item about a young couple with two small kids, who were complaining about the rate rise, how it meant an extra $30 a month on the mortgage, which they just couldn't afford, and blah blah blah, and in the background, while they were talking, I could see a massive 40 inch or so flat screen TV.

Needless to say I had very little sympathy for the poor darlings...

Fabulous! We need more of this type of reality check. The truth is every choice has it's consequences and greed makes for a stressful life.

We live in a society which is based on consumption. The economies not only demand it, but require it. The whole focus of society is on how to consume. Lending institutions fall over themselves to facilitate it.

You must have it and you must have it now and it must be really really big.

Just like your mortgage and your credit card and your car lease and your …… well, you get the picture.

To facilitate this we have inflation. A State run institution carefully managed by the Central Banks. It’s only 2/3% they say.

Bulldust.

Everyone knows that is a gigantic con job, just ask a pensioner.

Add inflation to the ‘must have it now’ syndrome and society is on a never ending catch-up. The banks love it.

Deflation is a bad, bad thing. Things go down in price. That is terrible say the economists.

So, if I have savings in my account and the thing I want to buy goes down in price, I am struggling to see how that is bad for me.

I am not an economist but I have read about Austrian Economics. Most economists fall about laughing because it says that moderate deflation is not bad, it can be good. It gives you time and incentive to save. Also, that a healthy economy needs to be reamed out from time to time to restore itself.

No, say the economists, let us manage the problem, after all, we can count.

http://www.mises.org/

DialeticBlue, you may be confusing 'deflation' with 'disinflation'. Every economist agrees that a falling rate of inflation ('disinflation') is a good thing and that inflation is bad (it destroys the value of our hard earned money and rewards speculators and spivs).

By contrast, 'deflation' is most definitely undesirable. Deflation is an outright decline in prices. It's what happened to Japan for most of the 1990s. On the surface, it sounds like a great thing. In reality, it leads to dire consequences for everyone. People put off consumption because they know that the goods will be cheaper tomorrow. Firms put off production, because their profit margins are eroded. Banks offer to lend, but no-one is willing to borrow. Companies consequently put off workers and recession results.

Not a policy I would recommend

The usual railing against the poor by the right wing, from those who are usually doing very well - on the backs of workers. Never for a moment seeing their backward and reactionary viewpoint as a convoluted mixture of arrogance, ignorance and the use of the 'big lie'. They express a well worn political road and method of the political establishment, and that is blaming others for their treachery and exonerating their own culpability. By that I mean, they express the very politics of the politicians who are honeyed friends of workers on election day for ten minutes after the polls have closed. Then the frothing attacks are unleashed, all the while, taking their pay off those they rail against. Another well worn opportunist method is they create the problems, muddy the waters and fish the waters to see what they yield. A further example, is the jargon they employ to cover their tracks such as "privatization", "restructuring", "rollback", and Rudds latest "brutopia". What care they, if they destroy the public hospitals, the education system, fire brigades, ambulance, pensions and Centrelink dole? They think it is funny and their direction is backwards!

I've noticed very similar things to the author, not just with "battlers" in McMansions in the outer suburbs, cheek-by-jowl monstrosities with an average of 2.5 people in them, but the chain-smoking welfare recipients in the pubs, too.

Conspicuous consumption starts with the young, these days. No longer can kids wander down to the local park and find enough artifacts to play using their imaginations- no, they have to have an expensive gadget with a half-life of two weeks, which, as Mr French noted, in its short life will chew through enough batteries to have kept an African village in lighting for a month.

As a product of the 50s and 60s I manage with a lot of "old stuff". My stereo was bought in the 80s, and my TV, while a biggie, and only 5 years old, is not flatscreen and will be kept until it breaks (of course, if it does, it would not be worthwhile to have it fixed!).

Some degree of "keeping up with the Joneses" is necessary- few of us would be surfing today's web on a 1995 model computer, for instance, and cars are improving with every new release, in fuel economy and safety, important factors.

I guess "bigger is better" in many people's minds whether it's their house, or the kilowatts their car puts out, or the size of their TV screen or the watts the stereo system outputs.

One wonders what the outer suburbs will look like in a few years if the recession bites hard- who would want to live in a gigantic house, with no yard space for a veggie garden, no eaves to shade from the blazing sun, no public transport, shops nowhere to be seen, the only views that of the neighbours' houses 3 metres from yours, and fuel at $3/litre with the only work available an hour's drive away?

I'm so pleased that the muddling mcmansioners are unlikely to be readers of OLO. If they saw the light, my own very comfortable standard of living would slither down the plug'ole.

Most of my wardrobe, my home furnishings, my garden embellishments have come from the Good Sammys, carpark trash'n'treasure and kerbside collections. The cost would soar and standard plummet if they who treat all things like kleenex tissues were to value them appropriately.

My favourite quote comes from Socrates who, standing in the middle of the market place, looked around him and commented, "Look at all the things I don't need." Too many people echoing him will bring about the Fall of Western Civilisation as We Know It.

Diana

Why do people complain that life is complicated?

It seems to me that life is very simple. Some examples:

If you want to lose weight: Don't eat.

If you want to save: Don't spend.

Living within your income is equally easy, but the problem is that every sector of society will oppose you. The problem is that unless growth continues, unemployment will rise.

I must admit I am biassed. If my super fund goes up $20k, that's just a book entry that has to be accounted for. The real buzz in life is when you can go into Coles and have an item rung up at the checkout at a price higher than is displayed on the shelf. You then point this out, and get it for free.

The joy I feel at not spending must be at least 100 times greater than the joy of earning. That is why I don't gamble, or watch advertisements.

I know that I am an economic traitor, in having a seven figure sum just sitting at call because I can't think of anything I need to spend it on, but it seems to me that if more people were like me, the country would be a lot better off.

When we have our foreign debt called in, I will be pressured to assist those who become insolvent. Why should I?

I agree with most of the comments here about wasteful extravagance and living beyond our means. I have contributed to these columns before, so won't repeat the ways that I live within my means by not eating out, smoking or drinking etc and living a more healthy life as a consequence. What I really feel is immoral in this day and age is the advertising that pervades all our waking lives. Not only is it misleading and patently emotional in its appeal, it raises everyone's expectations to an unattainable level and to a point where people actually believe they need it. The most valuable items that I possess are the mute on the remote control for when the commercials appear and my VCR to record anything of length in order to Zap the advertising. I have three VCRs so that I can record what I like and watch what I like, when I like.

60 minutes become 43 minutes, so look at the time you save as well !

When my wife and I tell someone that we both work from home we usually get the gushing response: "Oh, you're so lucky! I WISH I could do that." To which I have now prepared a reply: "You can; you just have take a 30% pay cut." Plenty of people we know have withdrawn from the daily grind, but they're not the inner-city folk who get their opinions reported in newspapers. Petulance and greed always makes for a good human interest story.

After the “liar loans” and “predatory lending”crisis where a few million people are going to lose their homes, and a recession is on the way we are told “ you are not having trouble making ends meet, let me speak slowly here, you are just being dim witted.” “ I repeat, DIM –WITTED.” “I know couples, both working, who suffer from “can’t make ends meet” syndrome.”
None of the rightwing pundits here mention that over the last two decades CEO’s have had some 400 substantial pay rises whilst workers have had none or nothing of significance. I have no figures for this country but I was struck by a report that the top US CEO now gets an hourly rate 24,000 times what a worker gets. A survey of the 2007 income of American hedge fund managers published Wednesday sheds light on the ugly reality of American capitalism.
The annual ranking of top hedge fund earners compiled by Alpha, a magazine that caters to wealthy and institutional investors, reports that the top money-maker, John Paulson, took home $3.7 billion last year, probably the richest singe-year haul in Wall Street history. Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company, was not the only multi-billion-dollar hedge fund winner. He was followed by George Soros, who took in $2.9 billion, and James H. Simons, who netted $2.8 billion. The top 50 hedge fund managers took in a combined sum of $29 billion.

I agree with your argument, but find your tone censorious and patronising. Anyone born and raised in poverty understands how so many of the poor will always be poor because they don't know how to spend wisely. At the same time where would we all be if everyone was like Diana and me and bought many of their favourite things from op shops? The economy needs consumers, (especially lovers of good food and wine, or sports cars, or art works!)if we are all going to have jobs so we can spend or save, or preferably do both. I particularly agree that the most annoying thing about conspicuous consumers is their sense of entitlement and outrage when things are tight and they can't keep their toys. They seem to think that someone else is to blame and expect that the government ie taxpayers, ie you and me, should fix things up with a subsidy or compensation of some kind. And yes it is possible for those us with enough savvy to ride a bike, buy soup bones, grow veggies and live out of op shops. That's a fun way of life for many of us even in affluent times. You'd have unions and employer groups alike down on you like a ton of bricks if you suggested that we should educate the masses to live like that. Look at how the Myer CEO was squealing about interest rates damaging sales and his profits! When I think about this paradox of waste in western economies and starvation in the developing world I do wish that somehow we could bring sanity to our use of energy in particular - regulate globally so that sugar cane is used only for bio fuels and staple grains reserved for food consumption. People managed without sweets and sugar during war time years, national health improved. Petrol rationing meant we walked everywhere and set ourselves up for a healthier old age. Maybe this constellation of crises in climate, energy, housing finance and food shortages will bring us all down to earth and saner living.

There is no doubt that we have become the great consumers. In recent years I have also downshifted my job, my hours and my lifestyle and life is much better - we are comfortable. You really don't need 'things' and the continuous pursuit of material possessions does not do much for the enjoyment of life and distracts from what is really important food for the soul (excuse the religious terminology - I could not think of another way to put it) :).

While acknowledging that people have (in general) become too focussed on material wants, the fact is that the gap between the rich and the poor is ever-widening. Those on lower incomes or pensions do not CHOOSE to downshift like we have - they are there at the bottom of the income pile just trying to put food on the table. This is real and these people do not have plasmas in the lounge.

In my work I have an insight into the lives of some of our poorest Australians. In my experience they tend to be pensioners (elderly, disabled or carers), those with mental illness or drug addiction and what I like to label as the new 'singles' - people newly divorced and having to start again without a hand up. Most of these people do not want endless charity but a level playing field and a rise in pensions closer to a 'living' wage.

The real problem is the 'new consumerism' creates a cycle of greed - expensive services (banks, trades, health products etc), expensive food, fuel, insurance and ever increasing water and utility bills etc.

Everyone is out to make more money so that they can consume more so even those who live on little income or choose to live more simply cannot escape the impact this has on their lives.

Nice website Stephen. It must be easy for people who live in Tassie to not have to keep yup with the Joneses and not try to race to their end of their lives dead broke living on welfare. Yes move to Tassie and have the chooks, grow your own vegies, downshift and live simple. You have chosen the right path and have a talent to coin the current malaise. Is it because you know the meaning of the word STATUS? Buying things you don't need, with money you don't have to impress people you don't know? I am so glad my parents came here as penniless immigrants from war torn Europe. They did not know much but hard work and pay cash. Our world is a little different, but thank goodness my kids know that the answer to the question "can I have" ....is "yes what are you prepared to do for it". hopefully they will only want what they need.

I ain't complaining. Wait ... I don't have a mortgage, drive a vehicle or watch a plasma screen T.V. Maybe you're right.

Problem is it wouldn't take long for the greedy and lying free market extremists to gobble up any surplus made available due to a reduction in family expenditure. You should really look after number one and keep your secrets to yourself otherwise your income won't be worth anything in 10 years. Dim witted or not.

Johncee, you have missed the point of the article, and launched into a "class battle" rant, espousing a socialist ideology which is in its death-throes.

My brother is a "blue collar worker" in a factory, living in a million dollar house while I am a lower/mid level manager in a government agency, living in a dump. Shows what a good accountant can do, as well as long hours on the factory floor (I get little overtime and forbidden to take a second job).

As touched on in other posts, we are bombarded by advertising (even if we stay away from the commercial channels) so it takes discipline to "live within one's means".

One aspect of profligate consumption (aside from the huge rise in the number of fatties and obese people wandering around) is the large number of expensive toys like big boats, jet-skis and off-road vehicles I see, even in city streets and suburbs, more so in coastal areas. I'm also amazed by the number of people taking expensive holidays, and also by those who have expensive hobbies, like weekend car racing (which used to be able to be indulged in on a shoestring, now one needs a fancy 4wd and trailer just to get the race-car to the track, and racing fuel is at least $3 per litre and used in vast amounts.

One wonders where all these toys will be in a year or two if the recession bites.

Viking13... yep.. spot on. Unfortunately our Johncee is a one-trick pony, he could turn a comment on an article on flower arranging into an anachronistic rant on a class warfare that doesn't exist anymore. This is not new.

Yes, Mr Denmore, I’m afraid I do question your assumptions. I question that you draw a neat little line of cause and effect in Japan as though, being an economist and very good at drawing graphs and lines, you have somehow proven something.

There is debate whether Japan has indeed suffered anything other than a healthy correction from excess speculation in the 80’s. It slowly deflated and has taken a long time, both heresies in an economic mind.

In your neat little line, you imply that the end point is economic catastrophe, the cessation of all economic activity. That has not and will not happen. It will merely slow for a while to allow the excesses to dissipate. Yes, that causes some pain, but there is much pain now under orthodox economic theory.

Economists have far too big a say at the table. They are a classic case of never being able to see the wood for the trees. You answer general principle with detail as somehow that proves something.

When has an economic theory ever survived for long? They come along regularly in answer to an economic disaster created by and economic theory. Someone gets a Nobel Prize which inevitably implodes causing grief to untold millions.

Economic theory is no doubt good at micro managing, but societies quest for a seer to lead them to the promised land has somehow mistaken their arcane ramblings for wisdom. Central Bankers are just people with all the foibles of people. They get it as wrong as the rest of us. Witness world history.

Oh, and if you were any good at it, you could manage 0% inflation.

I can't for the life of me see the sense behind someone driving a clapped out old Hyundai and can't afford new tires or to replace the worn out muffler. The funny thing is that they have a personalised number plate and are smoking a cigarette as they tear along doing 100km/h in second gear. It's about priorities and most people never get it. They've probably got the life sized framed poster of Bruce Lee hung on a wall at home and can't afford to buy simple groceries at the end of the week.

I truly appreciate the angry sentiments of author and posters, and we have all shaken our heads at shopping trolley contents.

But the article's supportive comments are even more conclusive evidence that advertising and market propaganda works. Corporations spend billions on advertising, justified by outstanding success.

By 'propaganda', I refer to the guided conclusions that almost all of you made. By dismissing consumer behaviour as greed and stupidity, one actually validates the marketing techniques and ignores the impact of carefully proselytised terms such as 'elite', and 'losers', forcefully injected into daily language and aimed at the young; educated or otherwise. Outright propaganda are 'low unemployment', boom economy' and 'era of prosperity'.

The cumulative result is that people now equate a positive self-image with consumer items and media-shaped status. The extent of consumer defense is no greater than that of a patient addicted to pethidine.

Rather than look down on our fellow victims, we should put our marginally more independent minds to the task of removing the source of the problem. If we surf the Net in a more structured manner than we have evidently done, we will eventually discover that an increasing number of Aussies have identified the real culprits.

Not preempting our own research, it can confidently be anticipated we will discover a vast collaboration of global banks, corporations and media; who control all political parties by funding their expensive election campaigns.

If we truly want to stop the insanity and waste, join the campaign to restore egalitarian prosperity and support the Tariff Restoration Bloc (TRB). Reinstalling tariffs will reconstruct the three million full time jobs that tariff removal took from us.

Doubters about the real unemployment levels and poverty in Australia are invited to seek comment from their local Job Network agency personnel, confirming or refuting the following statistics.

Unemployment : 21%.
Incomes below $15,000: 54%.
Incomes below $29,000: 58%.

If help is needed to design surveys, just ask. By the way, the TRB is an independent single issue conglomerate of organisations and individuals, many of whom probably disagree on almost everything else.

Tony, tariffs add jobs at the expense of the consumer - it involves a wealth transfer from consumers straight to the companies that are shielded behind tariffs and the workers they employ.

Tell me why it is a good idea to do that?

I agree with the article somewhat. I used to scoff at people who said I was so lucky to travel the world, when I was a backpacker and I knew full well they had more money than me and more than enough money to do exactly what I was doing.

Money is all about priorities, so crying poor is silly. The phrase 'Time Poor' is just ridiculous to me. Everyone has 24 hours. How many of those hours you decide to use for different things is up to you and your wants in terms of standard of living. Well for most people.

But there is always an element of snobbery in these sorts of articles. A lot of people cant understand that when you earn stuff all, and you don't have great intelligence or education and you see your prospects aren't the best, you might as well buy that plazma TV to immerse yourself in sport/movies and buy that packet of cigarettes or case of beer to make your life a little more enjoyable. Just like buying a lottery ticket is buying some hope. The rich never understand these things. Or perhaps they do, and make their money from encouraging the poor to indulge in these persuits and make sure they never realise they are being swindled.

I do love how Plazma TV's have become a symbol of what the rich think the poor don't deserve or aren't worthy of. How dare they be poor and still have a plazma TV? It's outrageous!

Johncee1945 “The usual railing against the poor by the right wing, from those who are usually doing very well - on the backs of workers.”

Ah the first of the leftie apologist rants of the replies.

Eh-by-gum, Solidarity Brothers, bring on the revolution, where no man or woman will be allowed to work for their own benefit!

Except, too much "solidarity" results in constipation.

I agree with the earlier posters and Steven French.

Anyone who cannot manage their domestic budget does not deserve to impose their personal pain of the rest of us.

I have a modest house and mortgage and a credit card which I pay off every month.

I live well within my means and can cover a period of many months without income because of it, such is the nature and risks of my sort of work.

We are free to please ourselves. We need, if anything, to defend that freedom. Better the risk of financial insecurity than the dead hand of government directing what are presently personal discretionary decisions.

Keep government small, impotent, even.

No one was ever “enriched”, materially or spiritually by surrendering their individual rights or their individuality to the state, except possibly the intellectually retarded

Tony Ryan “By the way, the TRB (Tariff Restoration Bloc) is an independent single issue conglomerate of organisations and individuals, many of whom probably disagree on almost everything else.”

So just a bunch of retard “protectionists”… seems to me you don’t like yourself much. Hardly the best advertisement for selling your ideas but seems you are so set against selling anything, you think we should all return to the village and weave hair shirts from the produce of the family sheep.

Adam Smith view on division of labour was challenged by the luddites.

TRB is no different to same shortsighted, small minded “luddite” sense of constipation and resistance to change.





Usual suspect, if you are the same fella who used to log on here as “the usual suspect” then welcome back. If you are not, welcome anyway.