Is This a Seminal Moment in American History?

From the August 2009 TED conference...

He claims that consumers are building a better American as they lead the US out of the Great Recession.



It is a lovely story, but I don't believe it. He is an "advertising" guy. He is goo at giving you all you ever wanted to know about dentists, vasectomies, guns, and shark attacks. But I don't think he has uncovered a real new thrust in consumerism.

While I listened to him gush about "mommyverse" from Johnson & Johnson I knew I was listening to an advertising guy. I did a web search. Nothing. If it ever existed it was ephimeral. The J&J I know is the one that in 2010 had factories closed down for scams and quality control problems.

This talk was given 19 months ago, but much has changed. He talks about oil prices down from $150 to a $50-$70 range. Well, they are back up to over $100. He makes a big deal about how consumers were saving more (i.e. getting back to the 10% savings rate). Well, that has ended. It peaked at about 5% and it is headed down again. The fact is that most families are not making good enough wages to save money. It isn't about "discretionary dollars" and the idea to direct them toward socially uplifting causes. It is the scramble to make an inadequate wage cover the necessities.

When I want fables, I'll read Mother Goose and not watch John Gerzema with his feel good "values-driven consumers will make corporations better" stories.

So... to answer the question posed in the header to this posting. No. This is not a seminal moment. It is "more of the same". It is snake oil salesmen selling "the dream" but using Madison Avenue to repackage it and sell it for the umpteenth time to the same poor consumer who wants to believe.