The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived. Since it's past midnight here in Eastern Standard Time, that means it is officially November 29, the biggest shopping day of the year, and Buy Nothing Day.

The basic concept of Buy Nothing Day is sound: American society has way too much decadent consumption. Anyone who watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, complete with AskJeeves balloon, can verify that we are a culture based around consumer spending. We rack up credit card debt, we spend paychecks as soon as we get them, we make impulse purchases based on what ads tell us is hip and hot, it's like we're in a race to see how fast we can line the pockets of corporate America. But here's the problem: the folks "organizing" the Buy Nothing Day festivities have no concrete goals or ideals.

It's really easy to say something is bad or wrong, but it's a lot harder to come up with viable solutions. And if you're these people, it's hard to even put into words what the problem is. "Curb Overconsumption" seems to be their goal, but how? Why? They suggest on one page that one way you can take part in the festivities is to "organize a swap meet". That's a nice idea on the short-term, but what about the long term? Hmm...I need gas in my car. Let's go to the gas station. Whoops, I can't use money anymore since we're in a barter society. My pockets are empty, so the only thing I have to offer in exchange for gas is a service. There I am, working at the gas station for an hour in exchange for a tank of gas. Now think of everyone who needs gas doing the same thing. Pretty soon you've got about 50 people working at the gas station, none of whom have any training or any job to do. What an idea.

The problem with a cashless society is that money is a convenience IOU. Instead of working off our debts to the gas station, we give the attendant some green pieces of paper, but what we're really saying is "I have nothing concrete to offer you, but you can exchange this paper for a good or service at a later date when it's convenient for you. Imagine trying to pay off a car using the barter system. You'd be stuck in indentured servitude for years. Cash serves a valuable purpose. Ironically, it's hard to "Stop Shopping, Start Living", one of the BND slogans, if we're constantly trying to trade things in order to put food on the table.

The other major problem is their one structured event, a day of not purchasing anything, is pointless. I consistently, year after year, buy nothing on the day after Thanksgiving. I do this because, as a guy, I hate shopping, and I hate it even more when there are tons of people at the stores. Let's say I took it a step further and not only didn't go shopping at malls but also didn't buy groceries if I needed them or gas if I needed it. What have I accomplished? Basically I've put off buying groceries and gas until the next day. I hardly think me (or even me and millions of other people) not buying groceries on one day will bring Winn Dixie and Amoco to their knees. So where do we draw the line? We're allowed go buy essential items but not luxury items? Who decides what is a luxury and what isn't? Even if we could put companies out of business by not shopping for one day, is that really a desirable end? It's already hard enough to find a job, let's make our economy even worse! Good thinking, Buy Nothing Day.

There are a lot of useful things that could be done: educating people on how to responsibly use credit cards without piling up debt, organizing consumers into a sort of union that could help regulate shoddy products and ripoffs, teaching free classes to the public about investment and saving, the list goes on and on. These are productive things, things that are realistic and would help make our current economic system work more smoothly. Hanging up signs that say not to buy anything, dressing like sheep and harassing consumers, getting people to cut up their credit cards, these activities are not the least bit productive. I know of some other folks who thought that spending money was bad and that we should all work together harmoniously for the common good without any sort of reward: communists. And we all know how well that worked out. Here was one brilliant individual's contribution to Buy Nothing Day:


on bnd a friend and i celebrated by perfroming an improvised piece of performance art in a gas station near the residential neighborhood where we live. i chased him into the store with a long white stick and he fell to the floor near the checkout, i hit him a few times before the clerk confiscated my stick. i ran out of the store acting confused and angry. the clerk came out to have a few words with me and my friend followed, upon seeing my friend i started fuming and angrily chased after him again, thus we made our exit. then we wrote a letter from our mother to the cashier appologizing for our behaviour. we delivered this with a loaf of french bread from the pile that the Panera chain throws out every night. also, one of those big illuminated signs with the rearrangeable plastic letters that read "Boy! Have we got carpet" was rearranged to say "Boy! have we got crap" by me my troupe of sign liberators.


What the hell? Where do these people come from? Thanks to Fight Club, we now have a whole bunch of activists who want to be just like their hero, Tyler Durden, and take down the American economy for their own selfish reasons. "I don't think people should be chained to their possessions, therefore everyone else must think like me and if they don't then I'll harass them while they shop". Here's an idea: if you don't want to buy things anymore, then don't! But don't bug me at the grocery store or the gas station or even the mall. In fact, if you really don't agree with our capitalistic system, then leave! No one is stopping you from taking the first plane to Havana and basking in the warmth of communism. I hear the cigars are great...