Thorstein Veblen’s “conspicuous consumption” updated…

   

ORIGIN OF THE FAMOUS TERM: “Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure...In other words, the conspicuous consumer spends money to impress other people and to ensure that others are well aware of the spender’s socioeconomic status.”         Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929)         Norwegian-American economist and sociologist         In his book The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Chapter 4         Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption” to refer to the way some people use obviously lavish spending to demonstrate their wealth (often regardless of whether they are actually wealthy).

THE NEVER TOO RICH OR THIN VERSION:   “Being thin is a kind of inconspicuous consumption that distinguishes the rich at a time when most poor people can more easily afford to be fat than thin. Since idealized sex objects are modeled partly on class-associated images, this is surely a factor. For a man to have a thin woman in his arm is a sign of his own worth, and a woman increases her market value by being slender. Fat women are either accorded a nonsexual status in this system, or else (and less publicly) are granted a degraded 'lower class' kind of animal sexuality.”         Marcia Millman         Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz         In her book Such a Pretty Face: Being Fat in America (1980), Chapter 6

EUGENE’S VERSION: “Conspicuous waste beyond the imagination of Thorstein Veblen has become the mark of American life.  As a nation we find ourselves overbuilt, if not overhoused; overfed, although millions of poor people are undernourished; overtransported in overpowered cars; and also . . . overdefended or overdefensed.”          Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005)         U.S. Democratic politician and author         In his book America Revisited (1978)

A TESLA CRITIC’S OPINION: “The Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) roadster has a 1,000 pound battery that needs to be replaced every 7 years at a cost of about $36,000...It’s conspicuous consumption for wealthy liberals — in much the same way that huge SUVs were the vehicle of choice for rich conservatives a few years ago.”         Kevin McElroy         American investment analyst         In a post on his blog on the Wyatt Investment website         The base price of the newest model of the Tesla Roadster is $200,000.

A WEALTH TAX CRITIC’S OPINION: “Many...rich Americans aren’t just rich; they are responsibly rich. They made their money the new fashioned way: They worked for it. But they know that luck, not sweat, graced their paths. Their focus is on giving back, not taking more. They pay their taxes, found real charities, endow universities, support hospitals, fund medical research and gamble on products that can help us all. Their lives are lives of conspicuous philanthropy, not conspicuous consumption.”         Laurence Kotlikoff         Professor of Economics at Boston University and columnist for The Hill political website         In an opinion piece arguing against imposing huge taxes on wealthy Americans

THE EXTRAVAGANT SITCOM APPLICATION: “Sex and the City 2" (R) Sarah Jessica Parker and her gal pals are back in a bloated commercial for conspicuous consumption. It amounts to a long shopping trip through Manhattan followed by a long shopping trip through a resort hotel in Abu Dhabi.”         Michael Giuliano         Film critic and Professor of Film/Interdisciplinary Arts at Howard University         In a “capsule review” of Sex and the City 2 in the Fort Meade, Maryland newspaper in 2010

THE EXTRAVAGANT IPHONE APPLICATION: “The new champion of conspicuous consumption – iPhone division, the Kings Button iPhone mod, in which Austrian jeweler Peter Aloisson will encrust your device in three kinds of 18-carat gold (white, yellow and rose) and 6.6 carats of diamonds, for the ‘What Financial Crisis?’ sum of $2.5 million.”         Lonnie Lazar         American technology writer, musician, web designer and attorney         In his column on the Cult of Mac website

THE WALMART SHOPPERS APPLICATION: “Veblen argues that no class, not even the poorest, forgoes all conspicuous consumption. This is even truer of inconspicuous consumption. Even the poorest of the poor can afford a T-shirt with a Caesar’s Palace logo from the half-price rack at Wal-Mart or a hamburger in a bag sporting McDonald’s golden arches. Even the street person can fish things out of the local trash can. Many of the poor spend inordinate amounts on such inconspicuous consumption and, in the process, may ignore essential needs and purchases. This tends to support Veblen’s view that people will endure a quite shabby private life to have the public symbols they deem desirable.”         George Ritzer         American sociologist         In his book Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption (2005), Chapter 10

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Related reading…

“Too big to fail” – the 26-year-old origin and some more recent uses

ORIGINAL QUOTE FROM 1984: “We have a new kind of bank. It is called too big to fail. TBTF, and it is a wonderful bank.”        U.S. Congressman Stewart B. McKinney (R-Connecticut)        Remark on September 19, 1984        Commenting on the federal government’s $4.5 billion bailout of Continental Illinois  bank, which faced insolvency due to unwise lending practices. His phrase was resurrected during the more recent bank bailout. For more background, see the book Too Big to Fail.

ADAM SMITH STYLE COUNTERQUOTE: “The whole notion of ‘too big to fail’ is about as anti-capitalist as it gets. When you start  protecting companies that should go under through their own faults, you are removing ‘the invisible hand.’”        Matt Tellam        Columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald        In his April 28, 2010 column

BERNIE SAUNDERS QUOTE: “Not only are too big to fail financial institutions bad for taxpayers, the enormous concentration  of ownership in the financial sector has led to higher bank fees, usurious interest rates on credit cards, and fewer choices for consumers.”        U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont)         Press release, April 26, 2010

DEAD DINOSAUR QUOTE: “Chill, dudes. We’re too big to fail.”        Political cartoon by Mike Keefe         In the Denver Post, Nov. 12, 2008

DEPLORABLY LATE QUOTE: “If they’re too big to fail, they’re too big. In 1911 we broke up Standard  Oil – so what happened? The individual parts became more valuable than the whole. Maybe that’s what we need to do.”        Alan Greenspan        Former Federal Reserve Chairman        Comment to the Council on Foreign Relations, October 2009. (Expressing a view he didn’t seem have mentioned when he was Federal Reserve Chairman.)

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For more economic quotations see… The Elgar Dictionary of Economic Quotations Compiled by Charles Robert McCann Jr.

“The rich are different” – and so are politicians and the French

FAMOUS QUOTE AND COUNTERQUOTE: F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The rich are different from you and me.” Ernest Hemingway: “Yes, they have more money.”        Their legendary quote-counterquote exchange

UPDATED COUNTERQUOTE: “The rich are different from you and me: they cheat more on their taxes.”        Lynn Brenner        American financial writer        Newsday, April 2, 1995

POLITICIANS VERSION: “Politicians are different from you and me. The business of reaching for power does something to a man…he instinctively calculates each new situation and each new situation and each other man with the simplest question: What can this do for me.”        Richard Reeves        American presidential historian          in his book A Ford, not a Lincoln (1975)

NAKED TRUTH VARIATION “The French are different from you and me, assuming, of course, that you're not French, in which case the French are different from me, and the Americans are different from you.”        Leslie Nielsen        Canadian actor and comic genius        In his book The Naked Truth (1994)

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