Do we really need to create new things to constantly replace something we bought under a year ago? We are all caught in this vicious circle, everything we purchase becomes outdated in less and less time... How can we keep up?
As Christmas is just around the corner I thought about how much we spend every year on gifts, I looked up the statistics and found how much Americans spend at Christmas time (they are one of the biggest consumer societies in the world at the moment) I found out that on black Friday (a weekend after the american's thanksgiving dedicated to Christmas shopping) American's spent $ 41.2 billion!!! considering that the population of the USA is estimated to be 308,056,000...WTF?!
(and acording to the National Retail Federation the amount of money spent is less then what was spent in 2008!)
That's a lot of money! and for what? Is it pure necessity? I don't think so... We are brainwashed into wanting to consume more and more, that we NEED a new this and a new that... Imagine what that money could do for people in other parts of the world that don't even have the essential to survive!
What happened to "it's the thought that counts?"
I do however feel guilty for accusing people of overspending, as I myself am a consumer like everybody else, but we should start rethinking our lives at a time like this, go back to the basics... Together we can make a change
Statistics at: National Retail Federation
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