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Busiest shopping day of the year, nexus of downtown Seattle commerce, the hard core of the retail core: Westlake Mall. And what do we have? Well, people doing their holiday shopping, of course. And getting ready for the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas Tree. But who are those spoilsports with the signs, already? Ah, that would be the protesters, the anarchists, the enemies of the public good. So nicely dressed, too. So polite, so well-groomed. Those signs, what do they say? Down with the capitalist state? No, the signs are actually encouraging commerce. "Buy More Stuff," they implore. "Hurry," they urge.
Irony, how clever! Performance art, for the third year running! A theme song! Who'd have thought up such an ironic and clever protest against consumerism? (Connect the dots, if you will; you'd be right.) Yet here's the surprise: in today's sputtering economy, consumer spending is just what we really need. We're all in on the joke.
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Street theater project of Buy Nothing Day (http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd)?
"Yet here's the surprise: in today's sputtering economy, consumer spending is just what we really need."
No, it is not. Consumer spending is what got us into this mess. How does creating an even larger trade deficit with china fix anything?
In the rush to condemn the unfashionable irony [how nineteen90s] of these activists, you've missed the point. The more we rack up debt to purchase foreign goods, the worse the problem gets. That's not some imagined loony left activist fantasy to be deemed fashionable or unfashionable, it's the reality of the situation and a big part of why people have been losing actual jobs and actual houses for the past year or so.
From 9/11 to the stimulus checks, the public has been commanded to increase consumer spending. Now we're well through the rabbit hole, and what's prescription? Increase Consumer Spending. For a blog on hair-trigger alert against unfashionable irony, Seattlest seems decidedly unskeptical toward cable news talking points.
Meanwhile, a worker dies after being trampled in a Black Friday stampede:
New York Daily News
"HURRY" indeed.
Yes, please, increase consumer spending. For example, take out a loan you can't afford at subprime interest rates. Do it a bunch of times, in fact. It should help the economy!
Enough sarcasm. Buy nothing today. Let's destroy our economy and replace it with one that puts value on something other than infinite profit at the expense of everything.
I bought beer.
Good for you, Troy!
Consumer spending, it should be pointed out, did not create the financial crisis. Greedy bankers and laissez-faire "regulators" did it all by themselves. Since I don't watch cable teevee, I have no idea what their talking points are. Perhaps "Grid," #2 above, can enlighten me.
Actually, consumer spending - in the form of credit that cannot be paid off - did a lot to help create this financial crisis. One does not need cable "teevee" to know this.
Another bust of a Seattle firework show. Not that "the people" deserve a good fireworks display. The leadership in this city is worse than our sports.
"Since I don't watch cable teevee, I have no idea what their talking points are."
They proliferate through the internet nicely, of course.
"Greedy bankers and laissez-faire "regulators" did it all by themselves."
I suppose they also racked up the nearly $800 billion in credit card debt that americans hold? Low consumer debt rates serve as a bulwark against predatory lending. All this debt is interrelated in an overly leveraged society that we shouldn't be buying more stuff to prop up. Expanding that pool of debt further is unsustainable and damaging.
Consumer spending is most certainly not "just what we really need" just like the consumer spending spurred by the federal stimulus earlier this year did nothing to stop the impending economic collapse.
The show stopped after the Mayor touted "green" per the Christmas tree lights. No fireworks,no sound! No choirs! Santa stood there without a microphone and walked away, and the news anchor people used a bullhorn. Then they gave up too.
Nothing like a good old Seattle Tree Lighting ceremony---oh but the paper confetti (garbage-maker) machine worked.
The only interesting thing about the afternoon was watching that photographer herd the "Hurry" group into as many photo-ops as possible. Thanks for the entertainment.
The above commenter, Stephany, pointed me over here, I am a loyal reader of your sister site Gothamist.
I cannot help but wonder if the "Buy more stuff' signs were in front of the NY Wal-Mart where one employee died today.
I spent half my college years working retail, and I hate Black Friday with a passion.
I will be back to read your site- i just added it to my RSS feeder. Going to Seattle is a dream of mine.
Sincerely,
Susan S.