Are you going to participate in buy nothing day?

I participate in ‘buy nothing’ day most days. So sure.

but I don’t quite understand the purpose.

The one day of the year that I would never, ever go shopping is the day after Thanksgiving. I shop as little as possible all the rest of the time, too.

But one day’s change of behavior isn’t going to accomplish anything like what Adbusters are proposing. What it would take is a buy-nothing season. And nothing as drastic as that is going to happen this year.

i will partisipate in buy nothing day, but i have never heard of it and when is it on?

Sure, I’ll be a participant in that. I didn’t really have anything on my shopping list anyway. And I certainly won’t be out shopping on Black Friday on November 29, the day after Thanksgiving. That’s got to be the MOST insane shopping day of the year and it’s like adding insult to injury, in my opinion.

I’ve already done my damage and spent $275 at Bed, Bath and Beyond yesterday. I went in for a new coffee maker, and came out with a coffee maker, door mat, chopping mats, a new vegetable peeler, 3 cookie dough scoops and I’m ashamed to admit it a Shark steam floor mop. (Yes, I indulged the mop thing. I was weak, oh so weak.)

If I remember

I guess I will just double-down on beer and freezer pizzas on the 27th. So I’m in.

I will be working that day and won’t have time to shop. It will be interesting to see how many new guests the jail will get from those that want to shop, but don’t want to pay.

All my holiday shopping is finished already.

Sure. I find myself getting more and more disgusted by consumerism. This is a nice way to express how I feel. I hope enough people participate to make a statistical difference for the day’s sales. The effect would of course only be symbolic, but it is a good start.

It won’t make any difference in the long run. I think that people who maybe don’t want to be participating…will be….due to the economy.

I am not a big fan of store shopping. Chances are slim to none you would ever find me in a retail store. I do as much shopping as possible online….and my holiday shopping is essentially done.

I normally go shopping day after thanksgiving. Last year I was able to get 8 wiis for 250 each and eBay them for 750. There’s easy money to be made getting up early =)

Black Friday is really the only day I go to shop willingly. It’s more of a tradition with me and my friends where we check out the good deals and then dine in a nice restaurant. I buy one gadget/black friday. Will be getting a GPS this year. But that’s really all I am buying. So I guess I won’t be participating in buy nothing day. But I am participating in Day Without A Gay sooo hopefully that makes up for it.

Given the state of the economy, we all need to shop.

Very true fact AlfredaPrufrock. Apparently a huge chunk of the American GDP is consumer spending. It seems right now people are stuck in a vicious cycle – they save money because the economy sucks, but the economy is sucking because no one’s spending money. Wonder when or how it will end.

But isn’t the recession caused by people using credit and then not paying it back (in simplest terms). Credit cards are being used so much, especially during the holiday season (now).

Actually, credit cards are not being used from what I’ve heard. This Christmas might be a really awful ones in term of amount of money made by the stores. Some economists are predicting that the credit card market will be the next one that sours, like the housing market, as people who don’t have money let alone those without a house obviously can’t pay anything on their credit cards.

From what I’ve read about this recession, it was partially triggered by the housing market simply because the banks themselves made a product of both sub and regular-prime mortgages (a certain number of mortgages combined), got these rated very highly when they were in fact somewhat risky, and sold those off to other banks and institutions. Additionally, the prices for houses in the States was simply not realistic at all, it was a bubble, which popped – leaving some people who took mortgages on a $400k house now owing more than the entire house was worth, let alone those who took a second mortgage. In some situations people choose to simply walk away than pay back the loans that now make no financial sense, which just worsens the housing problem.

Continuing, when the banks get stuck in tight places, such as people not paying them back, they stop lending. Not just to consumers, but to businesses, and this is the key spot here. Many businesses depend on short term loans to cover payroll and benefit costs, as income for many companies is not regular but more like big gushes followed by trickles, then another gush, etc. That’s one of the reasons the taxpayer money went to the bailout – if the banks totally stop lending, so many businesses will be knocked out come payday, and unemployment would skyrocket, thus furthering the collapse of the system.

So yes, I guess to simplify it, credit non-payment is one of the causes of the recession. But realize that credit of all types is what fuels a lot of the economy, and consumer credit is only a portion of the problem.