Keeping up
America is a funny experiment
It has been a successful experiment so far
The experiment is basing a nation on people making money
It has gone so well that most nations are forced to copy or they fall too far behind
America has changed the game of the growth of wealth and the wealth of consumption over time
But in these nations there is the constant need to desire to keep up in so many different ways
Marketers and Promoters of every product are constantly trying to figure out some way to separate you from a portion of your cash holdings.
(even me)... see ads placed on above and on the side
There are so many different things screaming at you on the internet, Televisions, billboards, newspapers, word of mouth, food, types of transportation, sporting events, art events, etc.
There are so many different choices, that the consumption consumes you.
It is part of the system.
Everyone fighting for their piece of the pie.
My economics teacher in college taught a principle of consumption that taught that each person had (x) amount of dollars and had a psychological predisposition and notion that they had to use every bit of (x) dollars...
As (x) grows and shrinks so does the amount you spread around...
But there is a psychological need for humans to spread around all of their dollars..
Wether it be savings, consumption of food, gas, mortgage, clothes, trips, etc.
.......Enter the monthly check................
Most people make a set amount of money that doesn't change.
They have their allocations set.
Mortgage/rent, food, insurance, car, gas, fun, clothes, savings etc.
People hate getting their routine out of whack.
So that is why when gas prices shoot up, grocery prices shoot up, or something else..shit goes haywire...
that extra money has to come out of somewhere else..
and we've already mentally allocated every piece of the amount we get every month..
People settle into this comfort of living this way...
Follow me....?
Well please take this leap with me too....
Most middle aged americans are overweight...
A good bit overweight to be humble about it..
I might also add that a new wardrobe will be a hefty expense....
And most likely alter purchasing and consumption patters for months or years at a time.
Which would alter the comfortable state of normalcy of the monthly budget.
So we see these overweight middle aged people talk about the desire to lose weight.
And common excuses are..
Lack of time, no discipline, back hurts, injuries, too cold, no fun, next month, etc.
Enter my new excuse.... too much cost...
Changing that would change body weight size and would drastically change the monthly budget...
So we see these people constantly maintaining a certain degree of fatness..
Never over indulging to the point of getting completely unfunctionably obese, but never losing too much weight...
Double digit lbs weightloss is like a warning signal
It's a congratulations you can eat a whole cake signal because if you keep this going, you're out 5 grand for new suits, t shirts, pants, etc, etc etc.
So you see these middle aged americans teetering on these weights doing all they can to keep and maintain this certain level of fattitude that they have come to settle at in their 40's and 50's.
Such a necessary evil of our society.
