As "The Media" gears up for their Annual Shopping Season Cheerleading Extravaganza, we hear more and more about how "The Consumer" is the keystone to pulling out of this economic crisis. "The Media" clucks constantly about how the health of "The Consumer" has been weak lately, and has spent a chunk of time praying for "The Consumer" to get well. Hopefully just in time for Black Friday.
It’s about time somebody showed some concern.
Unfortunately, this year, "The Consumer" is pissed, and things aren't likely to go according to plan. Let's meet the players in this saga...
"The Consumer" is a simple person, much like you and me, who has been holding the economy together by chicken wire and duct tape for about eight years now, without much help at all from "The Investor".
"The Investor" is somebody who has mostly been hoarding his cash, while his comrade, "The Employer", has been sitting on his hands doing very little at all. "The Worker", a close compatriot of "The Consumer" (and largely the same person), is feeling kinda down.
"The Consumer" has been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, all the while spending and borrowing, in the hopes that "The Investor" and "The Employer" would start acting like their titles describe. Instead, they’ve been little more than deadbeats. "The Media" has done nothing but talk about how great things are for "The Investor", and now that "The Investor" is hurting, too, how terrible it must be for him.
"The Investor" can bite "The Consumer", quite frankly.
"The Media" has tried to avoid suggesting that "The Consumer" might be responsible for the collapse of the economic system. He’s blamed mostly the blameless, like "The Worker", "The Homeowner" or "The Poor". But he stays away from blaming "The Consumer". Perhaps he is trying to avoid hurting "The Consumer"’s feelings. Or perhaps there is something deeper he doesn’t want to reveal.
Because if "The Consumer" ever figures out how much power he has, he might decide to wield it.
What if "The Consumer" decides that drastically cutting spending this Christmas will send tremors through the financial markets. "The Media" believes that might happen anyway because "The Consumer" is pretty tapped from holding everything together for "The Investor" for eight years. This is true, but "The Consumer" might have another motive: Revenge.
"The Consumer" might decide that payback needs to trickle up to the useless. "The Consumer" may decide that "The Investor" needs to learn what true financial pain feels like. "The Investor" is way overdue for a comeuppance, and the recent collapse might only be an appetizer for the main course to come.
"The Consumer" has little or no stake in a strong Christmas revenue season. In fact, "The Consumer" has a few billion reasons to stay home and ignore the pleas of "The Investor", "The Employer", and their sycophant, "The Media". Rather than spend a dime, "The Consumer" would be better off taking a much-deserved break.
But does "The Consumer" actually feel this way? Would "The Consumer" really mean to make such a devastating threat? Will "The Consumer" actually follow through on it?
I know I would.