This is an edited transcript of my YouTube video How Individualism Changed the Economy
The consumer is a centerpoint to the economy. Personal consumption expenditures contribute heavily to GDP, driving a significant portion of economic growth. PCE itself is nuanced, but spending patterns matter. People are important, and how they drive the economy forward is important.
But how did people even began to get defined as consumers?
Consumption is not inherently a bad thing, but it does have two big problems.
It's really bad for the environment. The fact that we have planned obsolescence where tech just doesn’t work after a few years is horrible. We have so many different iterations of the exact same products. Like, do we need 47 types of spoons? Probably not.
It also feels weird. If people begin to define themselves through the things that they're consuming that create a weird separation of self where you're like, who am I actually? Do I know who I am outside of the things that I purchase?
