The new economy is a meme that is floating around the media these days.
Advertising in America for years has reflected both popular culture icons and the prevailing mood of the nation. A good way to understand a people when you look back on its history is by examining its advertising and graffiti. Archaeologists have often gained great insight into long extinct cultures merely by examining an advertising sheet for the local market.
On television now there is new ad running for a popular ‘rent-to-own’ franchise. Without getting into the specifics of the wisdom of rent to own electronics and furniture, suffice to say, these sorts of places appeal to people who are pretty much in the ‘last resort’ column of financial decisions. Typically rent to own purchases are made when people have no credit, no ability to save money and are living on recycling soda cans and decorating with cardboard boxes.
The ad referred to several disturbing issues, one of which that there were over 1.3 million people now leasing their home furniture. But the worst of it was that the ad said to ‘take advantage of the new economy’.
The new economy?
Apparently living in an economically D.O.A state where everyone has a little bit and nothing else and has to work like a dog for it is the ‘new economy’; and it’s a good thing. Being broke and reduced to renting a chair to sit on to watch the ball game apparently is the silver lining in the storm brought to the economy by three continuous years of bailouts and heavy taxation and regulatory burdens.
No matter who is to blame for the precipitation of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, you can’t make the argument that this President has done a single thing to make it better. Even the Democrats admit that; arguing that ‘well, it would have been worse’. Children that get D’s in arithmetic use that argument, Presidents shouldn’t.
Some sharp congressman should bring this up, and point out to Obama that even companies that are spending millions on glitzy commercials are referring to our shipwrecked country as ‘the new economy’. He has now moved from the Food Stamp President to the President of the New Economy.
Swell.
Some of the numbers out of these rent to own centers is startling; they are doing double digit increases in same store sales for two years running now—all because of the ‘new economy’. The biggest rent to own store chain, Aaron’s told ABC News that it’s not uncommon these days to have customers with household incomes topping $50,000, which used to be the highest incomes they served. The booming industries to be in now are rent to own stores, localized money lending and gold hoarding.
How depressing.
It means that even middle income couples, the people that Obama pretends he is trying to help, are buried further in debt than ever, with no immediate prospects of getting out. It’s no wonder people are being relegated to renting their furniture and TV’s– each taxpayer now over a hundred thousand in debt per capita just to the government.
Yes, advertising is a great reflection of the society in which it comes from. Obama is the poster child for the new economy, where you are debt up to your eyeballs and can’t make ends meet in a nation that used to have the highest standard of living in the world.
Barack Obama—President of the New Economy.
