Bricks+Mortar 4ever!

Here's an impassioned testimonial from my friend Ava over at radiatortoast.com on the subject of why one should always purchase one's electronics from a real live person at a real live store.

Wealth, Leisure, and Why We Don't Have More Of Either

I just read this article by Tim Hartford, aka Slate Magazine's "Undercover Economist." Here's the rundown:

Our capitalist economy depends heavily on consumption. When consumer spending increases, jobs are created and we find ourselves living in fine fat times. When consumer spending decreases, jobs are lost and we enter recessionary periods. They only way to reverse a recession, we are told, is to increase consumer spending. To put it another way, prosperity is possible only when we buy ever-greater quantities of shit.

But is this true? Can something so ecologically unsustainable really be the only way? Hartford says there is another option: we need to work less. He writes:

We earn—this is a very rough average—twice what our parents did when they were our age. When today's teenagers are in their 40s, there is no reason why they shouldn't decide to enjoy their increased prosperity by working less instead of earning more. Rather than being twice as rich as their parents, they could be no richer but start their weekends on Wednesday afternoon. If this were a gradual process, mass unemployment would not result. People would simply earn less, spend less, wear a few more secondhand clothes, and spend more time reading or going for walks.

There are various social reasons to explain why this hasn't happened, doesn't happen, and may never happen, but they boil down to keeping up with the Joneses. It's fine and good that we're more comfortable than our parents were, but our wealth relative to previous generations doesn't mean a thing if the Joneses have a new car. Wealth in our society is status, and we're obsessed with it. And so the traditional economic cycle continues.

Will we ever be content with what we have? My guess is no, but Hartford thinks we may be getting closer:

...Leisure time for women has increased by at least four hours a week since 1965. Men have done even better. That may well understate the leisure gains. A hundred years ago, many people would start working at the age of 10 or 12 and work until they died. Now it is common to spend fewer than half our years working; the rest of the time we spend studying, traveling, and in retirement.The "work less, spend less" movement is winning. It's a shame it hasn't noticed.

Maybe Tim Hartford is right. I'd like to think that it's possible for us to give up our bloated homes and overstuffed closets to get more of the one commodity there will never be enough of: time.

Someone Hates Christmas More Than I Do!

I didn't think it was possible, but there is a person in this country who is even more Scroogy than I am. His name is Christopher Hitchens, and he writes for Slate magazine, and I might have to marry him. So what if he is already married? So what if he is a boozy old Commie? The heart is a lonely hunter.

Read my fiance's article, "Tis the Season to Be Incredulous: The Moral and Aesthetic Nightmare of Christmas", here.

I found five dollars in my bra. Score!

Okay, I didn't really. But I did just catch up on Radiator Toast, one of my favorite sites for recipes, coupons, and money-saving tips. I don't actually cook, use coupons, or spend my money wisely, but the blog is entertaining all the same, and it's published by my friends Ava and Penny Price. (One of those names is a pseudonym! Can you guess which one? Nice work, junior detective!)

MPR Follows Local Retailers

This holiday shopping season, Minnesota Public Radio has been keeping tabs on three local retailers. Morning Edition aired an update today, and I was pleased to hear the businesses are doing better than expected. Listen to the whole story here.

Chained Update

My "reverse experiment"--shopping only at chains during the month of December--has been an epic fail. I cheated from day one, mostly on coffee and food. What can I say? Around here, it's easy to convince people to patronize the small local place. It's harder to convince someone who wants to try the new neighborhood joint that we should go to the Ruby Tuesday in Edina instead.

To put it another way, this month has given me the excuse to shop wherever I damn well please. I admit, it's been a relief to buy most of my household staples cheaply and in a single location: Target. With the cold weather this month, I've also enjoyed picking up groceries at the Lunds near my office instead of snowshoeing down to The Wedge twice a week.

I still intend to buy whatever I can, whenever I can, from independent retailers. I believe that independent businesses strengthen our communities both socially and economically. I believe that independent businesses empower consumers by giving them more choices. I believe that independent businesses defend us from the multinational corporations that are in many ways more powerful than our nation's government. That said, I am calling this experiment off early. I went three full months without any major cheats. Maybe I'm setting the bar too low, but I think that's pretty good.

I'm going to keep Unchain My Cart going, and I'll continue to write about small business and about my adventures in shopping small. But I will no longer restrict myself to shopping only at businesses with fewer than three locations. It isn't impossible, but it is challenging. Sometimes I'm just not up for a challenge. Sometimes, I'm up for a Peanut Buster Parfait. Sorry.

One of the things I'd like to complete within the next month or so is a price comparison: how much more (or less) expensive is it to buy groceries and other staples from local independent retailers than it is to buy them at regional or national chains? Stay tuned for the results.

The Rise and Fall of the Shopping Mall

Here's a cool article from The Economist about the rise and fall of the American shopping mall. The article is a year old and a little too kind to "lifestyle centers", which strike me as contrived, weak replacements for the bustling downtowns of the pre-mall era. Still, you should read it. Sarah Palin did, I'm sure.

Tips for small biz from the U of MN

Thanks to Sarah Morean for sending me this video from the U of MN about what small businesses and historic business districts can do to increase their traffic. Note the emphasis on independent businesses as "destinations," a topic I have previously discussed in this blog.

Scrooge, Part Two

This is also why I don't buy Christmas gifts.

Scrooge, Part One

This is why I don't buy Christmas gifts.