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In a consumer culture, where entertainment, experience, and stuff is what life is about, why would anyone save? What are you saving for? I would imagine with m
by ivankirigin 19y ago
In a consumer culture, where entertainment, experience, and stuff is what life is about, why would anyone save? What are you saving for?
I would imagine with multiple huge revolutions in recent memory, people in China might have a reason for a different outlook. It is actually totally backwards, because a poorer nation can expect to grow at a much faster rate than a developed nation -- you just need to take off the brakes in the system for it to happen. If you ignore the shaky history, you'd have to be pretty dumb to save money when the economy is growing at 10% annually for a decade (unless that savings is in the form of investments, but it usually isn't)
- ken 19y agoIf you turn off the TV for a few minutes, you'll realize that "entertainment" and "stuff" is not "what life is about", and experiences can be had on the cheap.
- ivankirigin 19y agoI'm talking about trends in society, not my particular views. I don't think anyone can say "what life is about" (including you), but I think my comment was fair. Look at what people spend their time and money on, and you'll see what they care about. The richer people get, the more things become about experience, as opposed to consumer good consumption. "experiences can be had on the cheap." You're right. Back to the original point: why would people save if their priorities are about consumer good consumption, and then good experiences once they have all the stuff they want? More generally, I think the bias towards saving is a too abstract view about macroeconomic conditions. Credit is actually really, really cheap these days. Things are really cheap, and experiences can be too.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- asdflkj 19y agoWhat do you mean by "take off the brakes"?
- ivankirigin 19y agoTrade restrictions, high taxes, institutional corruption, ambiguous private property rights, lack of viability in contracts... You'd be amazed at how badly it seems some 3rd world countries want to fail.
- pchristensen 19y agoBut boy, take off those brakes and those countries can go fast! They get to use 150 years of Western industrial experiences and lessons learned without having to figure it out by trial and error.
- asdflkj 19y agoHow about a culture of violence and thievery? That takes decades of sustained effort to change, if not centuries. The things you've listed are merely symptoms. Saying that some 3rd world countries want to fail is like saying that endangered species want to go extinct.