One of the primary causes of the current economic parachute-jump into the dump was the fact that our financial baseline had turned to approx. 70% consumer spending and only 30% savings. So when people started freaking out about things like job losses and 401Ks going face down in the cake, one of the first things they did was to cut down on spending.
This, of course, caused more heartache and job losses in every sector of the supply chain, from manufacturing to retail. Heck, even China is laying people off.
Which brings us to Steven Posusta and Andrea Tringo, a Colorado couple who are trying to go one whole year without buying anything new. If they need something, they either borrow it, buy it used, or do without.
They are eleven months into this grand experiment, and they seem to have stuck to their original plan pretty well, although they did invest in some new underwear, because, damn.
They started out hoping to prove that a lifestyle in harmony with nature was possible, but have ended up considering a "socially responsible" lifestyle to be a more encompassing goal. And they have followers.
It's interesting to consider movement away from a materialistic life, and I fully comprehend the irony of typing that on my three year old Dell laptop with an intermittent trackpad that runs Ubuntu (Linux for human beings!) as I sit here in a pair of three year old sweatpants and an Lands End shirt I purchased a half-decade ago.
Baby steps.
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