State of the Economy

So the economy is rebounding. We’re buying more stuff.

Buying a lot of stuff we really don’t need and we’ll most likely never really use. This astounds me.

Is this REALLY what our economy is built on? Spending money at the mall? Buying stuff online? Discretionary income spent on discretionary items or events?

If average consumers were a little smarter this time, they’d stop spending their hard-earned money at retail outlets and start investing in something that’s going to give back.

Try pooling your weekly shopping allowance with your friends and invest in a local company. Find some start up that needs a bit of cash and buy a share or two. Donate your time.

Yes, it doesn’t seem like much and yes, I’m sure I’d get laughed out of the room, but it’s time Americans waste a little less money on our material, disposable lifestyles and put their money where it’s actually going to help.

Ladies…do you really need ANOTHER pair of shoes? Guys…let’s hold off on the power tools that you don’t know how to use, eh?

It’s called responsibility. Try it on, you might like it.

Arkayne recommends

The Power of Numbers (Billy Cox)
April Entrepreneur of the Month! (Tomas Carrillo)
March Entrepreneur of the Month! (Tomas Carrillo)

Tagged as: economy, phoenix, recession, retail, spending

{ 4 comments }

Jonathan Kressaty December 12, 2009 at 5:44 am: I have to disagree with you. An increase in consumer confidence through the sale of non-durable, trivial goods increases the overall outlook on the economy and gets the people who are usually investing in items that have a better ROI to start doing so again.

Just like in the 30′s, what could be argued as the single biggest contributing factor to the current economic downturn is our over reliance on and over purchasing of durable goods (let’s put houses in there too). The market needs to settle back into equilibrium. Because of this over-purchasing, we’re going to see a larger upturn in consumer commodities and smaller personal items before the average “Tyler” starts putting their cash in potentially more appropriate vessels.
Tyler Hurst December 12, 2009 at 5:44 am: This is a sample comment. Apparently @kressaty can’t get it to work.
Norcross December 12, 2009 at 6:40 am: While I’m not a fan of being a consumer whore as much as the next guy, the fact is our economy (in it’s current state) is based largely on consumer spending. It’s how the system works. Increase in spending turns into increased profits for investors (shareholders) which in turn provides more capital to both established and emerging businesses.
Bryan December 12, 2009 at 9:36 pm: Why don’t you give me your money so I can invest in some power tools. You’d feel better and I would be able to work on projects, its a win win.