Wednesday July 1, 2009, 5:29 am
Let's face it, there are 1,000's of ways we can live more simply, and instead of it being cool, it's also a necessity for American's to get by, Tiy gave ti kearb to be more of a bargain-shooper...a cheapskate, and a frugral shopper in order to pinch your pennies and get by....and this isn't just the lower class! Everyone is hurting, and let's all try to concentrate on living not only with a lot less, but knowing that the very luxurious life we are familiar with living COULD be changed with a few easy (and sensible) steps!

Wednesday July 1, 2009, 5:31 pm
Noted with many thanks Dearest Peace:)
Love,
Black Dalia:)

Wednesday July 1, 2009, 5:37 pm
Thank you Peace.

Wednesday July 1, 2009, 5:38 pm
Americans have to stop being a throw away society full stop. I had never seen such waste until I moved here 13 years ago. Lets hope this is the end and everyone realises that they really don't need to fill their double garages with so much stuff

Wednesday July 1, 2009, 6:14 pm
Noted, TY, Peace

Thursday July 2, 2009, 1:37 am
Very True!! Thanks.

Thursday July 2, 2009, 8:25 am
(it was discouraging that hopes of an economic recovery are pinned on consumer spending rather than manufacturing and production.) But these things go hand in hand. If we have an economy based on production and manufacturing you have to have people buying...We can't just make things and have them sit in warehouses...I for one have been VERY frugel and thoughtful about what I buy. Lately if it isn't food for my family fur and otherwise... I can't afford it. Thanks Kat.

Thursday July 2, 2009, 9:48 am
Hey, I always get my clothing at goodwill. I love it. When my kids left the nest they found out how it is in real life...no more name brand new stuff...for crying out loud, you can find that stuff at goodwill, and the money goes to us, not China!

Friday July 3, 2009, 6:56 am
perhaps it is getting to a stage where there will be no option... Gucci, Missoni and the like have fallen off the shelf, and yes these stores seem to be getting the naae branding they deserve... people are also getting more clued up on where to save their dollars

Friday July 3, 2009, 4:08 pm
We need to start spending our money and resources for the PUBLIC GOOD; NOT for Private Profit and Selfish Greed.
What good is it, having closets full of possessions, when even the Middle Class doesn't have access to good health care, to a good education thru college, to decent care for our elderly; and our infrastructure, roads, bridges and public utilities, are kaput or nearly so? When we don't have the resources on hand, for any Public Emergency such as an epidemic or an earthquake? When we don't have enough trained Emergency Responders, Health Care Workers, enough money to pay Child Care Workers, Teachers, Librarians, and other essential workers?

All we have, is closets and garages and storage facilities full of JUNK that in any sort of crisis, either personal or public, would rapidly SHOW ITS UTTER USELESSNESS. In fact, it would all be devastatingly IN THE WAY.

We need to spend on Local Agriculture, the Arts, Community Services -- FORGET the social-prestige-keep-up-with-the-cool-kids-at-school JUNK! A lifestyle of VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY would do this country a world of both Economic, and Moral, Good.

Health care should not be just for the wealthy. It is a Human Right, and should be regarded as such. The manufacturers {who have mostly moved abroad anyway}, want you to think it's wonderful to have 100 dresses and 100 pairs of shoes, and 50 pairs of pre-shrunk, pre-bleached, pre-torn{!} designer blue jeans; and want you to FORGET ABOUT Public Services, that don't make a Profit, they just make life better for EVERYone.
*IGNORE* them {or put your own obscene word here that Care2 won't allow}.

After checking out "Thrift" websites, look up "VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY" and see what you find.

It is not just a "given" that we HAVE to have "jobs" making "stuff". Our Economy could be re-organized on an entirely different basis. If we had the WILL to do it! We already have the intelligence to do so; people have already drawn up perfectly feasible PLANS. What we lack so far, is the WILL.
{What we DON'T lack, is dead-serious opposition from selfish personal-maximum-Profit-seeking manufacturers. Don't let yourself be brainwashed by advertising!}