Consumerism. What images, thoughts, and emotions surface to your mind when you hear that word?
Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism
"Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts. Criticisms of consumption are already present in the works of Thorstein Veblen (1899). Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full[citation needed] fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization. In this sense, consumerism is usually considered a part of media culture."
Typically, when we use the terms Red Pill/Blue Pill we are usually talking about gender dynamics, how the sexes interact, and the beliefs about the sexes with respect to biological differences and mating/dating issues. The Blue Pill represents the mainstream view which is rife with falsehoods and inaccuracies while the Red Pill represents a more accurate model of reality leading to better outcomes for the individual who applies Red Pill principles to their life.
In my view though, the Red Pill/Blue Pill dichotomy can be applied more broadly to other areas of life besides male-female dynamics, sexuality, and mating/dating issues. And one area of life it can be applied is your role as a consumer in the economy and how you spend your money.
Blue Pill Consumer Culture
The Blue Pill view is "buying stuff" and even more "stuff" is good. It will make you happy. You have to "keep up with the Joneses". Buying stuff is a competition and affects your societal status. This message is sent and reinforced by the media through advertising from the time you are a young child. Work hard, work long hours, and then play hard by spending all your money.
In the U.S. consumer spending currently makes up roughly 70% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which is up from 60% roughly 35 years ago so the advertisers have been very successful in getting people to hear their message to buy more stuff. Meanwhile, the savings rate has steadily declined. It is actually scary just how many people literally live paycheck to paycheck, and how few people have 6-12 months of living expenses saved up in an emergency fund.
Would you buy a business that had ZERO profits (sales minus expenses)? Of course you wouldn't. So why would you manage your own personal business which is YOU for zero profits (your personal income minus your spending). Generally speaking, you have a lot more control over your spending then you do your income.
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Red Pill View Of Spending Money
In my opinion, shifting to a "Red Pill" view of spending money means questioning some very basic assumptions. Does this extra stuff really make me happier, more content? If I have to worry about how I am going to make the credit card payment? I think one shift is not thinking of reduced spending as deprivation or penalizing yourself, but that you are reducing your stress.
A book I read many years ago which was very influential on my thinking was Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez. In my view, it is THE book for presenting a Red Pill perspective on money, spending money, time, and employment. One key concept is that our time is limited, and time spent working at job to buy more stuff is time for example that can't be spent with friends or family, or exercising to maintain physical health.
This article highlights some examples of people approaching spending from a different perspective:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/03/26/extreme-early-retirement-30s/1997363/
Consumerism, Housing And Debt
Strict spending priorities. Extreme early retirees dodge the trappings of the rat race, avoiding wasting money to reach financial freedom. The urge to get that giant house, fancy new car or shiny smartphone are lost on them. "Most Americans spend more than 100% of their income, including the debt they accumulate," says John Greaney, 57, of the Seattle area, who retired when he was 38, largely by banking a majority of his income as an engineer for an oil and gas company.
Early retirees see items that aren't necessary or something they highly value as barriers standing in the way of early retirement. Housing is a big area when in which many people overspend, Greaney says.
Housing is something where people can really get in over their head by buying too much house in an overpriced area. Another blue pill lie is that housing is a great long-term investment. After all, owning your own home is the "American Dream". No, it actually isn't. Robert Shiller who is a professor of economics at Yale looked at a century of data and concluded that the price increase in housing basically matches inflation. There was a higher rate of increase the past few decades largely driven by the Baby Boomers which is unlikely to repeat, and if anything demographic factors such as reduced marriage and fertility rates will likely put downward pressure on home prices.
The other mistake people make is they don't do an ALL-IN apples to apples comparison of buying a house to renting an apartment. When you own a home, you have to add property taxes and annual maintenance expenses to your overall cost. For example, I currently rent an apartment. I pay no property tax, and I've had appliances replaced at no cost. Of course, there is a tax benefit to buying a home with the mortgage interest discussion.
But the idea of buying the biggest home you can in the best neighborhood you can is in my opinion another one of those blue pill lies likely to add financial stress with the size of that monthly mortgage payment. Interestingly, I think this subject of home purchasing ties into Red Pill issues of marriage. In my experience (I know two co-workers in this situation presently) it is usually the wife driving/influencing the decision to overreach on the home purchase and this is where the husband has to take on the role of financial leadership and set boundaries of how expensive a home to purchase.
Escaping The Rat Race Of Consumerism
To summarize, I firmly believe human beings are substantially more than producers, workers, and consumers. There can be no argument that the combination of technological innovation and free-market capitalism has boosted the average person's standard of living by orders of magnitude over the past 50-100 years compared to the previous 2,000 to 3,000 years. It has provided an enormous amount of new goods and services. But in our present society I believe it has reached an unhealthy level of always chasing more and many people add stress to their lives by thinking they NEED things they really do not. At the individual level, you can simply choose to not participate in the "rat race."
An invitation to the readers: please comment and share some stories about spending too much on dumb shit and how you woke up to realize it wasn't worth it, or how you dealt with saying "no" to the big house, or what you think you could stop spending on to help free yourself from the consumerism overlords. Also, what are some practical steps we can take to free ourselves from the notion that we need to keep up with the Jones's? And how do you balance that with your friends or family and the people you care about most?