Failure™ Magazine

Consumer Spending Retort

Borrow-and-spend isn’t sustainable, says “Ultimate Cheapskate” Jeff Yeager.

Written by Jeff Yeager   Filed under Business, Life

It’s clear that there will always be some level of commerce; there will always be a demand for goods and services. The question is the size of the demand and the amount of that commerce. It’s also clear that “prosperity” is a relative term; what’s “rich” for one person (or nation), is “poor” to another. I’ve been criticized for proposing supposedly radical lifestyle changes, like giving up cable TV (heresy, I know). I have a difficult time appreciating the pushback I get from some people on an issue like that, given that a third of the people in the world are literally starving to death and half the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day.

While I’m not opposed to economic growth, I believe that the earth has a carrying capacity, and I wonder whether economic growth will always be possible in light of its limitations. I believe the World Wildlife Fund when it says: If everyone on the planet consumed at the levels we do here in the U.S., it would take three planet earths to provide the resources necessary to sustain that level of consumption. I also wonder sometimes what a world without economic growth or, maybe more accurately, a world with a sustainable economy, would be like. I think it would be better in some ways, even though I’m sure it would be different.

At any rate, as a proud cheapskate, I’m heartened to hear the talk in the media these days about economizing. But almost inevitably, that discussion boils down to, “How to get more, but pay less.” I wish there was more discussion of the idea that “less is often more.” We should be worrying less about what we can afford and instead be asking “Do we really need it?” And “If we don’t buy it, how will our lives be affected? Will it be a net positive or a net negative?”

Gandhi once said, “Live simply so that others may simply live.” Maybe that will be the lesson we’ll take forward from these challenging times. At least I hope so.

Jeff Yeager is the author of “The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Guide to True Riches” (Broadway). He was profiled in Failure magazine (“His Poor Wife”) in March 2008.

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