Comments on: What consumers do in a downturn

By: Robert Miller

Robert Miller — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:32:01 +0000

I don't have a television, and I rarely read newspapers.

The only way I've felt the credit crunch is that butter, bread and milk are more expensive. I just budget more for food, and less on magazines.

You people are weird. You read that there's a "credit crunch" and then behave as if the world is going to end.

Live a little! Stop being slaves to the media... It's really very childish.

By: ZBicyclist

ZBicyclist — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:54:54 +0000

You and the commenters are more in tune with Matthew 6 than I think most people are:

"25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"

I think most people "worry" rather than "savor" during a downturn.

By: Massimo GIANNINI

Massimo GIANNINI — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:19:35 +0000

Consumers's Dwelling and Homeyness is about simple "economics" and vice-versa: oeconomicus Greek oikonomikós relating to household management, equiv. to oikonóm(os) steward (oîko(s) house + nómos manager).

By: Thom

Thom — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:28:53 +0000

Fortunately, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and this time of year is conducive to making the kind of transition you describe.

By: jkh

jkh — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:37:30 +0000

ahhh, the warmth of those happy recession evenings… – very good post.

By: srp

srp — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:43:26 +0000

This is so right. You can almost feel the zeitgeist shift around you, like a change in air pressure.

After 9/11, there was a brief period where everyone was feeling very "homey." The Onion, of all places, had a poignant tale at this time (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28148)about a woman in Topeka feeling the need to bake an American flag cake even though she knew that it really wouldn't make things any better. The exceedingly gentle mockery of the homey sentiment was shockingly moving.

Then we figured out that if we stopped "surging" and buying stuff the economy would stop and the terrorists would have won.