Mayhem and Merry in the Land of Excess

So today’s blog is inspired by my comment that was rejected by The Consumerist, in response their article, I love the recession because things that suck are dying, I thought this would be a perfect place for me to comment or question. And while the majority of the conversation revolved around SUV’s, mine was Breast Augmentation. Here was my comment.

“My question is do you think we’ll see a deflation of breast augmentation during this recession?

I can understand how perhaps someone could find rude or crude or perhaps way out in left field. But honestly, the comment has a greater relationship with our economy then one might think. Now personally, I really don’t care too much. It is a women’s right to decide on plastic surgery. I do know however that some women invest more money in their breasts to make a living then on an education, and that is a sad state in our nation. My point however derives from one of my favorite books, and sadly I must profess my pathetic nerdiness and that is Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class.

Veblen’s theory of “Conspicuous Consumption” was describing early 20th century Aristocrats displaying wealth through women with extremely thin waistlines, and men dressed as Dandies. This at the time was extremely hot! It is about displaying wealth in excess. We saw this again in dramatic form during the Reagan era in the 1980’s. Women wore garments with ridiculously big shoulder pads to indicate power in a man’s world. Remember Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”. And remember the big, “Flock of Seagulls” hairstyle. Dude, I loved the Flock of Seagulls. They were so sexy. Big is better. Big is an advertisement for wealth.

Where is our culture today? SUV’s and even Hummers as discussed in the Consumerist is one idea. The other is the value of a gross superficiality, whether it is breast augmentation, or any plastic surgery for that matter, diet pills and Rogaine. And now I must introduce, Billy Crystal’s Fernando, “It’s better to look good, then to feel good,” line in the conversation. You look marvelous! We invest a great deal of money in enhancing our exterior with little investment on our interior. So now what is to happen when our nation’s economy splats like an insect on a windshield? Do you think it is time to reevaluate our values and ideals?

In dramatic fashion, we are discovering our values, materialism and superficiality are causing the nosedive of our economy. Our auto industry failed because of lack of vision and staying current with the times. Americans wanted big and outlandish gas guzzlers. Banks failed, lending far too much money for us to invest in things we can’t afford. We needed to keep up with the Jones’.

Perhaps our economy is floundering because all of us are such big boobs we are failing to see the downfall of our conspicuous consumption. Or we can follow Donald Trump who suggests, “If laid off, try plastic surgery, because if you want to make money, you must look good.” This is not a question of what products will disappear in a recession. This is a question of our values.