ClumsyMonkey.net

Buy Nothing Day.

My 401K has a problem with this!

faninor wrote:Buy Nothing Day.

Don't go turning into Nikka and start ruining things like the economy!

xjsb125 wrote:My 401K has a problem with this!

That's ok if he doesn't buy anything Friday, he still has to get his Christmas presents some how. There still Christmas eve to sucker him into a doorbuster sale on a 20 pc cookware set.

Lets compromise.
Instead of buying on Friday...



BUY ON THURSDAY!!!
***LOUD NOISES!!!!***

I won't be purchasing anything tomorrow. No sale is worth the pain in the ass that is known as the Black Friday shopper. You know... the tired and hungry bitch that woke up at 2 am still in a Tryptophan coma from all the turkey they ate yesterday. Pushing and shoving just so they can buy something they don't need or really want just because it's on sale. I wonder how many people actually buy gifts for other people on Black Friday.

Don't worry Matthew.... your 401K will be fine.

Black friday has no meaning up here.

i can easily do this since i have to work 3am to 3pm!

Kicker774 wrote:

faninor wrote:Buy Nothing Day.

Don't go turning into Nikka and start ruining things like the economy!

Are you suggesting that the economy needs us to consume more products so that the economy survives? That's completely backwards.

Personally I think it's a by-product of people trying to survive, improve their quality of life, and get what they want.

Economic stagnation, deflation, collapse, etc. isn't necessarily a bad thing. It could happen for a very simple reason such as consumers changing their priorities. I mean, it is still an unwanted result for someone who has a lot of money riding in something that collapses. It's good to avoid it, but not the end of the world.

Celebrating Buy Nothing Day won't ruin it anyway. It's making a choice against consumerism, not against capitalism.

Kicker774 wrote:

xjsb125 wrote:My 401K has a problem with this!

That's ok if he doesn't buy anything Friday, he still has to get his Christmas presents some how. There still Christmas eve to sucker him into a doorbuster sale on a 20 pc cookware set.

Nope. Simple as that. I'll celebrate Christmas without consumerism. I'm giving some family members photo albums. I have an unopened toy that someone gave me as a sort-of-joke a few years back which I'm going to donate to charity. And that's pretty much it. As for myself, the less I receive the happier I'll be.

I don't mean to suggest that I never buy anything or that I've extracted myself from being involved in the economy -- but a lot of people I know go about this completely backwards and dig through Black Friday ads to find the great deals that they then decide are too good a deal to pass up out of some need to consume.

As for the 401K's, avoiding consumerism won't hurt those. Probably the most likely thing to hurt them will be hyperinflation, and if you're heavily invested in US Treasury securities you're screwed. Many people are predicting that it's not so far off.

Capitalism only works when people are driven to make a profit.
I have no qualms against stores throwing big sales to get people in the doors. The more demand for goods from china and japan, the higher the demand is for people to sell said goods from china and japan.

Kicker774 wrote:Capitalism only works when people are driven to make a profit.

Irrelevant to what I'm saying.

I see no problem with people and companies driven to make a profit, but we have no obligation to consume an unreasonable amount to drive up a company's profit...

If people decided to consume less nobody is going to change their mind and decide they don't want to make a profit anymore. Besides, when someone here or there goes out of business because demand for whatever they're peddling decreases and they feel they would be more profitable with another pursuit, that is capitalism working, not failing. When <a href="http://markonefoods.com/">Candwich</a> goes under, for example, it's just a failure to provide something that consumers want (other than a cute product name). But that's capitalism working.

I don't have a problem with big sales either. When there's something that I need, I'll look for the best price. I'm just saying to consider what you buy, what you waste, the effect of over consumption on the environment, and what place possessions have in your life. I heard more conversations this week at work about what people's Black Friday purchases were going to be, than what their Thanksgiving plans were. Which is kind of sad I think. I even know one particularly sad fellow who looks down on people who cook their own food because "they aren't supporting local restaurants by eating out."

Worst black Friday ever. Fuck everything.

xjsb125 wrote:Worst black Friday ever. Fuck everything.

It's over for you now! Sleep. Enjoy Owen. Be happy!!!! *hug*

I took part in this by not going anywhere and studying.. although im not sure that counts for much given my bro/dad bought me a hoodie that i kinda need in like.. 3ish weeks