On the one hand, of course, it is perfectly understandable why linking increased consumer spending, with improving economic conditions, would be a logical thing to do. Goods and services are exchanged for counters, counters flow, wages are paid, profits made, while input points get what they need, and outputs discharge apace. And in many decades past this was pretty much a reliable, even if not totally accurate, indicator.

Things are a lot more complicated now, though, as is all too obvious. And there is no doubt great reams of scholarly inquiry as to what motivates people to do "consumer spending." The first thing that ought to give us pause here, though, is that most of this inquiry could be divided between two main aspects of what motivated the research:

1. To better understand human development now in a complex cultural/comercial environment, where not only is so much based on exchange, and transaction (as opposed to personal connection, and interaction) anymore, but also where item, and item status matters so much more; in conjunction with brand, and brand identification, which has also remained so important as well.

And 2, to better understand how to sell in the first place.

Seeing how the media do the logical thing, though, and report this, for the most part, as a positive, still irritates me a great deal; and I suppose a good portion of that comes from my feeling that tremendously greater numbers of counters are exchanged for the second motivational type for research, than for the first.

And also that, for too many of us, there might also be two, main, and very depressing, reasons for why we shop more; at least in some instances of the circumstances we face.

The first would be what you would probably already expect it to be: Something that boils down to the notion that we shop because it's like eating a comfort food you know isn't good for you, but still makes you feel good. And worst of all, is just to damn easy to fall back on all the time now... Now that your mobile is a window into virtually every conceivable thing one could purchase in the entire world. Which also ought to be pretty scary.

The second, though, is maybe even more depressing. More depressing because it is, now, it seems to me, to be the only way for the working majority to express any individuality at all anymore, pathetic as that may be. So that its not what you can do, or make; or even how you behave towards others, so much anymore that matters; no its only how you shop, and how cool your shopping is to others, that matters (and certainly how much you don't matter if you can't). Which, when you really think about it, is exactly what some merchandisers might have as a wet dream. At least as far as to how they might wish the human psyche to be marching towards. In the grand economic future of their favorite fantasy.

That this might actually end up producing people not really all that suited anymore to truly self preserving societies doesn't need to be shouted out about at all unfortunately. And that is precisely because we can see it already, in many of the various forms of crazy that now punctuate most of our very turbulent social systems. More unfortunate as well, though, is that we can be sure to count
on having only a great deal more of this displayed quite prominently for us.

The bottom line here is really only a vary stark question concerning "Shop til you drop." The question of whether your dropping will because you are part of the collateral damage, or are the primary damager. And with enough of the former, how much difference will remain be between the two, and for how long?

The planet is dying after all you know.

Shop Till You Drop

See Also:

The $29 billion battle to own how America sleeps is heating up

Martin Bureau / AFP - Getty Images

CLIMATE CHANGE

How scientists decide extreme weather is worsened by global warming

The wide–and sometimes wacky–world of smartphone addiction cures

[Post Note: I post this next development with a certain sense of inner conflict. I say that because I still enjoy gaming a great deal myself (Civ 5, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, Skyrim, SubNautica, the list could go on).

This penchant for total commoditization, that electrified Capitalism has attained, however, puts things in such ways as to be so much more possibly costly to us, as regards our social development, as well as our sense of what is important, and what isn't, than was first considered, that we really need to be looking at things a good deal more critically. At least it seems that way to me. And now that gaming has become such a big money maker, as a whole, the possibilities are nore more ripe for taking things to terrible extremes. And don't we already have enough pushing us in that direction already? J.V.]