The current hostile corporate takeover in the USA and the clear loss of political power of the common people, I started wondering what happened if people used consumption as their leverage. Since the system is designed for continuous growth, what would happen if a mass movement of people stopping buying new non-essential consumer goods?
It would send a much stronger message than angry public protests. Thoughts?
The main problem with these things is people buying stuff before, so they can boycott the next day. Makes absolutely no difference.
Obviously, what you’re describing is different.
agree. the main idea is to shift away from buying new to buying used, bartering, using cash. there’s such abundance of used goods in the US people actually wouldn’t have to compromise their lifestyles and this could continue on for months and months and months.
The Day the World Stops Shoppong examined this and found that it doesn’t take a whole lot of concerted action to tank the consumption economy.
Buy nothing says are good but less good if you return to regular habits and redouble your consumption after the boycott is over.
Im already trying my best to move off any services tied to any oligarch at Trumps inauguration.
I just bought a kindle but planning on donating it and moving to Kobo.
Side hobby to learn to pirate safely. Im now using any alternate website to Amazon.
We have the power of voice with our wallets.
Are you already familiar with https://fmhy.pages.dev/ ?
Oh no, what’s this?
Just use the kindle without amazon stuff, maybe install KOReader, you can get your books from somewhere else.
I would but just knowing its a kindle disgusts me. Already bought a kobo.
I think ill donate my kindle instead.
I already have. Long before the threat of tariffs. I shop thrift stores, yard sales, and social media markets. I go to electronics recyclers and find perfectly good laptops that just need an OS installed.
I’ve had the same phone since 2017, and the same car for 10+ years, neither of which were new when I got them.
that would probably be impossible and wouldn’t have a lot of effect cuz demand is an elastic band or something
but a lot of the demand can be met by buying used stuff
Buying used stuff should be illegal! The government is losing out on taxes, and the producers don’t get the revenue. Are you not thinking about the shareholders?
Tap for spoiler
/s
You jest, but I’m pretty sure all the secondhand shops I go to charge sales tax.
that’s what i like to do but that’s a long term cultural thing
I’ve already planned with my wider family that for the next 4 years we aren’t doing jack shit for holidays. No black friday (tbh we never did anyway), no cyber Monday. No gifts for Christmas.
I’ve been doing homemade gifts or local market goods for xmas the past couple xmas
I haven’t celebrated xmas for several years now and it’s seriously been so liberating.
They’ll just buy the things they didn’t buy before hand, or afterwards, washing it all out in the average.
After a long enough period of striking it begins to have repercussions beyond the individual budget.
If the flow of money slowed to a crawl for an extended period, companies don’t have the funds to pay workers. Enough job loss leads to further reduced spending, thus impacting stock value, thus impacting employment, etc…
A month would have a noticeable impact, but a full fiscal quarter would be the first cliff where the big corporations would really sweat. But generally I agree, an economic strike with an end date is like an overnight hunger strike
If y’all aren’t already aware the first test date for Consumer Power is on Feb 28th. Don’t buy ANYTHING on that date. Yeah, it’s brief, it will probably be a blip, but this is like a test of the emergency broadcast system. If we can get say 2% of people to do that, then watch closely for reactions, it will help us spread the word for the 2nd test. Then the 3rd. It’s only through this grassroots organization that we can accomplish anything.
I had a friend tell me that they’d already seen organizations trying to make it their idea and honestly, I’m not at all concerned about who is putting their brand on it. The POINT here is that we need to start exercising our muscles to make this a real tool for change. Stop focusing on that message and start embracing the larger goal here. Spread the word. RESIST.
Thanks edited my OP to advertise this. i like passive resistance, it takes much fewer resources, non-violent etc.
I already barely buy shit. I’ve always said “if the economy hinged on my purchasing habit, the country would go bankrupt”. People in general should start living within their means without any protest. It’s good for everyone and also will make corporations slow down on killing this planet.
yup. Im in a similar boat. could not reduce more. we really need a blender and I saw one for an estate sale next weekend. hoping they have some plates, bowls, and cups to. eff the corps.
Facebook market place has a ton of cheap things. I bought two 27" 4k HDR monitors for $130 from there. Those monitors are literally $1100 new. I bought my GPU for $100, and it’s $380 new. People buy shit they don’t need and upgrade in a year, too. It’s fucking insanity. Check it out if you have an account. I use my wife’s.
yeah its more avoiding corp as much as possible. The money saving is a side effect. So im preferring garage and estate sales and certain second hand shops. Old fashioned person to person local.
Plates, cups and bowls can be bought second hand at charity/opp/goodwill shops in my experience. They also often have small appliances, sometimes new as people donate unwanted gifts. Pie makers are very common. Noone should buy new pie makes.
Great recommendation. I always get cheap cloths from goodwill and other charity places. You can find great t-shirts and pants there for real cheap. Good “brands”, too.
I already barely buy shit. I’ve always said “if the economy hinged on my purchasing habit, the country would go bankrupt”.
well, you’re already part of the movement:)
The small would die, the big would survive
I’m sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but any publicly traded company no longer needs to post a profit. Boomers are retiring and 401ks ensure that these companies will make money purely from “value potential”. Maybe in 20 or so years as the demographics change this will be different, but this is how I see it going down today.
If all of America collectively decided not to purchase from publicly traded companies, and instead only bought from small local companies for just one month. I doubt it would even register on a YTD stock price chart. It would need to be a true philosophical change in how we consume products, and it would have to last for longer than a month to be effective. On top of that, only privileged households will realistically be able to “choose” not to buy consumer goods.
I think we should all buy less and be more mindful of where our money goes. I think we should buy locally and promote businesses that you agree with on levels beyond the value of the good or services they offer as often as possible. However, I don’t think we can effectively protest this way unless it was a true lifestyle change for a large portion of the country.
Boomers are retiring and 401ks ensure that these companies will make money purely from “value potential”.
Peter Zeihan expects the opposite as Boomers sell their stock to fund lifestyle.
Could be both. First up, then down.
Edit to fix name.
I haven’t read this take yet, and I’m not an economist.
My point is that right now, boomers are doing everything they can to invest, so its a self fulfilling prophecy of ETFs and investment funds. Where everyone is buying in because the stocks are preforming well and the stocks are performing well because everyone that plans to retire is buying in.
However once boomers start to either sell their assets or die off, there will be a sudden surplus of stock and other assets in a pretty small window. And i doubt it will be a boon for the economy or the stock market.
I agree. Inventory isn’t going to change much, just delay it a little, if that.
should all buy less and be more mindful of where our money goes. I think we should buy locally and promote businesses that you agree with on levels beyond the value of the good or services they offer as often as possible. However, I don’t think we can effectively protest this way unless it was a true lifestyle change for a large portion of the country.
I’d disagree, we saw it with COVID how vulnerable corporations are. They’ll always focus on stock buybacks and stuff like that over recession-proofing. Also, this is quite an equitable movement. Those who can’t afford new shit are already contributing to it.
Firstly, the covid pandemic was a multi year event. Secondly, publicly traded companies were enriched greatly from that time. Also it wasn’t conscious degrowth or a lack of ability, it was supply chain issues that caused products not to be available for purchase.
Firstly, the covid pandemic was a multi year event.
The initial shocks happened in the first 3 months.
Secondly, publicly traded companies were enriched greatly from that time. Also it wasn’t conscious degrowth or a lack of ability, it was supply chain issues that caused products not to be available for purchase.
Yup, that’s why the control here is in the consumers’ hand and again, it’s sort of like reducing your consumption so it starts hitting the metrics enough for corporations to realize the risks.
“Culture Is Not Consumption”
Write that on a tee shirt you already own.
Donald Trump has broken the Constitutional binding of Checks and Balances, upon which all law in the United States is governed. Ask yourself what that means to business contracts which depend on those laws to be guaranteed, and what the loss of faith in the underlying system means to all commerce in this country and between this country and foreign individuals, corporations, and nation states.
Anycahoots, that’s my long way of answering, What would happen if Americans stopped buying new consumer goods for a month? with: you are going to find out
Ask yourself what that means to business contracts which depend on those laws to be guaranteed,
Agree. If they feel the rules of engagement can be changed unilaterally, we can show that this can go both ways.
Won’t happen but it’s a great idea. The environment loves recession. The only years in recent history when the climate indicators briefly stopped moving in the wrong direction were 2009 and 2020.
You see this (or used to, anyway) from time to time with gas strikes.
If it’s just a month of “don’t buy,” it wouldn’t do much in the long run. All that does is time-shift demand to when the strike is over. If the company can anticipate well enough, they’d raise prices when the demand comes back and come out ahead in the long run.
You have to use/consume less, and for an extended time period, not just change when that purchase happens.
But yes, with that caveat, use less, and choose the lesser evil when you do need to buy something. The individual effect is small, but small things add up.
n the strike is over. If the company can anticipate well enough, they’d raise prices when the demand comes back and come out ahead in the long run.
You have to use/consume less, and for an extended time period, not just change when that purchase happens.
But yes, with that caveat, use less, and choose the lesser evil when you do need to buy something. The individual effect is small, but small things add up.
The mitigation is to focus on used goods so it is much less painful. Unlike gas, people don’t need that new TV, or that next phone, gaming console, their Nth streaming sub and use alternative (wink) ways to consume entertainment media.
