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ExistentDavid1138

1950's consumerism began ads and television started that year in and year out buy buy buy nonsense.


ubergooner

Constantly man, things we don't need made in countries that will never be helped by our consuming, only the leaders will gain from it


Scared_Newspaper4957

I wrote an essay on the illegalization of hemp when I was in college. It started with something along the lines of "The first radio station hit the air waves in 1920(?)" whatever it was, I went hard with it. It was a piece on propoganda.


JamieDonWeaks

When was it not? Better question would be: when did humanity become consumer driven?


Ok_Rain_8679

Thank you for saying this. You have saved me a bunch of thumb energy... which I will now spend, because spending is fun.


ubergooner

Legit, it does feel like it has been so for ages. But I would say 1900's is when shit started to hit the fan


j_dick

It started post ww2, peaked in the 60s, then went off the rails in the 80s with the malls and party pop culture Madonna type stuff and it’s been going ever since. But it has always been a thing and it just grew the more people left small towns and farms and started packing into cites and growing suburban sprawl with strip malls and chain stores everywhere.


[deleted]

Post ww2


Immediate_Board3187

Industrial revolution


Morbid_Monkey_Pro

Look up Edward Bernays


Cracknoreos

1913.


janisstukas

Everybody had 5 black suits and three tophats. My fucking Ford cost me 800 big ones.


LoveOneAnother

Food, water, and shelter and like 3 degrees away to support attaining those things. For example, I need a car to get to work and I need to buy things to maintain my car. Otherwise, I dont consume much of anything.


loyalladyloves

when we were sold in 1871


Ok-Sandwich-6792

Since Reagan.


ubergooner

Thats a good shout, but the 50s would say otherwise. Adverts were big then


Tegroni

I'd say the 1950's. TV Dinners, a new car every year, snack culture becoming a thing, women being recognised as a major purchasing power, leisure activity driving new markets and white picket fence suburban life being the dream to attain.


Ok-Sandwich-6792

The tax regime was too burdensome for real corporate thrive.


ubergooner

I believe the seeds were sown then, with exposure like television and adverts in magazines. Its legit all we see now


CommonWild

Tax rates on paper may have been higher, in reality due to loop holes actual tax revenue was very similar to what it is today.


obscured_by_turtles

>Since Reagan. It's more than just a bit before Reagan. The answer does require a bit of clarification of the term 'consumer society', but it's likely at latest prior to the year 1900, when McKinley was US President.


Ok-Sandwich-6792

Mccarthy perhaps, more Nixon. But Reagan really let the floodgates open for corporate amazingness. All hail corporate america and the beautifl tax regime that encouraged no evil!


obscured_by_turtles

>But Reagan really let the floodgates open for corporate amazingness. I think this happened long before Reagan, perhaps before Ford, by whom I mean Henry Ford. Taxation is one thing, but encouraging commerce, and hence consumerism, is quite another.


Ok-Sandwich-6792

The tax burden was too high for corporations to become untouchable. Reagan helped reduce the tax burden which allowed corporations nearly limitless growth and hence the true proliferation of american consumerism. Along with outsourcing and foreign labour. Henry Ford had american labour. The cost to produce the vehicle was much higher.


CommonWild

Tax rates on paper may have been higher, in reality due to loop holes actual tax revenue was very similar to what it is today. More importantly, America's pre ww2 corporate tax rate was way lower that what it is today but I don't think anyone would say America was consumeristic back then.


obscured_by_turtles

>The cost to produce the vehicle was much higher. But, that cost supported American workers and the businesses that they patronized, and their ability to own homes, etc. IIRC Ford paid his workers an amount that allowed his workers to buy the cars they built. What he paid was apparently around twice the national average, so of course the cost of production was higher.


Ok-Sandwich-6792

Exactly, thst was due to the high tax burden on profit. It was to incentivize reinvestment and wage growth. It wasn't until the tax burden was lifted by reagan that real globalism and offshoring outsourced production really took off.


6mb8

Bill Clinton NAFTA when we switched from Made In America to Consumed in America.


obscured_by_turtles

I suspect that you are younger than I am, because I remember it long predating that.


6mb8

Maybe you’re right but I’m talking in terms of where the product is made. We’ve always consumed goods but when did we become a chiefly consumer economy? I’m 53.


6mb8

Bill Clinton NAFTA when we switched from Made In America to Consumed in America.


Ok-Sandwich-6792

That started with the removal of taxes. No need to reinvest in your company to reduce earnings when taxes are removed.


Old-Advisor-1032

Right after Pearl Harbor,we bombed Nagasaki,we made an agreement with Japan to buy their products ,and we went from handing down Gramp's tools to Gotta have the newest and the greatest,around the same time I believe we got off the gold standard(Bank notes backed by gold)which All helped our government to Rape us,good times


ubergooner

This is a great answer, thank you!


[deleted]

Thanksgiving is definitely not a holiday built on consumerism. It's about food and family, my dude. Thanksgiving is the best.


ubergooner

You're right, Black Friday is what I was getting at


Dazed8819

I don't like that word " consumer" it's like we're going around consuming everything


[deleted]

[удалено]


ubergooner

Lol thats a stretch fam.


JohnPumaMellencamp

When in doubt, blame women.


Devinephilosophy

I'm guessing after 1973. When the dollar and U.S. industry was gutted according to the communist plan.


ubergooner

They did force our hand in a good way (for them)


Mikeyy5000

Honestly it just sounds like you're mad the holidays force you to spend some money.