this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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WTF is underconsumption? That term would suggest missing basic needs. The article talks about budgets and not treating belongings as disposable.
When some CEO or economist goes on the evening news claiming that young people are deliberately sabotaging the economy (and their profits) by not consuming as much as previous generations, that's the 'under' in underconsuming.
I just don't understand the goal other than reinforcing class lines and demonizing the poor. It's like they're convincing business constituents that there's still a wealth of untapped capital just hiding in people's (especially younger people's) savings accounts. Are they grifting other business people or pushing policy?
Eh... Not like it's anything new...
I think it's just reinforcing endless consumption as normal/good and blaming the youngest adult generation for whatever problems are happening.
At the very last it's an attempt to invalidate the experience if people who are struggling. But yeah. It makes sense they could just be contributing to the propaganda stream. It seems to work pretty well on the stereotypical "middle class boomer", though that's anecdotal from my conversations with brick walls.