The Collision of Consumerism and Greed

Consumerism and greed collide in My Year of Meats. Much of the consumerism occurs in the Wal-Wart stores that Jane and her production crew visits all across America. The establishments of Wal-Mart stores are in small, middle-class cities that make these prime places for consumerism. “There wasn’t anyplace else to go in those towns. I mean, if you took a Sociological Survey of the people who lived there, they all spent their days off at Wal-Mart too” (pg. 33). Material goods and consumerism are of high interest in these towns that it can potentially lead to greed.

The marginal propensity to consume decreases when income increases due to the fact that when people are well off, they consume less because they already live comfortable lives with all the necessities already bought. Whereas middle-class people want to attain the same level of satisfaction as the wealthy, therefore they consume until they feel they have everything they need which can take years upon years to realize. To need and want goods oftentimes leads to varying degrees of greed because in American culture, “want is good”. Therefore, there is a yearning to consume more and more. The effect of consumerism and greed can lead to a dent in the pocket book or the uncontrollable feeling that you need to buy things in fear that you might be lacking some things in your life. But what would this great land we call America be without the thriving economy called capitalism? The cultural phenomenon in America is to have things in a comfortable abundance, or what the Japanese viewers of My American Wife! would call “excess”.

So, to make consumerism even more convenient, Wal-Mart stores have created a strategic placement of all the goods in Wal-Mart stores that makes it easy to purchase items on top of items. “To a Japanese person, Wal-Mart is awesome, the capitalist equivalent of the wide-open spaces and endless horizons of the American geographical frontier. All this for the taking! Your breast expands with greed and need and wonder” (pg. 35). Because the items in Wal-Mart are so cheap, it is easy to “stock up” and oftentimes, one may buy unnecessary things. I, too, have been a victim tempted by Wal-Mart’s cheap, low prices. When I enter Wal-Mart, I usually have a list that intend on checking off, however, every time I see the large array of selection, I reconsider whether if I will ever need that item because it might be useful in the near future. Wal-Mart makes it especially easy to buy things that will complement your item, like buying caramel dip with the batch of apples you bought, or buying things in pairs so you will be the deal at the cash register. So in the end, I usually buy all the items on my list plus some unnecessary items that I regret buying. Consumerism and a mild form of greed have collided in my life.