All consuming financial mess

Guambat has begun to notice more voices being heard about the culture of over-consumption as one aspect of the over-all greed that has driven this current economic calamity we're witness to.

These voices were drowned out over the last decade or so under the buy, buy frenzy fed by cheap credit, direct-marketing, googled demographic segmentation and all the rest that has gone along with the idea that, perhaps, you can actually get all that you want, notwithstanding the Rolling Stones to the contrary. Indeed, you should. Indeed, it is your right and destiny.

Guambat spoke of this malady a few years back when he discovered the marketing geniuses had already put a name on it and were marketing it with the skills of Big Pharma. Said he three years ago in To market, to market, to sell to a fat pig ,

American business has been quick to jump on the "affluenza" condition (http://www.affluenza.org/) with all the charity of a snake oil salesman.

Well, one result of this current crisis is that the American Consumer has just had emergency surgery in the nature of an involuntary Lap-Band (® Mark owned by Allergan, Inc.).

This is a five year chart of the US Consumer Goods Index, showing the barf that has followed the binge.