Consumption Economy 101
Marcel takes on the dodgy question of economic slowdowns:
What does it mean when economic output drops? More people sat home watching TV, ignoring the commercials, I guess. Maybe it’s an indication that we were measuring the wrong thing, or measuring wrong. Some of us thought a Super-Sized Chevy pickup was worth as much as a house, and a house as much as a small business. But a barrel of oil turns out not to be worth $150, and Campbell’s Soup isn’t worth $1.50. Everybody thinks, “Dang, they’re on to us.” Panic ensues.
People had been making useless junk and didn’t know it, and now they’ve stopped. Maybe our economy depends on us working hard to make stuff we don’t need, so we can buy stuff we don’t need. Every few years people notice, and then there’s a recession. Really, if most of what we make is expensive and unnecessary, we’re lucky it’s ever anything but a recession.
If you think about it, cheap and unnecessary is no more a bargain than expensive and unnecessary.
Then again, if we cede to the government the power to determine what we “don’t need,” a recession is going to seem like a cakewalk. (And you can’t have cakewalks anymore: the calories you burn up going around the circle won’t compensate for the calories you’ll consume if you win the cake. See what I mean?)
And how much is Campbell’s Soup worth, anyway? A buck thirty-nine?
(Via Phedoraless in Phoenix.)
Marcel »
14 January 2009 · 3:07 pm
“how much is Campbell’s Soup worth, anyway?”
To me, sixty cents. For now that limits my choices to chicken noodle and tomato, but when the stimulus package kicks in I’m moving up to Scotch broth.
Jeff Shaw »
14 January 2009 · 3:36 pm
I used to pay .33 or .25 for a can of Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup – back in the day. I’d say at most, its worth .75 today.
unimpressed »
14 January 2009 · 4:25 pm
“What it’s worth”, unfortunately, has little to do with “what is asked for it”. I’m not a particular fan of soup, so “what it’s worth TO ME” is probably not as much as it is worth and considerably less than the asking price.
Population Statistic »
15 January 2009 · 3:12 pm
BEATING AN ECONOMIC DEAD HORSE…
From a layman’s standpoint, something’s never set right with me regarding the late billions of bucks’ worth of economic stimulus being tossed at consumer and industry alike. And here’s that something, articulated:
…Maybe i…