April 20, 2009--Cutting Back . . . Literally
Yes, Barack Obama is right that there are glimmers of hope about the economy. Some of the largest banks are showing profits, GE’s numbers came in better than expected, and jobless claims, though they continue to rise, are rising at a slowing rate. All good news . . . I think.
But in spite of this, though our investments are looking perkier, we continue to cut back. Late last week, for example, I again saved half an onion and wound up using the remainder in a sauté of leftover mushrooms and okra. It made a nifty side dish. And we did take home and freeze three slices of pizza from Anthony’s, which made for a satisfying lunch. Oh, yes, since there was about a quarter of the onion still left, I sliced it thin and tossed it on top of the pizza to freshen it up.
Around the country, many are doing versions of the same thing. Most out of necessity, but it also appears that there is a cultural shift under way against some of our recent profligate ways.
Over the weekend I tuned into to watch parts of the first games played at the new Yankee Stadium. Thursday’s home opener appeared to be sold out. But by Saturday, when the Yanks gave up 14 runs in the second inning—an all-time team record of ineptitude—and on Sunday, it was clear that there were whole areas of the stadium where the seats were empty. Mainly behind home plate and the two dugouts where it cost more than $2,500 per seat.
Yes, I did see a father with three kids sitting two rows back and wondered what kind of values he was teaching those youngsters by spending more than $10,000 on those seats. But it was clear by the empty seats that others who would otherwise have been there on those balmy early spring days were not willing to spend so lavishly on tickets to what after all is just a game. It’s not college tuition. It’s not a down payment on a house. It’s not for a new car.
Then I read a piece in the New York Times about “the gleefully frugal.” These are people who can still afford to go to Yankee Stadium or buy $3,000 Prada handbags but prefer to look for bargains.
Becky Martin, who is a real estate investor, whose husband is a successful plastic surgeon, and who lives on a golf course in a country club community in Cincinnati, recently cut up her ten credit cards, takes DVDs out of the library rather than renting them, and grows her own fruits and vegetables, said, “I’m loving this. It’s a chance to pass along the frugal lifestyle that my mother gave me.”
In contrast to the past, Americans are not spending their way out of this recession. We are saving more. Since the 1980s, savings rates plummeted to just 1 percent, but now we are putting away 5 percent of our money. According to Martha Olney, a University of California economics professor who specializes in the Great Depression, consumerism, and indebtedness, this new behavior may signal a cultural shift, “It implies a re-emergence of thrift as a value.”
As my grandmother used to say, “We’ll see.” Cultural shifts occur only infrequently and take more than a few months to establish themselves.
If the Yankees can get their act together and play competitive baseball I’ll keep watching them. On TV. And I’ll be keeping an eye on those first five rows of seats.
But there is one other way Americans appear to be saving. And this method is not so easily reversible—according to another article in the same issue of the Times (linked below), the number of men having vasectomies is experiencing an uptick
Accurate statistics are hard to come by. No group or organization gathers vasectomy data. It’s hard to even imagine what such and organization might call itself—The UC, the Unkindest Cut?—but in 2006 a study published in the Journal of Urology estimated that each year about 527,000 are performed. More anecdotally, Planned Parenthood in Southern California, where the Great Recession has hit very hard, reports that requests for vasectomies have risen by more than 30 percent during the first three months of this year.
So we may be seeing the beginning of an important new trend. After learning she was pregnant, one woman quoted in the Times piece, said, “Another baby—how wonderful!” After a moment’s thought she added, “Another child—how EXPENSIVE!”
But in spite of this, though our investments are looking perkier, we continue to cut back. Late last week, for example, I again saved half an onion and wound up using the remainder in a sauté of leftover mushrooms and okra. It made a nifty side dish. And we did take home and freeze three slices of pizza from Anthony’s, which made for a satisfying lunch. Oh, yes, since there was about a quarter of the onion still left, I sliced it thin and tossed it on top of the pizza to freshen it up.
Around the country, many are doing versions of the same thing. Most out of necessity, but it also appears that there is a cultural shift under way against some of our recent profligate ways.
Over the weekend I tuned into to watch parts of the first games played at the new Yankee Stadium. Thursday’s home opener appeared to be sold out. But by Saturday, when the Yanks gave up 14 runs in the second inning—an all-time team record of ineptitude—and on Sunday, it was clear that there were whole areas of the stadium where the seats were empty. Mainly behind home plate and the two dugouts where it cost more than $2,500 per seat.
Yes, I did see a father with three kids sitting two rows back and wondered what kind of values he was teaching those youngsters by spending more than $10,000 on those seats. But it was clear by the empty seats that others who would otherwise have been there on those balmy early spring days were not willing to spend so lavishly on tickets to what after all is just a game. It’s not college tuition. It’s not a down payment on a house. It’s not for a new car.
Then I read a piece in the New York Times about “the gleefully frugal.” These are people who can still afford to go to Yankee Stadium or buy $3,000 Prada handbags but prefer to look for bargains.
Becky Martin, who is a real estate investor, whose husband is a successful plastic surgeon, and who lives on a golf course in a country club community in Cincinnati, recently cut up her ten credit cards, takes DVDs out of the library rather than renting them, and grows her own fruits and vegetables, said, “I’m loving this. It’s a chance to pass along the frugal lifestyle that my mother gave me.”
In contrast to the past, Americans are not spending their way out of this recession. We are saving more. Since the 1980s, savings rates plummeted to just 1 percent, but now we are putting away 5 percent of our money. According to Martha Olney, a University of California economics professor who specializes in the Great Depression, consumerism, and indebtedness, this new behavior may signal a cultural shift, “It implies a re-emergence of thrift as a value.”
As my grandmother used to say, “We’ll see.” Cultural shifts occur only infrequently and take more than a few months to establish themselves.
If the Yankees can get their act together and play competitive baseball I’ll keep watching them. On TV. And I’ll be keeping an eye on those first five rows of seats.
But there is one other way Americans appear to be saving. And this method is not so easily reversible—according to another article in the same issue of the Times (linked below), the number of men having vasectomies is experiencing an uptick
Accurate statistics are hard to come by. No group or organization gathers vasectomy data. It’s hard to even imagine what such and organization might call itself—The UC, the Unkindest Cut?—but in 2006 a study published in the Journal of Urology estimated that each year about 527,000 are performed. More anecdotally, Planned Parenthood in Southern California, where the Great Recession has hit very hard, reports that requests for vasectomies have risen by more than 30 percent during the first three months of this year.
So we may be seeing the beginning of an important new trend. After learning she was pregnant, one woman quoted in the Times piece, said, “Another baby—how wonderful!” After a moment’s thought she added, “Another child—how EXPENSIVE!”
posted by Steven Zwerling at
7:07 AM
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