A few weeks ago I was Christmas shopping for my husband. We’d set a limit on money we were going to spend on each other. As I hurried from store to store searching for the perfect presents my mind was filled with the thought; “I must fill my budget limit.  That’s the way I can show Dan I love him this year”. Hmmmmm…..I’m a consumer whore!

It happened slowly-first the thrill of owning my own checkbook and balancing my account when I turned seventeen. Then it was the tasty feel of the plastic debit card that swished so gracefully through the machine. Now I find myself, days before Christmas, wondering if I spent enough money on my family this year, wondering if I drained my checking acocunt thoughrally and hoping all my money will be well used.  God bless America, eh?

Then this morning, on my way to work, I heard a news report that holiday spending has dropped significantly. My first reaction was one of fear and depression at the sinking state of the economy. Then it all hit me: America, and much of the developed world for that matter, has evolved into a country of consumption. Every thing is measured on quantitiy, not quality.

So maybe its a good thing we’re not spending as much money as we have in the past.  Maybe it will be a healthy time for us to change our attitude from spend to….not spend. This past summer we all worked really hard on saving gas because gas prices were ridiculous. I think this same approach to spending in general would help our economy in the long run. Then maybe, just maybe, large stores like Walmart and K-mart and Crap-mart and all the other marts would stop producing astronomical quantities of stuff nobody needs. Then maybe the old independent stores would get a leg up. And we could all have a Merry Christmas.

So this year, instead of spending a fortune on presents that will soon be forgotten, get your loved ones something they’ll remember for years to come: nothing.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a moderately bear-marketed, high Dow invested holiday season (holiday season does not include Kwanzaa and Boxing Day….batteries also not included).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.