What if EVERYONE was frugal?

[TinyFish]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Hmm, I suppose it would depend on what your definition of 'frugal' was. Would that mean that everyone was spending the same amount, that there were no rich and poor, or just that everyone had to live within their income?

If the latter, there would still be a lot of clothing and things being donated/sold by the wealthy, though maybe not so much as now. Plus, people who had jobs that required very high standards of dress/entertaining/lifestyle would be reselling the things they could no longer use. Though, maybe over time it would become less fashionable to be too conspicous in your consumption.

If the former, people would generally use things up, so you might only see things that had only temporary value to them, such as children's clothes or maternity clothes.

Of course, without high consumer demand our economy would change radically, which would have other effects.

-TinyFish

[sweeps]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Maybe there would be a web site called SpendingAdvice.com where the members criticize all the frugal people in the world and scheme up secret ways to spend more money. The main poster on the site would be Ima Spender.

[creditcardfree]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Companies and employment would be so frugal and not hire people or do unnecessary work that cost money resulting to fewer employments. They would probably outsourced so many works simply just because it’s cheaper that way. Gloomy thoughts for US future as this are already happening. Including our Tutors... if you check out TutorVisa, they have Master degrees tutoring students in many language and subjects which only charge us 2.50 an hour. That is much cheaper than hiring our own teachers and tutors that cost range between 25 and 50 dollars an hour!!!

Hmm...if the companies were frugal wouldn't that mean greater profits? In a free market society, a company can hire and pay what the job is worth, if it is not worth enough, they will not find anyone to fill and work the job.

I don't know anything about the TutorVisa you are referring to, but don't we have a minimum wage? I guess if someone is willing to work for that low of pay...its their free choice. I would agree that I think they are worth more than $2.50/hr.

JMO.

[Gruntina]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Hmm...if the companies were frugal wouldn't that mean greater profits? In a free market society, a company can hire and pay what the job is worth, if it is not worth enough, they will not find anyone to fill and work the job.

I don't know anything about the TutorVisa you are referring to, but don't we have a minimum wage? I guess if someone is willing to work for that low of pay...its their free choice. I would agree that I think they are worth more than $2.50/hr.

JMO.

Yes it means greater profit for the company, but if you noticed in the news lately, a lot of the companies are paying people in other countries to do the work which means, the other countries are getting some of the companies money. Also some companies are relocating to international companies as well.

Tutor Visa is based in India... if you do the currency conversions online, 2.50 an hour is not minimum wage over there. Its 2:50 in US dollars btw

[lrjohnson]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

It would be very intersetng to see what happened environmentally. I'd assume that less consumption would mostly be helpful. There may be small pockets where perhaps it does not help the environment, for example, peopple keep the old cars going and fewer buy hybrids.

[thekid]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Companies would not be making very many profits because people would not be doing very much spending. If world wide consumption by individuals, corporations and governments was restricted to an absolute minimum of what is strickly necessary.......we would be in very serious trouble. Basically, standards of living would be pushed back to the middle ages if not worse. Commerce and trade are good things for our overall economic wellbeing. If no one and no organism was geared towards growth and expansion, we would pretty much all be subsisting farming on our own little backyards pretty soon. If EVERYBODY was frugal would be quite a nightmarish scenario.

The trick is for you to be frugal while others are not

[Bookie]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

• Used cars would become very expensive. Frugal people don't buy cars new.
  .
• Shoppers would camp overnight outside grocery stores to get the weekly specials. Fights would break out over the BOGO stocks as they were depleted by penny-pinchers.
  .
• Interest rates would plummet as banks, bloated with savings advertised for borrowers in a frugal economy. Pushed to the brink of ruin, bankers would start to charge interest on savings deposits to survive.
  .
• Foundering restaurant chains would publicize their doggy-bag specials -- Dine out once, eat for a week.
  .
• Dumpster diving would be recognized as an Olympic sport. ESPN would televise matches between pro teams competing on every level for recycleables. The sport would be rocked by dumpster-salting scandals.
  .
• Inner-city housing prices would soar as commuters fled the suburbs for the economy of a dwelling close to the workplace. The displaced slum-dwellers would squat in abandoned MacMansions, ripping out lawns to grow vegetables.
  

[shelbylovesmelby]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

The Yugo's would rule the roads again! *LMAO*

They even redesigned the bugger again! Doesn't look half bad!

[scfr]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Maybe there would be a web site called SpendingAdvice.com where the members criticize all the frugal people in the world and scheme up secret ways to spend more money. The main poster on the site would be Ima Spender.

too funny
And I'd have to change my user name to scfp

[amberfocus]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Companies would not be making very many profits because people would not be doing very much spending. If world wide consumption by individuals, corporations and governments was restricted to an absolute minimum of what is strickly necessary.......we would be in very serious trouble. Basically, standards of living would be pushed back to the middle ages if not worse. Commerce and trade are good things for our overall economic wellbeing. If no one and no organism was geared towards growth and expansion, we would pretty much all be subsisting farming on our own little backyards pretty soon. If EVERYBODY was frugal would be quite a nightmarish scenario.

The trick is for you to be frugal while others are not

Agreed. Many companies that sell non-necessities would go out of business for lack of sales/profit, and the stock market in those sectors would take a dive, as well.

I am not an economist, but it makes sense to me that stock market investments grow when the companies grow, and companies grow because they are making a profit by selling their products to consumers. And these consumers are generally spendthrifts, although there are products that everyone uses.

If you're employed by a company, that company can only afford to employ you so long as they're in the black, financially. And that is also thanks to consumers who buy their products, as well as the investors whose money helps the company grow by marketing its products to more consumers.

If you're employed by a government agency or another tax-funded institution, you're supported by taxpayers. Taxes are levied on income (of which frugal folk prefer to pay less), and, again, consumerism (aka sales tax).

In the end, all of your money comes from other people. Once they stop spending, you stop earning.

All this is a guess on my part, since I have no econ background whatsoever. But it seems to me that frugality is only meaningful in a relative context. If everyone is frugal, then no one is. All of the economic benefits of frugality would be lost.

The environmental benefits are another matter, of course. But waste, in the end, still leads to more consumption. So I don't really know.

Very interesting question.

~mimi

[Broken Arrow]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

The Yugo's would rule the roads again! *LMAO*

They even redesigned the bugger again! Doesn't look half bad!

Wow, I remember back in high school, and my friend's older brother had one.

It's was an awesome little ride back then. But then, since he was the only one with a car at all, any car would have been awesome.

It also broke very quickly though. I remember that he didn't have it but like, two years, before they had to get rid of it....

[mountainmist]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

AHHH! Scary thought - there's be no more thrift stores or garage sales because everyone would use and reuse their items until they no longer had any use in them. So we'd all have to buy things new (only the things we couldn't make or grow ourselves, of course)...but wouldn't prices be driven to the rock bottom if we were all so frugal that we wouldn't buy the big ticket items?
Which means...the market for luxury items would disappear...there would be less options in groceries, clothing, even entertainment. We might have to go back to the days of...gasp...conversation, reading, and playing games! (which is a typical night around here anyway)

I agree, our entire society would change radically, consumer culture would disappear. I also think that work as we currently know it would disappear, as so many purchases are nowadays based on false needs, people wouldn't NEED two income families.

I can't even imagine what new immigrants to the USA seriously think when they observe all the many items we throw away while they are still servicable, if not totally brand spanking new.

It's depressing to think about our silly frivolous consumer driven culture.

[b4freedom]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Our economy would look like Germany's.

[Broken Arrow]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

I think this does illustrate an important point though: That the US is a huge consumer market.

As such, no suppliers out there wants our economy to collapse. Such a shockwave would be felt world-wide.

However, I still think the national deficit and spending is in dire need of a "Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover".

[Bookie]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

I think this does illustrate an important point though: That the US is a huge consumer market.

As such, no suppliers out there wants our economy to collapse. Such a shockwave would be felt world-wide.

However, I still think the national deficit and spending is in dire need of a "Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover".

So we cut all unnecessary spending and assemble an emergency fund of a thousand million dollars.

Then we list all our outstanding national debts in order, from smallest to largest.

Making minimum payments on all the others, we . . .

BA, I don't think this is going to work.