One Thing Liberals and Conservatives Agree On (For Different Reasons)

What do Annie Leonard (liberal) and Dave Ramsey (conservative) have in common?  Let’s take a look:

Annie Leonard, the author of “The Story of Stuff” and web based film maker, talks endlessly about how much stuff we manufacture, buy, use, throw away, and buy again.  The Story of Stuff is a tragedy, telling of our dependency and obsession with stuff.  Stuff that continues to feed a gigantic cycle of consumption, deplete resources, fill trash dumps, burn fuel, and contribute to global warming.  She increases awareness of our carbon footprint, and how it grows with each thing we buy and throw away.  Stuff is the problem.  Buy less stuff.  To her followers, Annie sends a sensible message to a country that is overtly focused on material goods, and not focused enough on the health of the planet.  To her conservative critics, however, she is an anti-establishment leftist liberal. 

Dave Ramsey, the author of “The Total Money Makeover” and financial radio talk show host, advises his followers on how to achieve Financial Peace.  He teaches that we Americans tend to act far too often out of want instead of need.  We see things and we buy them, often with a credit card, or with the last few dollars we could have had in the bank.  Dave helps folks work their way from debt to prosperity by being prudent about the things they buy.  He re-frames our attitude toward the things we think we need, and helps us identify what we really need.  He teaches the value of money, the wisdom of savings, and the blessings of frugality.  Things are the problem.  Don’t buy unnecessary things.  Save your money, invest it, and make it work for you.  Dave is a common sense, tough-love, conservative.   To his followers, his advice is as good as gold.  To his liberal critics, however, he is a Bible thumping money miser. 

Clearly, liberals and conservatives share a similar view toward wasteful, costly, extravagant, unnecessary stuff and things - for very different reasons.  With the development of cable television, the internet, Facebook, and Twitter, we obtain this information faster now than ever before in history, and regardless of our political view, we are getting the same message.  It is this new awareness of how we buy things and waste stuff that may be shaping our current economy.  After the economic bubble burst in 2009, average credit card debt declined by nearly 20%, mostly due to default.  Four years later, credit card debt continues to stay flat or even decline slightly, despite slow growth in the Gross Domestic Product.  Overall employment per capita was at its highest during the 10 years prior to the recession, and now employment also continues to lay flat.  As I suggested in my post “The Great Exuberance” August 2011, it is becoming more apparent that the robust economy in the decade prior to 2009 was the result of excessive consumption – a level of consumption that may no longer be prudent for any of us.

Dollar average is based on homes with credit card debt, which is also in decline.

In fairness, it is important to identify the subtle differences between the liberal and conservative views on consumption.  Annie takes a world view, or at least a nationwide view, implying that nobody should have excessive stuff, not even the wealthy or the resourceful.  Consequently, her message implies that anyone with lots of stuff should be ashamed of it.  Of course, taking stuff from the wealthy is not the center of Annie’s message.  Her goal is more a matter of individual awareness.  Dave, on the other hand, talks about things solely as they compare to the size of your wallet.  No matter how much you make, you must spend less than your income.  So, if you have lots of things and you bought them on credit, you should be ashamed of that.  If you have lots of things and you've paid all of your bills, made charitable donations, and still have money left over, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.  For the average American, however, the size of our wallet isn't much of a variable.   It also doesn't matter if we are liberal or conservative, or if we like Annie’s message or Dave’s message.  Having less stuff and things is apparently a win-win for everyone - but not so great on the overall economy.

Tony F.

2013