Rethinking Consumerism

“We have lived through an era where too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election.” — President Obama
What will be the next drive to consume?  It’s our patriotic duty in resulting in a Paradox of Thrift.  Consumerism [...]

It’s not your father’s country anymore…

So Jack Cafferty over at cnn.com has a interesting commentary on the state of the country and how it’s changed over time.  He talks about what was the American dream was back in the early 60s.
I have kicked around longer than most people: I’m 66 years old. I remember well the ’50s and early ’60s, [...]

People still spending on home improvement

According to Calculated Risk, people are still spending at an above average clip on home improvement.  In fact, investment in home improvement is exceeding investment in single-family homes.  This may seem somewhat counter intuitive but it makes sense.  Conventional wisdom, at least using my conventions, would lead me to believe people would just live with [...]

Wal-Mart CEO Sees Long-Lasting Shift In Consumer Spending

Wal-Mart CEO Sees Long-Lasting Shift In Consumer Spending.
Even Wal-Mart admits that consumer spending habits have changed and probably won’t go back to the way they used to be.  Gone are the days of buying until we’re blue in the face.  Where we had to have it all and the fuller our garage/basement the happier we [...]

Rentalisim, the new Consumerisim?

Some people bemoan the death of consumerism as the downfall of our economy.  That if we, as a people, are not willing to spend all our money to acquire things we’re causing this economic strife.  Now let’s set the record straight, we here at Crowd Rent are not against consumerism.  We buy things too!  We [...]