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Is obsessively gazing at our financial navels, feeling poor (even when we are not by world standards), feeling ashamed of the money we make, the money we don't make, the money we spend, the money we save, the crap we buy, the crap we can't buy... just an American thing? Just a female thing?
It seems like these questions have been on the collective minds of many a writer lately. Allow me to point you towards some provocative articles and BlogHers that have something to say on the subject.
Alternet (a bloggy and politically liberal news site) offers us an examination of poverty, environmentalism and consumerism in Really Simple Starvation, written by Elizabeth Chin who is an associate professor in the department of critical theory and social justice at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Professor Chin notes that "living simply" is a luxury of the wealthy (how else would one suffer from the "stresses of overabundance?") whom she defines as "nearly every citizen of every wealthy nation." She does note that there are people living in poverty in the U.S. and that, ironically,
The limited nature of their consumer environment means that everyday tasks take much longer, and usually end up costing more.In The New York Times, (usual disclaimers - go now, if you get there too late, search the title - the link - to see if it has been syndicated) Anna Bernasek notes that we use a poverty line that's out of date and out of favor. Bernasek asks "why not insist on an official yardstick that works — especially when obvious improvements can readily be made?" and then points out that "Rebecca M. Blank, dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a professor of economics, says she thinks that such a yardstick is possible." Also, the article points out that if these recommended alternative measures were in use,
the poverty rate would have risen about two percentage points above the official rate of 12.5 percent. That's not a big adjustment in percentage terms, but it would add more than five million people to the current poverty countSo now that you feel either embarrassingly wealthy or potentially impoverished if you are American - consider this - in some parts of the world, being a multi-millionaire still won't pull you up out of poverty (hat tip to Frugal for Life for the link). Sigh.
So what's a belly examining gal supposed to do? Well, for one, screw appearances and risk looking rich by living simply in the vein of author Judith Levine who wrote Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping. At least think about it because as Marjorie Kehe notes in The Christian Science Monitor,
By thinking harder about how it would feel to consume less we might just make ourselves - and our planet - a lot better.While pondering this concept, check out the savvy saver's month of not spending and NYC Money's thoughts on what exactly is a necessity, prompted by reading Levine's book. And on a related note, Jane Genova gives an updated on her vow of poverty - 28 months later. Why did she take a vow of poverty? Because, she says,
I wanted to become a writer -- and a less frightened human being.
And if figuring out our relative poverty or wealth wasn't angsty enough, women tend to fear money according to Liz Perle, author of Money: A Memoir. As Perle points out in an interview with Kristen Gerencher of MarketWatch,
Separating material desires and emotional needs from the business of making a living proves difficult for many, she said. "Money and love are very commingled for women, and money, and fear and money, and scarcity — the bag-lady fear."But burying our heads, ostrich-like, is a mistake because as Perle also points out "women may not realize it, but their reluctance to face up to their conflicted feelings about money may cost them dearly." A few BlogHers are not afraid. Read:
Women fearing money? by Debt Hater
I used to have a bulimic relationship with money. Like a self-righteous anorexic I would hold on to every penny, but I didn't invest it and make
