I have been a tad sidelined for the past week or so. Looking for a rabbit hole or two, I go back to this whole idea of a consumer economy. 70% of our GDP is devoted to stuff of one form or another. We produce things. The the public at large has to use tehm in one way or another. We rely on this hamster wheel of buying to keep us all afloat. I keep wondering, how this came to be? 

Let’s go back about three hundred years or so. Everything was handmade of a sort. The cottage industries of furniture, textiles and food were meant to provide what we needed to live and not much more. If you were rich and famous or noble you could get the good stuff. Since they just hung out by themselves they did not have to impress anyone beyond their fellow courtisans. The poor people had no friggin clue what fancy was. 

Now along comes the Industrial Revolution which had its beginnings in England and spread in quick fashion to Europe. You no longer dealt in onesies and twosies in all aspects of life. Making tons of stuff required a new type of marketplace. In the early 19th century we had the advent of department stores that had acres of  indoor space to introduce people to the finer things of life. Even if you could not afford it, you could “window shop” and dream. 

The ultimate fairy tale dream maker was the Sears and Roebuck catalog. People everywhere, from the cities to rural America, were enticed by page upon page of things. Clothes, tools, toys, and even houses could be purchased and delivered right to your doorstep. This was starting to get good. 

The early twenties were heady times. Cities were growing, and people didn’t have to work 12-hour days, six days a week. This thing called leisure time had to be filled with movies, radios, and better eats, even in the sticks. Assembly lines brought down costs and more and more folks were increasing their wealth by serving this buying public. 

With the machines running 24/7 there was a lot of stuff. The trick now was to keep them buying. Enter PR and advertising. Daily newspapers, weekly magazines and the proliferation of radio were just what the doctor ordered. The Madison Avenue gang came to be and there was a little band of psychologists that came up with a variety of ways to tweek your buying neurons. They were also proferring a new concept, buying on credit. What a country. 

Hold that thought for awhile. Unfortunately, a little thing called 1929 and The Great Depression came along. Banks that had been lending money hand over fist, failed. Factories slowed down, and workers were laid off. But interestingly, there was a large demand for cheap goods. Prices went back to levels of 1913 and 1914. 

The promotion  boys were still hard at work. Entertainment provided a cheap way to take your mind off things, and of course, there were ads everywhere. They introduced the concept of envy. Not of higher classes but just a small slab of your world. Keeping up with the Joneses’ became the maxim and people did all they could to be the first one on the block.

During WWII things were tight with rationing and the war effort but the 50’s and 60’s provided the urge to buy after being cooped up for so long. The role of status and fashion came to the fore. Cars, clothes and even furnishings changed from year to year. The “latest” were defined by some genius somewhere and we as a buying public ate it up….and still do. 

Things no longer last a lifetime but have a planned obsolescence. You can buy a set of golf clubs this year that are the latest and greatest and next year they are yesterday’s news. Ties are wide and then thin and then no ties at all. TVs and streaming bring the theater to you. Sound systems, ear buds, EV’s and even booze require one to constantly be on their toes, lest you fall behind. 

Here is where it gets interesting. Are we inherently envious and desirous, or are we being persuaded into this way of living? There are business moguls who consider the masses to be idiots. Sheep to be led. There are others who consider the ability to buy to be the ultimate freedom for an individual. I buy because I can and that’s it. 

I have spoken before of depression and its main symptom, a lack of self-esteem. An advertising exec told me once that his job was to exploit that fault.

If you don’t drink the right beer or drive the right car, you will be considered a loser. If you have the latest and greatest, you are a worthwhile person who has made it. If not, you will probably be left out of everything that is fun. FOMO, Fear of Missing Out, is the worst trick our minds can play on us. 

All of this might sound mundane. Get a grip, TTG. It’s life. Yes, it is, but when our economy relies 70% on its perpetuation, what happens when the hamster slows down from exhaustion or, even worse, dies? It just seems to me to be a house of cards of a sort. We are being battered by Mother Nature all over our country and the world as well.  Are we in for another type of storm? Could it be consumerism?  Good question.  

As always 

Ted The Great  

Factoids:

In the US, digital media is expected to account for over 77% of total ad spend in 2024, with online advertising revenue reaching an estimated $252.8 billion 

Big Pharma spends about $95 billion on research and $18 billion on ads per year. We are one of only three countries in the world that advertise drugs.

There are 6-8 ads during NFL timeouts and possession changes. 

The average person in the United States is exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day. This number includes ads from traditional media, like TV and radio, as well as digital platforms like social media, search engines, and websites. 

There are 300,000 items in the average American home. Our homes have tripled in size over the last 50 years. The US has over 50,000 off-site storage facilities. There is 7.3 square feet of storage for every human being. We buy 53 items of clothing in a year. Party on kids!

Being a minimalist means you value yourself more than material things. It means making decisions based on what you need instead of getting everything you want. It does not mean the things you buy are cheap. It means they are something you need, regardless of how much they cost.  Interesting. 

Well kids, we are under two weeks from whatever. The polls are going nuts. Some screwball says he has picked the last five winners. Door County, Wisconsin picks the winner every time. Why do we even vote?

The first deciding factor is your sex. If you have Sir Orange in the mix it might be plain old sex itself. He’s never cheated on any of his multiple wives. He treats women with the utmost dignity. He “weaves” sex into almost every conversation and waxes eloquently as to a person’s looks or jock size. But don’t worry it is just the Donald being the Donald. 

Kamalla makes her sex about the right of a woman to have say over her own body. This gets a little tricky. We discuss when life starts and when we still can end it. When it comes to rape and incest some of us say tough luck. If a child is to be the culmination of a couple’s love for each other, then doesn’t that seem out of whack? Then again when it is just a matter of convenience or timing, I imagine there are a lot of us that would take issue. 

This really gets confusing when you say I don’t care how good or bad you are,you are one of me. Suburban housewives like Kamalla and macho men like Trump. Some guys can’t even picture a woman as president. Women detest Trump because of how he looks toward women.  I wish we could all wear blinders. It is 2024. Haven’t we outgrown the man and woman thing? I guess not. 

Inflation,deflation,taxes,tariffs are the predominant issue on everyone’s mind. One guy says he is voting for Trump because he can’t grill steaks anymore but has to settle for hamburger. Meaningful.

Things are more expensive for sure. Can a president really change that? Dunno. Price controls seem a little off the wall. But so are tariffs. 

Of course, neither one has said a word about my inconvenient topic of the national debt. Each one-ups the other with, I am going to cut taxes and issue givebacks that will bring a tear to your eye. I am crying because spending over $1 trillion on interest alone. I will see your lower income tax and raise your capital gains. 

Chuck Shumer is a progressve Democrat. He is also the guardian angel of carried interest for hedge funds. Simply put all the humungous profits they are taxed at a much lower cap gains rate. I wonder whom they are voting for?

Let’s do immigration. Kamalla was for open borders and now wants them slammed shut. His Hairness wants to send millions of illegals back to where they came from. Some have been here for over ten years. The sheer size and cost of any such operation gets lost in the shuffle. Would local commerce grind to a halt. We may find out. 

We can discuss whether we were better off under Trump than Biden. Some of us want to be walled in from the rest of the world. Some want to solve global problems. Ditto global warming, abortion, guns et al. Each side has its valid points. 

I have a problem with Kamalla in the way she answers questions. Her answers are sometimes circuitous and vague. You wonder if there is any meat to the thought process. I truly question Trump’s sanity. His narcissism would be fun to watch as a back bencher but as a president, he scares the hell out of me.  Forget the fact that he is crude and boorish. Some like it because we are seeing the real him. To each his own. 

Who am I voting for in the end? Good question. You know I will not answer that. In fact I am still undecided. That is the first time that has ever happened to me this late in the game. Part of me wants to look towards what it will mean for me and vote accordingly. Then my weird cousin Herbie asks me what is best for the country? Then I think about my kids and grandkids. A tough decision. I do not take it likely.  

As always

Ted The Great. 

Factoids: 

Registered voters are now evenly split between the Republican and Democratic parties. In reality, 1/3 are part of one party and 1/3 are part of the other. 33% consider themselves independents. Man, I wish we had a third party. 

Pew research lists what we consider to be problems. Dated 5/2024

How accurate are polls?   As a result, the actual margin of error in most historical polls is closer to 6% or 7%, not 3%, said a 2016 study from The New York Times. This represents an error range of 12 to 14 data points, the Times said. That gives one a warm fuzzy doesn’t it?  Think about how many of us are swayed by polls.  

I am sitting here in Flalaland awaiting the latest onslaught of Mother Nature. Whether it is Milton Bradley or Milton Berle, she seems to be playing a cruel joke on all of us. Sunday night at a neighborhood get-together, weather was the topic du jour. What do you think? Should we go or stay? I chuckled to myself. Weather is the one thing I have absolutely zero control over. Nada,zilch and yet we still fret. 

If we lived on the west coast of Florida, I would be doing some serious thinking about where I wanted to hang my hat in the future. The concept of rebuilding two, three, and four times just blows my mind. The idea of abandoning all hope also strikes one as a horrible Rubicon to cross. Talk about mixed emotions. 

People come here to escape the cold weather, which is fair enough. The two months from August 1 to October 1 are an acquired taste. Hot and humid can be worked around. For yours truly, it is a great way to maintain my weight. And besides, where would we go?

Up until two weeks ago, it might have been the hills of Georgia or North and South Carolina. We have visited Asheville, and it is or was idyllic. The Vanderbilts were on to something, and many followed suit. The Outer Banks? Not exactly. New Jersey, Long Island? How soon we forget Sandy. 

How about the deserts of California or Arizona? How many days straight of 100 degrees on the thermometer? I know, we will make our way to the mountains of California or Colorado. If you escape the fires, then you have to figure out how to get insurance on your little bit of heaven nestled in the woods. This is getting tough. 

The south and midwest breed a little thing called tornados as the rite of spring. The northwest has beautiful views of the Pacific but “The Big One” hits you may oceanfront property in Idaho. Could it be there is nowhere safe for TTG and the Divine Miss K?

Let’s go to the stats. The top two winners for safety are eastern Pennsylvania and Michigan. Huh? I am sure these are wonderful places but not exactly where I want to live my last. Cleveland, a Mecca? Maybe there is a message here. 

I think we have become more and more resistant to coping. Not just our physical environment  but maybe how we do things. We have become inured to life’s little troubles. If we have any little malady there is a doctor nearby who can cure anything. If he can’t, then there are specialists of every ilk.You don’t go to an orthopedic doc but only to one who knows feet or knees or hip joints. And by the way I want to see that guy yesterday. 

We redo our bodies. We redo our houses to avoid the worst curse of all…looking dated. I need a new car as a pick me up. Perhaps a jet away for a week or two to try to obviate my poor overworked and stressed out psyche. Oh God ,kids are a pain! I need a break. What happened to Suck It Up?

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal this AM. It was about that little thing we call the National Debt. It seems the Trumpster would add about $7 trillion to our national credit card. Smiley would only add $3.5 trillion. Just wonderful! No one wants to sit down and shoot us straight as to the disaster looming. We will fill in the details later. 

Over the years the toughest thing for yours truly is having to deal with something really distasteful.  Having to fire someone. Can we really afford to do this or that? Having to uproot not for whimsy but survival. Ok, you have cancer. How do we want to go forward? Do you help a child who is hooked on drugs or finally have them fend for themselves?  Do we treat a fatal disease or go into hospice? 

Of course, I could punt but this is where the rubber meets the road. As for weather, I have already said there is nothing we can do about it. As for so many other parts of our lives, we can meet conflict head-on or put it off for another day, but what good does that do?  It gnaws at you and keeps popping up at a most inopportune moment. But you know it is there.  Sooner or later, there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. As individuals or as a country, we really have to deal with it.

As always 

Ted The Great 

Factoids

California is the most disaster prone state in the union…for a lot of reasons. Throughout the US, although wildfires are the most common natural disaster, hurricanes inflict the most damage.

From 2003 to July 2023, the U.S. tallied 2,602 disaster declarations across all 50 states. California, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida,Nevada and Montana round out the top ten in that order. 

Congress has not updated our immigration policy since 1986. We have had a balanced budget only twice in the last fifty years.

• 1969: President Lyndon Johnson balanced the budget
• 1998–2001: President Bill Clinton balanced the budget 

People are told to evacuate but a large number cannot. Evacuation, like most disaster resilience actions is easier if you have wealth, health and extensive social networks. You don’t have a car or can’t afford the gas.You don’t have family and you can’t afford a hotel room. You are handicapped or just can’t travel due to illness.  It ain’t all cut and dry kids.