We Pledge Allegiance to the Mall

We Pledge Allegiance to the Mall
By LOUIS UCHITELLE
NY Times, December 6, 2004

The United States is now engaged in its greatest age of consumer spending - longer and more intense than the splurge after World War II, when Americans rushed to acquire all the merchandise denied to them during the Depression and the war.

That postwar surge in consumption, a pent-up response to years of unemployment, then rationing, subsided in the early 1950's. Not until the late-1980's did the nation - encouraged by market bubbles - once again devote three-quarters of its national income to consumer spending.

But this time, the pent-up demand has intensified rather than dissipated, and the global economy trembles from the stress.

Read the whole thing....

[Update: Adam R. from Historical Methods responds:

I was at the mall this weekend doing my Christmas shopping and it was simply incredible how many people can be in one place at the same time. I was looking for a digital camera and there were just hundreds to choose from with all different features and brands, it’s like they all do the same thing but because one has a better name than the other it seems to make all the difference. However, my point is, is that all these people are supposedly working to in order to afford the products (except for me I got money from my mom), and they are spending it as fast as they get it. Maybe because it is the holiday season but you figure these people got paid on Friday and by Saturday their at the mall splurging and buying whatever and how much it costs as long as it’s at a decent price is theirs. So thanks to the big stores and advertisements the money shall continue to flow back into their pockets as the workers continue to spend the money they just worked for. It’s like a well oiled machine and it will never rust it seems.]