jr conlin's ink stained banana

Being a somewhat faithful listener to NPR's planet money, i know that what sets this recession apart from all others that preceded it is the fact that during this downward spiral, consumers aren't spending. Part of that is because, unlike previous recessions, consumers are the root of this mess and not just subject to somebody else trying to figure out how to get out of the hole.

Now, granted, i'm willing to believe that part of that is because more folks are starting to realize that getting multiple mortgages on a $1.4 million dollar McMansion located at the wrong end of a 60 mile commute in their H1 wasn't quite the ideal they thought it would be, but i'm thinking a lot of folks are missing something else kinda key.

There's nothing out there worth dropping big cash on.

Look over the various "hot item" lists and you'll see a lot of old familiar faces, iPhones, iPods, Wii, PS3, XBox, big screen TVs, blah.. Heck, even this season's Terrify Me Elmo is pretty much a revamped version of last year. Even if these were the heady, cash flush days of early 2008, i'd be hard pressed to come up with items which would happily separate me from my filthy lucre (although there's a number of bonds i'd probably drop cash into, but it's hard to get the kids rev'ed up about opening those on Christmas Morn).

What's worse is that it's also all the same crap i didn't buy last year at this time.

Honestly, a lot of product companies seem to be of the opinion that we just need to shut up and buy their crap. Sorry, but no. Just like before, you've got to earn that right. i mean, it's not like it's really all that hard. Give me stuff that fills my current need. i'm betting you probably fall into that category too. Granted, i don't want this to be a banner year for socks and underwear, but there are other things that folks need on a reasonable basis.

Mind you, i have no idea what those are when i'm standing eyebrows deep in emo mall kids trying to figure out what to get my brother, but that's probably beside the point.