Fear rather than frugality?
Fear rather than frugality?
Writing in his ‘Consumed’ column in the New York Times, Rob Walker argues that consumers’ hesitation to spend in the current economic downturn "seems more like a function of fear than of frugality. Consumers, spooked by reports of declining spending, are deciding not to spend".
He says that there has not yet been the reassessment of values suggested by some commentators. America’s love affair with shopping is not over: "bargain binges and postmaterialist values aren’t the same thing".
"A new normal that revolves around buying lots of stuff while bragging about our bargain-hunting skills doesn’t seem to reflect changed values". If there is a deeper shift in our thinking, it’s still to come.
He concludes that "so far, nobody has quite reconciled the vision of a sober and repentant new shopper with the substantial government efforts to reignite consumer spending".
Illustration by Peter Arkle, New York Times
Thursday, 18 December 2008 09:10