Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Random Question # 145

Am I alone in thinking this is incredibly sad? It is an election year people! We are using our economic stimulus checks to pay speeding tickets (oh. just me?) and pay down credit card debt not buying Posh Tot or Urban Baby chic paraphernalia.

From News of the Weird-

America in Decline: One of the Internet's successful Web sites (10 million page views a month, with $500,000 in ads from companies including Verizon, McDonald's and General Motors) is a site that merely reports on what celebrities' babies are wearing, in that so many mothers are apparently obsessed with mimicking those clothing choices for their own tots. A May Wall Street Journal feature said sometimes the site's posting a photo of a celebrity baby incites a nationwide run on what it's wearing. [Wall Street Journal, 5-10-08]

Um... this let me say, is not just terribly scary but terrifically so. We are in some sort of (it's not a recession) decline and yet this is where we go to for comfort? Because I'm thinking that is what it has to be. Comfort. A yearning for the good ol' days when we had butt-loads of disposable income or something. Because really, I could care less what Coco Cox-Arquette or is it Arquette-Cox and Baby Madden are wearing this summer season. I'm more concerned with gas prices, an upcoming election, the housing market and the cost of groceries (practically a years worth of college tuition).

Weigh in on this one. I'd love to hear your thoughts Internets.

7 comments:

  1. Oh, girl, I am so with you on this one. I have had to quit going to mommy message boards for this reason. I REFUSE to pay that sort of money on clothing my child! I don't even spend that much on myself! Just about everything Aiden has is a hand-me-down, or bought used, or off FreeCycle. I won't buy fancy "training shoes" or name-brand anything.....it drives me NUTS the money that is wasted on these items. Did these people revert back to high school when they had their children? Are they in a popularity contest? I don't get the appeal to own items just because a celebrity has one. I really don't get it.

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  2. I agree completely. People's priorities are all screwed up in many aspects. I am apprehensive to find out what the future holds sometimes.

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  3. I truly don't get the cache of gearing my child like the spawn of celebrity, but I also admit to being a sucker for cute little girl clothes. Of course first I must pay my mortgage, gas up my car, buy food, pay for health insurance, blah blah blah, which leaves me with Old Navy duds (if I am lucky; pretty soon the cost of gas is going to price me out of that, too!). Which, actually, are pretty darn cute!

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  4. I'm just trying to figure out when I will get this economic stimulus check I keep hearing so much about.

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  5. I actually own a resale clothing store (for 13+ years now) and I am realizing what waste we have in this country...and something is needing to change drastically...it's absurd! I can't imagine feeling more fulfilled to know what anyone else's children are wearing...My niece has dressed in "name brand" clothing practically since conception, and everything (except the occasional pair of shoes and undies) has been purchased on the resale side of things. It is wonderfully satisfying, and we can still pass the clothes along to other people!

    And as far as the stimulus check goes, mine was for such a small amount, I honestly laughed outloud when I saw it deposited into my checking account...that's about as stimulated as I got...so stimulated that I stimulated paying some bills (barely) yet, I have a single very young friend who got a VERY HIGH amount...it is so odd.

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  6. I like to go to Celebrity Baby Blog, but I don't turn around and buy $1000 Burberry outfits for my son. Doesn't mean I don't like to look. :)

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  7. Oh, and other than shoes, 99.9% of my son's clothing is hand-me-downs, clearance items, and the cheap stuff from Target. :) Our stimulus check is going towards suing my husband's former employer. They didn't pay his salary in December. I'm not happy.

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Thanks for commenting! It's always good to hear from a reader and not say, a robot.