The Retail Apocalypse (major stores closing)

[Honeycombe8]

24. I was thinking about that recently.

I was watching The Real McCoys, an old sitcom. I'm from the deep south, from a long line of farmers. So the life of The Real McCoys, while exaggerated and a sitcom, was not something I was unfamiliar with.

Anyway, I was remembering that once upon a time in America, you weren't looked down on if you worked hard, made a decent living, but didn't have enough money to load up on "stuff." Poor but honest, hard working people were respected. Of course, everyone would have chosen to be rich, if possible. But that wasn't the main goal in life.

Capitalism is good, in that a person, through his own hard work and ingenuity, can better his lot in life. In America, that opportunity is given. But somewhere along the way, getting rich and collecting things became the goal, instead of a valuable life. Everything became too commercial....from Christmas (where parents scramble to spend what was unthinkable sums on gifts for their kids) to Easter to Valentine's Day.

People who don't have money and "stuff" are now looked down on as failures. Kids HAVE to have this or that, esp if another kid has it. I'm shocked at the money that parents spend on stuff for their kids. If they're spending money on that instead of putting it in their 401K, they're not doing their kids any favors, since the kids may have to look after the parents when they're old, if they don't have the money to do it themselves.

Saving money isn't emphasized. I was shocked at all the federal workers who didn't have emergency savings, but were getting paid a middle class wage. But I bet they had lots of stuff. (I'm guilty myself of buying too much stuff, although I was a saver, when I worked, as well.)