"America taking shape as land of the frugal; New ethic may outlast recession" by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | December 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - Embarrassed auto industry executives trade their private jets for hybrid cars. The reality TV shows "Secret Millionaire" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" celebrate those who give to others. And next month, the nation will exchange a presidential image of Texas oil wealth for one of modest, multicultural roots.
A new ethic is taking hold in America: cutting coupons is considered savvy, opulent parties are regarded with distaste, and trimming Christmas spending is seen as not only sensible, but laudable. And while the changing national attitude is largely driven by the bleak fact of the economic recession, some social analysts say the trend is likely to be more enduring - a rejection of glitz and excess that mirrors the transition a century ago from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era.
Translation: Your living standards are going to shit and we are destroying your economy on purpose, so GET USED to HAVING LESS, Amurkn! Because the rich ain't hurting at all!
The shift in attitude is palpable in the nation's capital. The lavish holiday parties hosted by lobbyists and think tanks are fewer and more modest this year.... The unofficial inaugural parties in January will include the Green Inaugural Ball, with former vice president Al Gore as honorary host, a sign of the influence of the environmental community.
Oh no!
"The confluence [driving the scaled-back consumption] really is between pocketbook issues, the credit crisis, and debt, combined with a real recognition with what we are doing to our planet," said Kalee Kreider, a longtime environmental activist who now works for Gore. "It's created a perfect storm. People are making real changes."
Pfffffffffffttttt!!!
Even manufacturers of high-end products see the change - and are embracing it, said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the New York-based Luxury Institute, which tracks spending and investment in luxury products. Pedraza said he recently had breakfast with 15 executives from luxury-brand firms, and nearly all agreed that the trend toward more selective consumption was ultimately better for their companies, since it made the products more special.
"People were charging ridiculous prices, people were paying for labels that didn't really mean anything. It was more fashion than true luxury, Pedraza said. "That kind of consumption I don't think is healthy for anybody."
It's called LOOTING, that's what it is called!
The shift is also evident in popular culture. Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey this year downgraded her annual holiday "favorite things" to simpler, lower-cost items, instead of the $900-plus camcorders featured in wealthier times. The HBO hit "Entourage" - whose mostly-male cast celebrates consumption of high-priced cars and electronics - has also updated its story line, with rapper Bow Wow buying a practical Prius instead of a sports car.
PFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!!!!
Dialing down the spending is not just a predictable consumer response to an ailing economy, said McKibben, author of "Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas."
"People understand, on a visceral level, that the pursuit of all that flash got us into the trouble we're in," McKibben said. "Excess consumption turns out to be not just in bad taste, and not just wrecking the world environmentally, it's also precisely the thing that over the last 10 years has destroyed our economy.
"I think everybody's wanted out of this for quite a while, and they haven't known how to do it," he said. Mary Hunt, who runs the newsletter "Debt Proof Living," formerly "Cheapskate Monthly," began a daily e-mail report in July on saving cash. In the few months since then, the subscriber list tops 100,000.
"Something has happened. We've had a good dose of reality" driven by the poor economy, Hunt said. But her subscribers, she said, are not just grudgingly pinching pennies; they are eager to adopt a simpler lifestyle. "There is something dignified about making your life fit within your income," she said.
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