Is consumerism killing the middle class?

Zellephant said:
I think you missed the point. I didn’t want to discuss the price of the boots, because I knew how the person would react, and they did.

The fact is, that same person spends a completely silly amount of money on nonsense. They get Takealot and Temu deliveries more than once a week. They also recon spending R900 on boots that need to be replace every year is a better deal than spending R4500 once every 15 years on a pair.
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I avoid falling into these traps. Okes trying to pull the piss out of you and then ride that horse for hours.
If someone notices I have something new or expensive and brings it up in front of others, I just downplay it and brush it off with a little laugh and a ja ja. Never get into how much what was.

A lot of the time, the one who keeps grinding on about something is just jealous. And making fun of you for having an expensive whatever is just plain fscking retarded. I am like WTF do you get out of it, my bru? By acting like this. Get a fscking life, loser.

Luckily, it happens a lot less these days.
 
Zellephant said:
I don’t have any issue with anything, this is a discussion.

I am however of the opinion that the middle class, or those trying to attain middle class stability, are to a large extent wasting money on cheap, low quality products, because they are chasing some sort of dopamine release, and this is served up to them on a platter by social media “influencers” and completely unregulated advertising online, and also that many are stuck in a cycle of purchasing lower quality products because of “affordability” concerns, then replacing them every few months or years, instead of saving up, or “investing” in a more expensive higher quality version of the same item that will last a lifetime or even be passed on to a next generation, and this cycle is keeping people poorer.

I don’t buy the argument that consumerism has always been there, so what’s the issue. Consumerism changes and develops with the times, and the way products are presented to people today, the unregulated access to unregulated markets etc makes today’s consumerism very different to that of 20 or 30 years ago. It has been socially engineered into social media feeds, and subliming messaging is rife wherever people look. People are genuinely less happy about today as a rule than they were 20 years ago. They try to then fill that emptiness in their souls with death scrolling on social media, which had been designed to act on dopamine receptors, and create short, high intensity bursts of joy, and in this time, they are bombarded with advertising for absolute rubbish, that they can purchase without even getting off the couch, or climbing out of bed.

These same people then when asked to engage in real life, meaningful experiences, will decline because firstly, they are tired/worn out, because their dopamine has been depleted by social media and socially engineered online shopping for cheap junk, and secondly, because they don’t feel they can justify the expense, which is a direct result of overspending due to point 1.

Over time, this cycle becomes all consuming.
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It's called retail therapy. And I totally agree with you. Most people's lives are totally without any aim or objective. Malls exist not to buy items we need but have become a pastime. Shopping is a way of life for most people. Browsing Takealot/Temu/Shein websites to see what you can buy that you don't need with money you don't have.

City friends of mine both earn excellent salaries. Always redecorating the home, buy new cars every 2 or 3 years, always eat out, always. I doubt they eat 2 home cooked meals a week. I think his TV is now 85" with surround sound, sound bar warrawarrawarra. Totally empty life. Devoid of any meaning if not for buying stuff. Useless geegaws and gizmos.

It's very sad really.
 
Zellephant said:
I think you missed the point. I didn’t want to discuss the price of the boots, because I knew how the person would react, and they did.

The fact is, that same person spends a completely silly amount of money on nonsense. They get Takealot and Temu deliveries more than once a week. They also recon spending R900 on boots that need to be replace every year is a better deal than spending R4500 once every 15 years on a pair.
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But paying more is not always required. Do I pay R3000 for a Weber that will last me 15 years, or R500 now for a Bushbaby braai I know will last me at least 7.5 years or longer as I take good care of it and then another R500 (+inflation) in 2032?
 
TStringList said:
Could we have a link to the boots please?
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www.blundstone.com.au

Brown Leather Chelsea Boots, Men's Heritage 155 - Blundstone Australia

Find out more about Brown Leather Chelsea Men's Heritage 155 and other boots, along with a range of other styles from Blundstone boots with FREE Shipping.
www.blundstone.com.au www.blundstone.com.au
supersunbird said:
But paying more is not always required. Do I pay R3000 for a Weber that will last me 15 years, or R500 now for a Bushbaby braai I know will last me at least 7.5 years or longer as I take good care of it and then another R500 (+inflation) in 2032?
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Sure you can, it’s your money. But I very much doubt the you are comparing apples which apples here. In a bind I once bought a R500.00 braai at checkers. It had rusted through within a year. That said, I was living close to the ocean.

Me personally, if I wanted a Weber, I would buy a Weber, not some cheap knock off (I have a Weber and a Cadac Weber replica, but pretty decent, and similarly priced, but the Weber lid does fit better, and it does retain heat better for slow cooking and so on).

But for R500.00 I wouldn’t buy a bushbaby. I would buy a drum braai from one of the guys selling next to the road. Would be better made and last longer. Or I would chuck in an extra R300 and buy a hardly used second hand real Weber of Facebook Marketplace
 
Zellephant said:
www.blundstone.com.au

Brown Leather Chelsea Boots, Men's Heritage 155 - Blundstone Australia

Find out more about Brown Leather Chelsea Men's Heritage 155 and other boots, along with a range of other styles from Blundstone boots with FREE Shipping.
www.blundstone.com.au www.blundstone.com.au

Sure you can, it’s your money. But I very much doubt the you are comparing apples which apples here. In a bind I once bought a R500.00 braai at checkers. It had rusted through within a year. That said, I was living close to the ocean.

Me personally, if I wanted a Weber, I would buy a Weber, not some cheap knock off (I have a Weber and a Cadac Weber replica, but pretty decent, and similarly priced, but the Weber lid does fit better, and it does retain heat better for slow cooking and so on).

But for R500.00 I wouldn’t buy a bushbaby. I would buy a drum braai from one of the guys selling next to the road. Would be better made and last longer. Or I would chuck in an extra R300 and buy a hardly used second hand real Weber of Facebook Marketplace
Click to expand...

I guess that is the benefit of living on the highveld
 
I'm guilty of spending unnecessarily. Specifically on things like Uber Eats even though it's way more expensive than me frying up a couple chicken breasts for a meal. It started during Covid. I dad never used any of the fast food apps before then. At one stage I was using Uber Eats like 20+ days a month. These days it's maybe once or twice a week but it is a waste of money. It's just too easy to be lazy and order food.
 
Zellephant said:
www.blundstone.com.au

Brown Leather Chelsea Boots, Men's Heritage 155 - Blundstone Australia

Find out more about Brown Leather Chelsea Men's Heritage 155 and other boots, along with a range of other styles from Blundstone boots with FREE Shipping.
www.blundstone.com.au www.blundstone.com.au

Sure you can, it’s your money. But I very much doubt the you are comparing apples which apples here. In a bind I once bought a R500.00 braai at checkers. It had rusted through within a year. That said, I was living close to the ocean.

Me personally, if I wanted a Weber, I would buy a Weber, not some cheap knock off (I have a Weber and a Cadac Weber replica, but pretty decent, and similarly priced, but the Weber lid does fit better, and it does retain heat better for slow cooking and so on).

But for R500.00 I wouldn’t buy a bushbaby. I would buy a drum braai from one of the guys selling next to the road. Would be better made and last longer. Or I would chuck in an extra R300 and buy a hardly used second hand real Weber of Facebook Marketplace
Click to expand...
Those are nice boots. If I was in your shoes I wouldn't worry about your braai mates say.
 
/cough


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Oh, noes...
 
saor said:
I often see a similar thing with a chefs knife. People will balk at a R4000 (or whatever) knife but then spend close to half that on a pair of shoes. The knife will last me a lifetime (and be passed on) but those shoes will be what - 2 years and they're done?
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This. For example Eccos. These things fall apart even if you don't wear them. They're designed to. They're eco friendly after all. All this Nordic BS appeal to mother gaia and Thor and the planet.

Mephistos last longer though. But they're often double Ecco's price.
 
www.linkedin.com

House @ R 1 500 000 (1% = R 15 000) Car @ R 300 000 (let's be kind at R 4 000) Petrol being kind again at R 2 000 Maintenance not included in costs Utilities + rates usage dependent but let's say R 4… | Renato Rebelo | 17 comments

House @ R 1 500 000 (1% = R 15 000) Car @ R 300 000 (let's be kind at R 4 000) Petrol being kind again at R 2 000 Maintenance not included in costs Utilities + rates usage dependent but let's say R 4 000 on the lower scale Insurance (house, car, contents etc @ R 3 500) risk dependent but still...
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1765181339143.png
 
There is hidden inflation in the global economy that they are lying about somehow. It's not just in SA. In the first world home, energy, and food prices have gone nuts. In SA house prices went nuts from the early 2000's and while they have somewhat abated due mainly to inflation it's still very high compared to my parents era.

Energy and water prices have gone up above inflation for decades. Medical care pricing is just broken. Most of my medical aid increases have been double published inflation for as long as I can remember. My medical costs per month are now over 20K (have a child with a disability).

A car we got 11 years back for 180K at our inflation rate should have cost R280K last year but when I checked the same car last year for the same comfort model it was instead 400K. So the price went up 220K when inflation said it should have just been 100K. Car prices are not included in any inflation bundle yet somehow....

Not sure if it's the quantitative easing coming home to roost or the global elite accumulating wealth at our expense or what, but something is very rotten in the state of Denmark.
 
Cius said:
There is hidden inflation in the global economy that they are lying about somehow. It's not just in SA. In the first world home, energy, and food prices have gone nuts. In SA house prices went nuts from the early 2000's and while they have somewhat abated due mainly to inflation it's still very high compared to my parents era.

Energy and water prices have gone up above inflation for decades. Medical care pricing is just broken. Most of my medical aid increases have been double published inflation for as long as I can remember. My medical costs per month are now over 20K (have a child with a disability).

A car we got 11 years back for 180K at our inflation rate should have cost R280K last year but when I checked the same car last year for the same comfort model it was instead 400K. So the price went up 220K when inflation said it should have just been 100K. Car prices are not included in any inflation bundle yet somehow....

Not sure if it's the quantitative easing coming home to roost or the global elite accumulating wealth at our expense or what, but something is very rotten in the state of Denmark.
Click to expand...
It’s been interesting to see how inflation has been ravaging the US, previously they had near no inflation.
Apparently businesses have been capitalising on things like Covid to artificially hike up prices while they could and then often not drop them back. The recent egg shortage in the US is a prime example of these sharks, there was some outbreak in the US ravaging chickens, the largest egg producer was barely affected but they still jumped on the bandwagon and charged extortionate prices, right in the middle of the so called egg crisis they had record turnover and profits.

US businesses and many other global players have lost the plot, they have zero interest in serving humanity or offering high quality products and services, rather whatever maximises profits is the order of the day. It’s all going to come crashing down eventually if it carries on unabated.

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While American consumers continue to pay inflated prices for eggs, large-scale producers—especially industry giant Cal-Maine—are reaping enormous profits, according to a new report by Food & Water Watch. The report finds that since the bird flu outbreak began in 2022, egg prices have more than...
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Velskoen said:
Totally empty life. Devoid of any meaning if not for buying stuff. Useless geegaws and gizmos.

It's very sad really.
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Well, only from YOUR point of view. It's completely subjective isn't it?

This lifestyle makes them happy and fulfills THEIR lives.

Why does that bother you?

I find that people that judge others on things like this are envious deep down. That's the only reason you'd kvetch about things like this.
 
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