Consumption Research Paper

Submitted By JakeL
Words: 1635
Pages: 7
Open Document
Jake Lewis
Nathan Serfling
Honors English 101
21 October 2012
Consumption
As countries continue to grow larger in population, the need for goods will always be there in an increasingly fashion, no matter the financial state of a country or person. The disease becoming known world wide as consumption is sweeping our minds up one by one. Our consumption of goods obviously is a function of our culture. Consumption has both positive and negative consequences, is a big factor in the development of credit card debt, and provides advertisers with new ideas to continually fuel the consumption rage. Consumption has created many consequences in society, both positive and negative. Some positive consequences of this are self evident in appearance, creating self-confidence in yourself that you couldn’t achieve before through things such as clothes, and accessories to go with our life styles. New things can change a person’s life in an instant from the moment when they see what they want in an advertisement or a store that they are shopping in. I can definitely connect with this, as I am a big, want shopper. I look for great new things that will look great and make my self-esteem grow. People look at want shopping in negative ways too much because to kids living in poverty a new pair of shoes they have always wanted is a sense of happiness that no one can take away from them. Another positive view of consumption is bringing people together as in specific groups that share a common like such as, Pinterest, which allows people to post items and wants on boards for others to view and discuss. Websites like these are becoming more and more popular because it gives you the ability to post wants to a viewable board without having to physically shop for things and print out pictures to look through. Some negative consequences of consumption are more evident probably than the positive ones. Negative consumption is buying wants for the wrong reason such as things that you don’t like, but you buy them to fit in with the group of people that you want to be associated with. Negative consumption is also buying with no intent to wear or use more than once. Many people buy too many things that don’t ever get opened or used and throw into trash after a while, so it gets sent to a landfill to take up space while some families pray for opportunities to have items such as food. The production, processing, and consumption, requires the extraction and use of natural resources (wood, ore, fossil fuels, and water), it also requires the creation of factories and factory complexes whose operation creates toxic byproducts, creating pollutants and waste. Other examples are smoking in public places; the consumer is creating negative externalities, in the form of passive smoking for non-smokers. Most of the time people realize the negative consequences too late and they become in debt and then look for others to help bail them out. The classic family story of an aunt falling into debt and asking her brothers and sisters for help making payments that she cant make because of her decision making. Consumption has lead to ideas of easier and more efficient ways to obtain goods and wants. One of those ideas has become one of the most controversial items ever invented, the credit card. Credit cards do have many positive and negatives consequences as well. Credit cards have the ability to buy items on items without always having to carry cash around with you to get everything. Obtaining a credit card is very easy and is sent in mail to customers all the time to send up for a new interest rate or a card that gives you certain rewards for using that card. Despite the name, credit cards are in fact loans, requiring repayment with interest. People that keep up on their credit card payments like credit cards because they are easy to use and they give you more of a self security as you don’t have to carry around amounts of cash or always use ATM’s to get more.
Show More

Related Documents: Consumption Research Paper

What Role Does Planned Obsolescence Play In Consumerism?

personal consumption, particularly on the purchase of material goods (Norton).” Some people collect credit cards to buy things which can sometime lead to things they don’t needed. Generally, most people who often get different credit card such as department store or regular visa or master cards could be good or bad. Consumerism is a system which people get easy money using credit cards, that lead them into debt. But when people buy things, it helps the company using their credit cards, then business…

Words 607 - Pages 3

Bank of America Essay

Internation Business Case Study Bank of Amerian and The Chinese Credit Card Market 1. How important is China to Bank of America? Did BOA do the right thing by taking a minority position in CCB? We considered that Bank of America’s taking minority position in CCB (9 percent, as stated from the case) is an adequate decision. Looking at the situation from the perspective of a firm in search for successful overseas expansion, we considered that CCB - one of the largest commercial banks in China…

Words 2151 - Pages 9

Dove: Money and Household Debt Essay

IN HOUSEHOLD DEBT DUE LINE OF CREDIT SERVICE PROVIDED FROM THE BANK Household debt holding is on the rise in terms of numbers of households that have outstanding liabilities, of numbers of credit instrument available and used, in terms of total debt owed (both in levels, and relative to income). While the bulk of credit to household is extended in the form of mortgages, unsecured credit has been some of the most spectacular growth rates. The demand for credit, however defined, is ultimately…

Words 1011 - Pages 5

Essay about Writing Assignment 1

declining and the higher end restaurants seeing positive growth. Regardless of the widening income gap and the rising prices in some of Americas favorite restaurants, the key ways one can become a better consumer is budgeting, buying stocks, using credit cards, and even taking advantage of deals and coupons offered in many forms. If the GDP deflator would have used more realistic variables such as food they would have seen a steeper decline of 4% rather than 2.9% in the first quarter of…

Words 1596 - Pages 7

Credit Card Companies Essay

with a credit card What is a credit card? How does a credit card affect me? Those are some of the topics that everyone that is looking to start up a credit card program. A credit card is a payment card issued to users as a system of payment. Scholars of how stuff works describe a credit card like “It allows the cardholder to pay for goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for them”. The issuer of the card creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the…

Words 3480 - Pages 14

short essay

p.1). The model below uses the cost of credit - the interest rate, represented by the variable r. The simple version of the loanable funds model simplifies the complexity by assuming only one "interest rate", which can be thought of a proxy average for the entire structure of interest rates (Evans, 1999, p. 1). This model is using a demand curve which represents the demand for credit by borrowers and the supply curve which represents the supply of credit by lenders.…

Words 628 - Pages 3

Essay The Commerce Tavern

Commerce in 1982, and he has been operating this restaurant very well. Recently, Nilson had a conversation with Anne Hamlet from The Virginia Merchants Bank about the acceptance of credit card consumption at The Commerce Tavern. VMB was willing to give The Commerce authorization of the use of MasterCard and Visa cards at the tavern. However, the general payment method of The Commerce was cash-only, Nilson was not sure if this traditional method could always working well for his business in a long…

Words 2058 - Pages 9

Entertainment Since 1945 Essay

As a result of this, a new streaming service was recently launched in the United States, and its expectations to change people’s music consumption habits are high. “Beats Music”, created by Dr. Dre along with industry veterans, is a new option that offers a monthly $10 individual plan or a $15 family plan (up to 5 different accounts). Ryan (2014) states that Beats Music expects to make up…

Words 2272 - Pages 10

Analysis Of The New Consumerism

consumers need to understand how to select their purchases by researching the products carefully before buying them. In The New Consumerism, Schor states that we spend income on private consumption, saving, leisure and public provision. There are several problems in this case. Schor explains that private consumption is one of the reasons contributing to the development of up-scaled lifestyles now and in the past. Why? One of the explanations is the comparison and competition between households and…

Words 1732 - Pages 7

Investment and Dr. Anne Macy Essay

be cited correctly. Dr. Anne Macy – Investments 2 INTRODUCTION: FUTURE CONSUMPTION OPENING THOUGHTS ON CONSUMPTION Investment is the current commitment of resources for a future benefit that may or may not be realized but is anticipated at the time of commitment. I like to think of investments as a current commitment for future consumption. Think of the economics identity: Y = C + S + T. Income is equal to consumption plus savings plus taxes. Y- T is disposable income or what is left over after…

Words 6990 - Pages 28