Should Americans do more with less? - *to an extent, also, not as a necessity but as an innate characteristic - Alternative title: Have Americans become too decadent?

[Lord of the Large Pants]

In principle yes, but I notice that the people who are telling us be happy with less always seem to want more themselves.

 

[Retrodogkiller]

Serious though, I can see the appeal of going back to the durable item economy and stopping the slop model.

Would need a massive shift in the general consumer becoming educated and buying good reliable products over convenient slop.

 

[ZazietheBeast]

Burgers need to learn how to make the most out of the least. Its tragically common to see them throw away perfectly good food because they find the idea of leftovers atrocious. Which is sad because food really doesn't go bad if properly handled and prepared.

And seeing that our global elite would be happy to reduce the common man in squalor while they party it up in their ivory towers, it is essential.

The major hurdle in this is to teach Americans how to cook meals they want to eat instead of going out to eat all the time. There is a bereft of skill in most households of how to do this well. Its mostly about teaching those skills to normies who have no experience pirating or cooking, or learning to upgrade their devices and such.

Part of the problem is that Public schooling has absolutely gutted Home Ec, Shop Class and Automechanics. As such, once the kid gets out of public schooling and into the work force, their wings have effectively been clipped. And know fuckall about cooking and housecare aside from anything their family teaches them (if they have any that care enough).

I do agree with the rest. Because to these people, simple tips would be very invaluable. On that note, teaching them the wonders of second-hand goods to be important as well. Depends on the product of course.

I'm not sure how society as we know it even would function if people stopped being consoomers. I'm going to use restaurants as an example since everyone besides homeless junkies and quadriplegics can cook easily. If society only ate out once a month and during special occasions, I'll be generous and say 75% of restaurants would go out of business; 7.5%(covid as a comparison was 15%) of the working population or 11.25 million people would be on the streets like that. That 7.5% number is not even including the people who aren't even directly employed by the restaurants( construction people who build the buildings, credit card processors that take fees from restaurants, plumbers, electricians, POS system providers, hvac people, health inspectors, etc). And that was just restaurants, think of other industries and services that could be wiped out by people just not consooming at the same rate. Sadly, we need the general population to continue being cattle. It's not all doom and gloom though; coming to this conclusion and finding meaning in life that doesn't revolve around consooming puts you above the majority of the population.

The problem here is less about CONSOOM but more about people being able to afford to consoom. Its key to remember that before that asshole Edward Bernays managed to get women to smoke through convincing high class ladies at a certain parade with cameras rolling to encourage said behavior and thus kicking us off this rotten path of extra-disposable goods that is high-priced, unreliable and partly malicious which is what we know today as consumerism, Businesses still existed. Your average Joe then still ate at diners, bought their stuff from various stores and lived their lives without being at the beck and call of corporations and organizations that would reduce them into paypig serfs on top of having reliable goods.

People in general enjoy being lazy and taking the easy path which guarantees business. It just hard to afford stuff anymore which makes Joe of Current Year have to learn the skills to save money and make practical purchases. If anything, business will have to adapt like they did back during the great depression. And thanks to inflation and the lack of stable jobs, we are in a depression yet again.

 

[Squanto Airi]

In principle yes, but I notice that the people who are telling us be happy with less always seem to want more themselves.

That's my worry as well. I also wouldn't mind having less things if said things were actually a bit more affordable and made to last rather than fall apart as soon as the warranty ends.

 

[Squishie PP]

> Should <X> do <Y>?
What people should do has no guarantee to match reality.

 

[umseriously]

As a general principle, yes we should learn to live more with less. Less is more after all. Yet, I know this is a absolutely retarded cope used by political faggots who want to disguise the shitty economy and wages we have as us just being le coonsoomers. We should apparently be happy that we have nothing and live in a pod. Absolutely bug mentality. Infact, what Americans need to is just grab whatever they need (in a moral manner) without caring about what ZOG thinks.

 

[Slap47]

Such as never eating out at fast food

Part of the breakdown of the family is that a comfortable working class life demands that both spouses be working or for a solo person to work long hours. You can meal plan and all that, but at a certain point it is more economical to just work more hours and order out food.

 

[SOLDIER OF WALES]

Part of the breakdown of the family is that a comfortable working class life demands that both spouses be working or for a solo person to work long hours. You can meal plan and all that, but at a certain point it is more economical to just work more hours and order out food.

Are you sure? Using the McDonalds app, a Big Mac combo costs me $10, so a family of four pays $40. You can make spaghetti with 2lbs ground beef for like 12-15$ and that’s good for dinner. I live alone but that’s what I do.

 

[Slap47]

Are you sure? Using the McDonalds app, a Big Mac combo costs me $10, so a family of four pays $40. You can make spaghetti with 2lbs ground beef for like 12-15$ and that’s good for dinner. I live alone but that’s what I do.

You can get Mcdonalds for much cheaper on certain days and by combining various deals. However, despite this that is probably the least economical fast food. Compare this to Chinese, Shawarma or Pizza where you can get 1-3 meals for 30-40 dollars. If you work a normal job that is a mere 2-ish hours of labor for alot of food that is prepared relatively well. Likewise, the actual ingredients of this are only cost effective if you scale up the production and eat alot of it for several days.

Food is a very small % of peoples spending overall regardless so this is not really where you should be trying to save money unless you're a fatass who eats too much or a Boomer who hoards food that they never eat. The biggest cost for most people is their rent/mortgage and car plan they constantly upgrade to newer models with.

 

[WhatIsThePunchline]

I was browsing USPG2 and saw a conversation with @mold and @BigGuyOS 6 : Jovial Janny and other users after they heard a story about Indians owning Subways. They retorted along the lines of "If you didn't get fast food for large family gatherings, you wouldn't have this issue." which got me to thinking:

I read the same thing, it was a nice discussion.

Regarding 'pointless activities'

All successful forms of entertainment key into core instincts. This makes it completely insufficient to say 'just do less of x'. You need to articulate what the actual issue is.

Activities that don't matter will barely be screwed with by powers that be because they represent no disturbance to the status quo.

The most addictive of those activities will always outcompete others.

So what is actually needed is to define what stuff matters and why.

My attempt:
Currently you are living in an age where everyday, isolated individuals are loosing rights and power. You are more watched, less able to make your voice heard, less able to hear about the world, than you were ten years ago.

The state (and corpos) wants you to have less ability to affect things.

A side effect of this is things just work worse. Worse economy, worse quality in products, worse everything.

That's why you need to do 'more with less'. If the state and corpos isn't looking out for your interests, and other people don't care you need to put more effort in looking after your interests on your own.

The original conversation is mundane, cook for your family, make it into an event, use it to bond with people you love but it keys directly into this. Save money, maintain bonds with your closest, reject corpos, all of this gives you more means in your everyday life, more ability to affect things, or to bear problems as they come up.

That is far more productive than just telling people to abandon entertainment and fun. Try to find activities that give you more ability to resolve problems in your life, or otherwise carries some special meaning to who you are.

Not to starve corpos, you won't really be able to do that. Because it's not just the state and corpos, it's also that the masses mostly care about going to work, spending time with their families and hobbies, and nothing else.

More because even a single person with some autonomy can help a lot more than themselves, and even if you only help yourself at least you'll be better equipped to deal with whatever comes.

I think there's a lot of stuff people can do but it's all a lot of work and diffiicult.

 

[QuatoLives]

'Should do more with less' would certainly be the most economically responsible way of living, but it's not feasible for the average pleb when the market caters to their every trivial indulgence.

with widespread availability of the internet and near universal access to easy credit, it has never been easier to indulge. Even the poor can do it. The economy would have to crash pretty hard for that to change.

It sucks that luxury these days seems to mean more rather than better. There is a lot of stuff that I would pay more for if higher quality, more robust versions exist, but now it seems better is determined by the market to be the same cheap crap with diamond encrusted brand logos glued to them.

 

[Neodanthril]

I was browsing USPG2 and

I immediately regret clicking on this thread

 

[Rekieta’s Broken Penis]

A mistake you are making is conflating decadence with consoomerism. Going out for fast food isn't decadent, but consooming slop bowls at chipotle is.

How is fast food anything but an indulgence? You are choosing to sacrifice your health and money (potentially even your comfort if your regret it after) for something which gratifies your tastebuds. Given the large number of regular consumers I’d say it reflects moral decay, or decadence.

Thank you Uncle Ted but I think you might be over-correcting. People can stick with older model phones, home cook their meals and safely pirate as much media as they can get away with (and they probably should do this) but if you enjoy fast food once a week or want to buy a video game sometimes then it's not the end of the world. If you live in the economic center of the planet then you should be allowed a little more economic wiggle room than a Serbian peasant.

fat hands typed this

 

[kim foxx]

Sadly, we need the general population to continue being cattle.

When America was a productive economy instead of a consumer economy there was a big and empowered industrial working class that went on strike frequently for better pay and conditions. There were so many strikes that the evening news in most cities would have a special report just on which plants had strikes and what the workers wanted. The general population needs to be cattle because the alternative is intolerable for the people who own the country.

 

[draggs]

That's so un-American and anti-American. American is everything you wanted and MORE MORE MORE. If you don't like it you're probably a commie

 

[werbwub]

The general population needs to be cattle because the alternative is intolerable for the people who own the country.

Yeah, you put that better than I did. I'm not sure what the solution is for this problem. If people decided to forgo rampant consumerism and went back to basics and diy as much as possible( Holding onto devices for longer and repairing them, putting down the phone and focusing on relationships, partaking in cheap/money saving hobbies, etc) it would cause mass unemployment; there is simply not enough demand to keep people on payroll whenever you lose 50% if your business.

 

[Seething Troon Collector]

Part of the problem is that Public schooling has absolutely gutted Home Ec, Shop Class and Automechanics. As such, once the kid gets out of public schooling and into the work force, their wings have effectively been clipped. And know fuckall about cooking and housecare aside from anything their family teaches them (if they have any that care enough).

Public schooling is only there to instill the desire to consoom, chase trends, learn to love insurmountable debt for a chance to spin the wheel of success and call winning hard work, and of course, get you addicted to useless goyslop while robbing you of your ability to think critically.

Public schools do this, very expensive private schools where your so-called betters send their children have none of this.

Basically I’m saying you should homeschool your kids. Plus there’s a lower chance of your kids getting their brain scrambled by the rainbow mafia and groomed by some 34 year old ‘woman’ named Skye.

 

[ZazietheBeast]

Public schooling is only there to instill the desire to consoom, chase trends, learn to love insurmountable debt for a chance to spin the wheel of success and call winning hard work, and of course, get you addicted to useless goyslop while robbing you of your ability to think critically.

Public schools do this, very expensive private schools where your so-called betters send their children have none of this.

Basically I’m saying you should homeschool your kids. Plus there’s a lower chance of your kids getting their brain scrambled by the rainbow mafia and groomed by some 34 year old ‘woman’ named Skye.

Agreed with Homeschooling. I'll even take it a step further. Parents should begin to make their own networks on making sure that the homeschooling curriculum will guarantee the kid better educated and better adjusted than the multitude of kids stuck in an early penal system designed to make them stupid and miserable for the rest of their lives. And the best part about setting up your own network is that the lesson plans can be very adaptive unlike the school system that has to winge and debate whether or not kids should have better lunches. But yeah, Public school in current year is a horror show and its worse than they let on...

Spoiler: Further Public School Autism

Public schooling is a complete and utter joke at this point because at the very least back in the early 2000s, there were some educational stuff and at the very least, gives you a glimpse on how the world works. (Was fortunate enough to have good teachers and a curriculum that made sense) But with woke garbage being shoveled around post 2008 has rendered the school to be nothing more than a glorified prison. Hell, even prisoners have electives to get better at. Kids have nothing more than 15 years of wasting their time only to end up worse where they started from.

But it gets worse. Science classes barely teach science anymore. No dissecting of frogs, not that much lessons in chemicals, everything has been rendered safe and sterile. Not giving the kid a glimpse on how dangerous the world is. Science has become a glorified art class. Hilariously, math hasn't changed much. Its still the endless drills of equations that kids never really get to use beyond the classroom and the repetition is the secret sauce that makes the kid hate doing shit with numbers. History is even more pozzed than usual, with the MSM shoving their narratives into the textbooks, and that is not getting into the unfortunate reality that school has become quite dumber thanks to an unholy combination of Tik-Tok and immigrant kids lowering the grade because lol no English. So now you have teachers having to accomodate Abdul, Sukdeep, Ubuntu and Lorenzo who not only aren't speaking English, but carry cultural baggage on top of it. Especially with the first three finding the concept of general hygiene to be an alien thing. Thanks to that, grade 2 is actually grade 1, so on and so forth.

And don't forget the loads upon loads of school therapists who are just there to tell you what you are feeling is wrong and should walk in lockstep with the clownworld rule of law which is pure nonsense. Too often I see fag flags along with occasional books encouraging kids to become faggots.

Of course there's the fact that public schooling in general is there to set up the mental narrative to make you follow society with how the school is structured, the pozzed history books and the impeccable job it does in making you hate doing math and science. But seeing society has become an utter clownshow... yeah. And to top it all off, thanks to Obama's troon husband, the school lunches have become an utter shitshow. Sterile and unsatisfying.

 

[mr_negativity]

The cost of shelter is a major fixed expense brought upon by boomers who discovered environmentalism after they got on the property ladder. Minimalism will do fuck all to stop this as they will gladly sell you $1,000,000 studio condos or coffin pods with $1,000/mo association fees.

The second is education. You can either go into debt for $100,000 dollars+ for a crack at an entry level job that requires 5+ years experience in a technology that's only 2 years old while competing against an army of Pajeets. Meanwhile you could also go with no college degree and compete against an army of spics and Somalians.

A car is the first major expense you can finally control. The closest you can find to a Dodge Neon of old is a Nissan Altima and that makes you a nigger. You can't legally buy a new shitbox car with a 3 speed automatic, 2 valve pushrod engine, and throttle body injection. Only the $40,000 land yacht with a turbo charged 3 or 4 cylinder DFI engine will readily meet all the crash safety and emissions requirements required. You can debate whether or not you can buy a car with crank windows, but all the environmental and safety requirements enacted by a government that actively wants to ban cars and restrict them only to the rich is one of the primary costs.

Shelter, education, car. These are the bare minimum expenses to get by. Just these 3 expenses, Gen Z is looking at around $2,500 a month at the low end.

I look at my younger coworkers getting hired in, and I don't really know how they make ends meet. I'm a monetary honey badger of frugality and investment, but I shrug on what zoomers can do with the fuckery given to them.

I can chastise them about spending money on fast food and streaming subs, but their cost of shelter is 3x mine and they got 100K of student loan debt. They are truly fucked! I managed to make good in the housing collapse.

I'm not a boomer in that if the housing costs collapse to what they were again in 2010-2012 it would be no skin off my back and I'd feel happy at least they'd get the same buying opportunities I did.

 

[Wigger Rights Advocate]

Most westerners should stop buying slop that breaks after a couple wears, and buy more durable stuff. Which yes, it's usually more expensive, but you just need to buy one item that will last a long time, instead of multiple, so having this kind of mentally is worth it long-term. I also think/hope we'll see more people starting to mend items instead of just throwing them away and getting new ones. In part due to us all being broke, but also because we'll get sick and tired of our current lifestyle, which is not sustainable at all (note how sustainability content is becoming more popular online).

This applies, to food, clothes, appliances, etc etc.

Companies can try to brainwash us all they want with marketing, but if you're broke then you're broke, you just cannot purchase the item even if they shove 20 ads in your face.