The Consumer of No Resort

One thing to watch out for is how exporting countries will fare in our pleasant economic environment -- China, Venezuela, Mexico, Korea, Iraq, Taiwan (if you can call it a separate country), India, Japan... If the U.S. indeed is consuming less, then that affects imported cars from Germany, cheap Chinese household shit, computer components from Korea, oil from Mexico -- because the U.S. is the Consumer of Last Resort.

Without us to suck up all these manufactured goods to fill U-Stor-It rental warehouses and county landfills, these nations will either have to turn towards domestic consumption or face reductions in production.

Really...do you think the telephone headset assembly worker in Guangzhou will take in $80 shoes while the sole-stitcher at a shoe plant in Whenzhou takes in a new $63.99 cordless telephone? I don't see this happening when the hourly Chinese wage is, say, $3 bucks. So another option is to reduce production, and the obvious downsizing firings that will follow. The latter option is not comforting, but is a probable consequence of the failing of a U.S. consumer market that spent decades buying things it didn't need with money it didn't have.

My own personal consumption reduction program began in December of 2006. An epiphany in that month -- I sold off many of my own consumer trappings and have not once regretted the decision. Since then I've focused mightily on not following a hyper-consumptive lifestyle. My actions were consistent through 2008 and I did not increase my debt, so therefore I did not contribute to this U.S. financial 'crisis.'

I am a Consumer of No Resort.