The Morality of Frugality

Riding to work this morning, I heard an editor from Vogue being interviewed on NPR about the upcoming Michelle Obama cover. I was immediately awoken from my typical 7:55am stupor when I heard her make this statement:

Fashion is an enormously important industry, not just in New York City but across the country, and there are a lot of people in America who make clothes, who sell clothes, and we want to keep those people working. Not shopping is not a moral act at this time. So many people think that their frugality is somehow a new moral front. Now that might be true if they were kindof excessive and bizarre in the years before, but when people don't shop other people lose their jobs - that's a fact.

Sally Singer, ed. Vogue

This an awful argument, and unfortunately it's also one I hear repeated over and over in the media in light of our current economic situation.

Really, Sally? There's no morality in buying less? In living with less? In saving money for more important things like a house, retirement, or education? In consuming less of our natural resources? In being financially independent? In living simply?

Did we get into this economic mess because Americans saved too much? Because we put too much in the bank and not enough on our credit cards? Or was it because we bought more house than we could afford, spent more than we saved, took on too much risk, and built our houses on the sand of "mortgage-backed securities" and other "toxic assets?"

Do people lose their jobs when we don't spend? Yes, but spending money we don't have hurts everyone! The one exception Singer made describes the average American well: bizarrely excessive. The savings rate in America was negative last year. The average household credit card debt was $8,299. If we need an economic meltdown to help our society learn the value of financial health, then so be it.

"Save money, live better" is not just a good slogan (shopping integrity arguments aside), it's the truth. Mark my words, nobody is going to rescue the economy by going out tomorrow and blowing their paycheck. The idea that it is our righteous responsibility to spend so people can go to work is a bunch of propaganda invented by people who are selling something and a government which profits from it. What makes our country strong and our economy healthy is a culture of financial health made up of informed, conscientious consumers with good habits.

And besides, as argued by financial giants like Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey, it is not your or my responsibility to save the economy. Our responsibility is to provide for our families, save for retirement, spend wisely, and give to the less fortunate. Millions of people doing these things will not just make our economy healthy, but our country great.

So get out there and save. Your country needs you.

Image: kenteegardin