this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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Degrowth

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Discussions about degrowth and all sorts of related topics. This includes UBI, economic democracy, the economics of green technologies, enviromental legislation and many more intressting economic topics.

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[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

WTF is underconsumption? That term would suggest missing basic needs. The article talks about budgets and not treating belongings as disposable.

[–] JacobCoffinWrites 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

When some CEO or economist goes on the evening news claiming that young people are deliberately sabotaging the economy (and their profits) by not consuming as much as previous generations, that's the 'under' in underconsuming.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I just don't understand the goal other than reinforcing class lines and demonizing the poor. It's like they're convincing business constituents that there's still a wealth of untapped capital just hiding in people's (especially younger people's) savings accounts. Are they grifting other business people or pushing policy?

Eh... Not like it's anything new...

[–] JacobCoffinWrites 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I think it's just reinforcing endless consumption as normal/good and blaming the youngest adult generation for whatever problems are happening.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

At the very last it's an attempt to invalidate the experience if people who are struggling. But yeah. It makes sense they could just be contributing to the propaganda stream. It seems to work pretty well on the stereotypical "middle class boomer", though that's anecdotal from my conversations with brick walls.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No. They know there isn't any more.

That's why the consumer loan industry is booming. They're literally lending people money so they can keep selling more and more.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I was suggesting their claims are bs whether or not they know. It's possible they're literally that out of touch but more likely it's just irrelevant to the greed motivating them to say this.

Payday and micro loans have been a huge issue putting people into poverty for almost a couple decades now. It's a big reason for companies doing credit checks on new hires(also dumb and evil). Though i'm sure it's ramped up in the last several years. All evil built into a system.