On the contrary, I am an enthusiastic supporter of the idea of saving money before buying anything.
I am a strong opponent of this mentality of borrowing money. Here we touch the serious defect I mentioned before: It is the mentality of the consumer who keeps borrowing money to live his normal life and, thus, is always in debt. That same advertising always provides easy conditions to purchase the goods: “No money down!” “Small monthly payments!” etc. How does a person purchase such merchandise? He borrows money to buy them. It refers to the mania for constant change, a need to replace objects that a person already had and were still working well. But the formula still serves to cover a general mentality that prevails today. At times you do need to buy a new car because the old one is worn out and gives you three times the expenses of a new one. I know that my friend’s formula is a bit simplified. There are thousands of cheap or expensive new items and gadgets like these that you don’t really need, but that are presented by seductive ads as indispensable, if you want to be fashionable and up-to-date.
Ě new car with a dashboard filled with controls and buttons, making the driver feel as if he were the commander of a jet plane. Ě shower that sends out multiple jets of water in different speeds allowing you to transform your bathroom into a private massage center. Ě wrist watch with novel features showing the moon phases as well as the times in the principal capitals of the world - data one will likely never use. Ě refrigerator with a new kind of ice machine that crushes the ice instead of making cubes. The latest vacuum cleaner that washes as well as vacuums the carpet. There are countless persons who are voluntary victims of advertisements that offer an endless list of things they don’t need:Īds assail us with brand names and luxury goods He used to say: “Today people buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have.” I believe this simple statement covers a good part of the problem I want to address. I had an economist friend who synthesized this modern mindset very well. Here I refer not to an intrinsic defect of the banks themselves, but to the mentality of persons accustomed to borrowing money from them. Critique of Capitalism - Part II - The Harmful Mentality of Borrowing Money - by Plinio Correa de OliveiraĪnother point I would like to address, related to Capitalism and Organic Society, is a wrong mentality of many persons that provides the basis for the excessive growth of banks and financial institutions and their inorganic practices.
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