If you are able to read this article, chances are you live in what is called a capitalist society. A society that has barely averted an economic catastrophe that could have easily surpassed the depth and severity of the Great Depression and would’ve have brought social order and civilization to its knees.
Although capitalism has enabled many great things, such as the freedom for individuals to pursue their economic goals, it has also indirectly enabled an entire culture. A culture that has gripped many parts of the world for generations. I am referring to the culture of excessive consumerism, gratification, and idolization of material wealth. A culture of vanity, where people of greater wealth are powerful and worshipped, and lesser wealth are made to feel unsuccessful. A culture that deifies and glorifies the one that is with everyone, the one that is called Money.
The culture we live in tell us we must consume, consume, and consume some more; we must consume excessively, not because we need to, but because retailers are able to exploit our insecurities. We must behave glamorously, live fabulously, and act vainly. It is a culture that forced many of us to choose to live past our means, not to impress, but to keep up and not to be seen as materially impoverished. It is a culture that tells us that the wealthy people are the virtuous ones in our society, because they are rich, and therefore successful.
The evidence of consumer culture is with us everywhere. How many ads have taken advantage of the glorification of wealth and vanity? How many people do you know daydream of making big paycheques to make up for their deficiency and insecurity? How can the existence and popularity of shows such as My Super Sweet Sixteen, celebrity entertainment, and the popularity of a guy that flaunts his material wealth in most of his songs and calls himself “Cash Money” be justified? How many people chose majors or careers that would’ve produced little real productivity, intellectual insight, personal happiness, or career satisfactionbut promised great wealth, which in our society means great power?
Many around the world blame the runaway financial industry in the U.S. for the current economic situation. There are justified reasons for this, but the culture of consumerism has also enabled their behaviour and in return, their behaviour further strengthened the consumer culture and led to the financial disaster and economic recession of today.
Come with me to a time when phrases like ‘global economic meltdown’ and ‘financial crisis’ was not in the vocabulary of the societal consciousness; a time when guys like Bernard Madoff was a virtuous person and Dick Fuld, the last chairman of the collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers, was invited to speak in conferences; a time I call ‘around two years ago’. In this time, the U.S. financial industry was well-respected, admired, and powerful. It sat at the pinnacle of world capitalism, overlooked the world from its position at the summit of the worldwide consumer culture. It represented the purest ideals of excessive consumerism and stood ardently as the virtue of unchecked gratification. It enabled and let the culture of consumerism culture grow and grow into an all-encompassing cloud, where on the backdrop, the sky is blue, the sun is bright, the possibilities are endless, and financial freedom is within the grasp of everyone. In this world, you are made to feel like a king, even if you earn a peasant’s wage. I want to hit the mall and buy a truck-full of trendy clothes, I can get credit cards! I want to buy a big house with a big pool (even if I'm poor and have no income), I can get a (sub-prime) loan! And I must have a big gas-guzzling truck, I can refinance that loan and then hit the dealership! All of that is made possible because the financial industry said to me, "look at the endless blue sky! Of course, you can buy stuff! Of course, you can consume. Of course, you can be happy. Of course, you don't have to feel insecure about your social status. And of course, it will make you feel damn good. " Now I feel wealthy!
It is a world where overwhelming demand for consumption and gratification has been culturally entrenched and the financial industry gladly fuelled our desires by enticing us with cheap debts with seemingly low consequences, while happily paying themselves fat bonuses for a job well-done (hey, financial brokers live in our culture too, not in some cave where cultural influences don't apply and space-time is suspended). Meanwhile, we still feel the need to consume because we don't want to fall behind, even if we have spent way past what we are making. We turn to the financial industry and the loan brokers to keep funding our spending sprees, while they happy sell us more cheap loans because they need to sustain their bonus culture so they can consume more as well. The relationship of cheap loans, consumption, greed, and stupidity created a vicious cycle that feeds on itself, and would ultimately prove to be unsustainable, paving the golden road to collapse, systemic market failure, and economic meltdown.
The massive accounting wealth (i.e. a number on a piece of paper) created by the financial industry is undeniable large and a number on a financial statement has a lot of power in our society. In a culture that respect money and idolize wealth, the financial brokers that profited from bad loans and the thieves that robbed people of their wealth with Ponzi schemes are the virtuous ones. Are they bad people? Or are they the consequence of a culture that worships consumerism and material wealth. We can blame the bankers and the financial industry, or even the dumb Americans, which happened to be our biggest customers and put a lot of us into work with their bad loan money. But is it possible that the culture of consumption that we live in had something to do with this?
Fast forward by a year, when one of the most well-respected and powerful names in finance, Lehman Brothers, collapsed and filed for bankruptcy protection. Stock markets collapsed, panic developed and fear gripped the hearts of the wealthy, as they watched their wealth vaporize in front of them. CEOS of venerated entities, such as General Motors and Goldman Sachs, had to beg for public money and accept public wrath to continue their pathetic, privileged existence. Entire countries, such as Iceland, have been bankrupt and had to ask for emergency loans from the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, the vast majority of us that was swept in the euphoria of the consumer culture find our lifestyle of excess unsustainable (this does not deny that there are many who did not partake in excessive consumption and risky loans and ended up suffering in the economic crisis).
The world is gradually moving towards and adjusting to not only a new global economic order, but I think away from consumer and towards a new culture as well. The evidence is everywhere. People are living more modestly, savings rate rose, and investment bankers are going back to school to re-educate themselves and contribute to society for a change. The trend is visible in the social elite as well. The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, wears modest clothing and shops from JCPenney on the internet, in contrast to one of her predecessor, Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy.
The recession will end and the economy will pick up again. Will we have learned our lessons, buy nice things after we earned it, and practice sound consumption? Our will we go back to the same habits, enabling the old or new ways for financial industries or something else to exploit our greed for their profit?
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