I would bet that most people in America think of themselves, sociopolitically speaking, as "consumers" far more often than they think of themselves as "citizens." A clumsy googlehit count gives 708 million for "consumer," and 254 million for "citizen," as a very rough approximation of relative importance.
How about stepping back a moment and thinking about how the "vampire squids" on Wall Street and in all the marketeering bullpits in the country think of you-all? Maybe it would help a few of us think about ourselves and our communities (such as they are) and our and our children's futures in maybe a healthier, more stable, more sustainable way?
All that was brought on by running across a little article in today's Wall Street Journal, in the "Ahead of the Tape" column by Kelly Evans, apparently lusted after by many an "Inside Job" trader and broker, titled "Zombie Consumers May Chomp Into Growth." http://online.wsj.com/... (Sorry about the subscription-only fence. You got to BE rich to GET rich...)
More, anyone?
Seems Ms. Evans, along with many other parasites, lays the "disappointing" nature of this "recovery" right at the doorsteps of all us consumers. Seems we Stupid Money people are carrying too-heavy "household debt loads," and failing to produce any real wage growth, and not doing our duties in the housing market.
I guess we are also guilty of not creating enough jobs for ourselves. Bootstraps, people! Have you no bootstraps, for Cliff's sake?
Kelly notes that it took the Japanese, after their recent bubble-blowup, 15 years of de-leveraging and debt-shedding to get the cancer of GROWTH back on track, about as long for the "households" of American in the last Great Depression. She applauds us for making "some progress," since "debt as a percentage of after-tax income has fallen from its peak, it remained at year end at about 120% -- well above the 89% it averaged in the 1990s." "Growth" being, of course, what cancers do best, and with unfortunately terminal results for the body.
And she is slightly discouraged that us "consumers" are "even starting to borrow again," building up another $11.5 billion in "outstanding credit" (what, pray tell, is "outstanding" about consumer debt again?) in March and April. A big chunk of that, apparently, is student-loan debt, which will (unfortunately for retail, great for the freakin' Bankstas collecting all that interest on all that taxpayer-guaranteed, non-dischargeable student loan debt) "depress the spending power of the next generation of Americans."
She offers that a "slight recent uptick" in credit-card "borrowing," aka "desperation loans," might be due to recent jumps in food and gasoline prices. Well, "duh!" What happens when there's no jobs, there's no more unemployment benefits, the Wrongs have taken over state governments and taken an axe to the safety net, all that current-affairs stuff? Maybe the Bankstas have reasons to be concerned that us Dumb Money people, burdened both with the debt they have suckered us into taking on (plus the thefts of homes via foreclosure fraud, and all those little tricks with bank and credit card fees and charges and such that are intended to keep you indebted forever,) might lose faith in those silly notions from the last Great Depression that one should "struggle to repay" all those debts. Of course, it's not like the re-written bankruptcy code actually gives individuals and families (as opposed to airlines and auto companies and such) anything like a real "fresh start" anymore either.
The gist of this Investment Advice to Act On appears to be Beware of The Debtor Zombies, dead creatures who nevertheless can stagger after you implacably until they knock you down and eat your Banksta "Smart Money" brain. That would come about as more and more of us come to realize that the System is totally hacked and stacked against us, and turn more frequently to default on the deals that Mr. Henry Potter, that archetypical Banksta, and all his successors, have had to offer. And, G_d forbid, might actually "hamper future borrowing activity," which as we all know is a Very Bad Thing because the entire Ponzi game known as the American Consumer Economy only works if the Consumers, neglecting their role as Citizens, beg, borrow and mortgage themselves and their "households" to the hilt, so the sellers of Chinese junk, and the peddlers of junk bonds and derivatives based thereon, and of course that "nobody talks about the dead elephant in the room" military-industrial-Congressional coven, can keep Hoovering up the last bits of health and real wealth in our formerly great nation.
And you got to love the closing paragraph, from a writer well steeped in the I'll-Be-Gone-You'll-Be-Gone culture of Wall Street, where for every loser there is a winner: "Granted, deleveraging by default will at least lower debt levels. But if that becomes the dominant form of household balance-sheet repair, banks [GASP!] may also join the zombie parade." Great opportunity for some short selling on long bets on certain Bankstas, right?
But then, on the Street, bad news for one set of saps is always GREAT news for at least one of those well-positioned, bonus-baby shoals of Vampire Squids, now isn't it?
C'mon, people, are you weasly little "citizens," concerned about the present and future of your nation and your "household," or are you stand-up, balls-to-the-wall CONSUMERS, ready and willing to respond to all that expensive, sneaky, demand-creating advertising, and do your part to Bring On The Roaring Recovery We All Want?
-- surely you can't LIVE without your very own latest iPad IV, your "60-inch class" 3D flat-screen, and a brand-new, Currently Cool Volt (which dealers have been busily doubling the delivered price on, "because they can,") now can you? And the interest on your bank-issued credit card is only 29.99 percent, so what's the big deal?
What's that he said? Worried about the future of America and the Terrorist Threat?
As we work with Congress in the coming year to chart a new course in Iraq and strengthen our military to meet the challenges of the 21st century, we must also work together to achieve important goals for the American people here at home. This work begins with keeping our economy growing. … And I encourage you all to go shopping more.
http://thinkprogress.org/...