I’d like to buy nothing on Buy Nothing Day, but alas, I can’t afford it. You see, I and my fellow Americans have been on a spending spree for some weeks now, buying absolutely nothing and paying hundreds of billions of dollars for it! I’m afraid there is simply nothing left to buy any more nothing with, for quite some time to come.
I look forward to your incisive comments honestly as much as my morning pot of coffee and anti-depressant. You’ve prolly seen it, but here’s a post that puts it all into perspective:
Youre too kind, MM. Good link, that. Notice how WW2 was not much more expensive than our present entanglement in a single country? What did we have then that we don’t have now? The Truman Committee. From Wikipedia entry on Harry Truman:
Truman Committee
Truman gained fame and respect when his preparedness committee (popularly known as the “Truman Committee”) investigated the scandal of military wastefulness by exposing fraud and mismanagement. The Roosevelt administration had initially feared the Committee would hurt war morale, and Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson wrote to the president declaring it was “in the public interest” to suspend the committee. Truman wrote a letter to the president saying that the committee was “100 percent behind the administration” and that it had no intention of criticizing the military conduct of the war.[41] The committee was considered a success and is reported to have saved at least $15 billion. Truman’s advocacy of common-sense cost-saving measures for the military attracted much attention. In 1943, his work as chairman earned Truman his first appearance on the cover of Time. He would eventually appear on nine Time covers and be named the magazine’s Man of the Year for 1945 and 1948.[42] After years as a marginal figure in the Senate, Truman was cast into the national spotlight after the success of the Truman Committee.[43]
Now does that mean Truman saved 15 billion in 1940′s dollars? If so, that would be about 187 billion in today’s dollars Truman saved. Roosevelt said something to the effect that “Truman was worth a division” (I heard that on some history show, can’t find the quote by google).
So: next time some jerky politician pretends to save money by cutting back on oversight and enforcement, remember that an ounce of oversight and enforcement is probably worth five or ten pounds of waste, fraud and abuse.
I would never want to intentionally hurt poor people in this thoughtless way, nor would I voluntarily deprive myself of material prosperity and personal happiness.
…nor would I voluntarily deprive myself of material prosperity and personal happiness.
That is a great tragedy of modern culture, in my opinion. We too often refuse to recognize that the relationship between material prosperity and personal happiness is, in any real way, an inversely proportional one.
That, and we’ve forgotten just how instructive and liberating the practice of voluntary deprivation can be. At least from time to time.
I don’t mean to sound sanctimonious. I’m as guilty as anyone.
Black Friday makes sense as the date for a buy nothing day ( which btw, was it just me, or was yesterday an even more depressing news day than average? ) In fact, I think it’s the only day you can set something like that on and have it not be a pointless and self ritchous gesture. I seem to remember when I first heard of it, the date it was set on seemed pretty arbitrary.
10 Comments
November 27th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I’d like to buy nothing on Buy Nothing Day, but alas, I can’t afford it. You see, I and my fellow Americans have been on a spending spree for some weeks now, buying absolutely nothing and paying hundreds of billions of dollars for it! I’m afraid there is simply nothing left to buy any more nothing with, for quite some time to come.
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November 28th, 2008 at 6:07 am
Tom,
I look forward to your incisive comments honestly as much as my morning pot of coffee and anti-depressant. You’ve prolly seen it, but here’s a post that puts it all into perspective:
Big Bailouts, Bigger Bucks
Yikes.
MM
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November 28th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Youre too kind, MM. Good link, that. Notice how WW2 was not much more expensive than our present entanglement in a single country? What did we have then that we don’t have now? The Truman Committee. From Wikipedia entry on Harry Truman:
Truman Committee
Truman gained fame and respect when his preparedness committee (popularly known as the “Truman Committee”) investigated the scandal of military wastefulness by exposing fraud and mismanagement. The Roosevelt administration had initially feared the Committee would hurt war morale, and Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson wrote to the president declaring it was “in the public interest” to suspend the committee. Truman wrote a letter to the president saying that the committee was “100 percent behind the administration” and that it had no intention of criticizing the military conduct of the war.[41] The committee was considered a success and is reported to have saved at least $15 billion. Truman’s advocacy of common-sense cost-saving measures for the military attracted much attention. In 1943, his work as chairman earned Truman his first appearance on the cover of Time. He would eventually appear on nine Time covers and be named the magazine’s Man of the Year for 1945 and 1948.[42] After years as a marginal figure in the Senate, Truman was cast into the national spotlight after the success of the Truman Committee.[43]
And a Nation article from 2003 calling for a new Truman Committee: Truman Committee
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030512/editors
Now does that mean Truman saved 15 billion in 1940′s dollars? If so, that would be about 187 billion in today’s dollars Truman saved. Roosevelt said something to the effect that “Truman was worth a division” (I heard that on some history show, can’t find the quote by google).
So: next time some jerky politician pretends to save money by cutting back on oversight and enforcement, remember that an ounce of oversight and enforcement is probably worth five or ten pounds of waste, fraud and abuse.
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November 28th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I would never want to intentionally hurt poor people in this thoughtless way, nor would I voluntarily deprive myself of material prosperity and personal happiness.
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November 28th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Tim:
You are missing the point of Buy Nothing day. No one is depriving themselves “of material prosperity and personal happiness.”
It’s simply a refusal to buy into commercialism like a zombie. People participating in BND can buy all the cheap plastic crap they want on Saturday.
Besides, not buying anything for a day doesn’t hurt the poor – American-style capitalism does that just fine without our help.
Quick case in point: http://tinyurl.com/5opfv3
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November 28th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
That is a great tragedy of modern culture, in my opinion. We too often refuse to recognize that the relationship between material prosperity and personal happiness is, in any real way, an inversely proportional one.
That, and we’ve forgotten just how instructive and liberating the practice of voluntary deprivation can be. At least from time to time.
I don’t mean to sound sanctimonious. I’m as guilty as anyone.
MM
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November 28th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Oh, and Tom…here’s a post you might find interesting:
Why the Right Needs Realists
MM
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November 29th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I bought twice yesterday, but only local: Malaprop’s & French Broad Chocolates. Hurray for the local economy. Boo to cheap plastic shit.
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November 29th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Black Friday makes sense as the date for a buy nothing day ( which btw, was it just me, or was yesterday an even more depressing news day than average? ) In fact, I think it’s the only day you can set something like that on and have it not be a pointless and self ritchous gesture. I seem to remember when I first heard of it, the date it was set on seemed pretty arbitrary.
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December 1st, 2008 at 2:24 pm
As for Black Friday: if I buy anything at all, I buy local.
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