I want what they have

It is no secret. We are a consumer society and we seem destined to consume until we are eating our own fingers, like a toddler who has lost their pacifier. 

We look up from our toes and are surrounded by glamour, wealth, images that attract our eyes. But they are only the starters, appetisers to get the mind salivating, not the real thing. To get that, we must work, advance, achieve. Only then do we have the resources to purchase our slice of heaven.

Have you ever though about consumption in this manner, consumption as achievement? There is always a fancier car, a larger house or faster computer to want for. We work and work and just as we take ownership of our desire fulfilled, the new model gets announced. Back to work.

We look to the stars, the CEOs the mega-rich and want a piece of that life too. And they promise we can have it, we just need to work hard, like they did and bit by bit, we can shift up the ranks, one upgrade at a time.

Have we thought this through? The people we try to emulate through our purchases, are also the ones that sell the products we desire. At each level we rank-up, each consumption achievement reached, they take a cut and with cuts from so many, many consumers, their wealth and power increase further. Their buying power increases also and they purchase new, larger, fancier items that go onto our growing list for which to strive. 

It is an endless game, we cannot win this way. The goal posts continually move and we fund their repositioning. Our desire to achieve through consumption will not only end in us eating ourselves, it will be a chase we can only ever fail at. You may say that some make it and that is true, there must be the exception, the carrot for us to chase. I can do it too.

And we are also the ones that make the products, fill the factories, sell the dreams. We are designer, manufacturer and customer all rolled into one package. When consumption drops, manufacturing drops and there is not enough money being pushed upwards. So governments step in to lend a helping hand.

When the economy is contracting, we are urged to consume more because a contracting economy will mean job cuts and we don't want that. How will we consumption achieve without jobs? So we spend, even as our job security worsens, we are encouraged to spend. 

Take a loan if necessary, but keep spending. Don't wait to upgrade that car or go on holiday, the credit company has our collective backs. And now we have debt and before we can continue our achievement path, we must first pay back the debt. Work hard for the wage, get those promotions and soon, I promise, you will be back on the growth track again.

So, where does this lead? Does it look like utopia?

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]