I can probably make this very simple without simplifying
things to the point of banality. So here goes:
By the time World War II ended, America had more productive
capability than the entire rest of the world combined. We had the largest
economy the world had ever seen and it was cooking on all four burners. In
other words America’s ability to supply was unprecedented.
The same could be said for our demand. Millions of soldiers
were being de-mob-ed and after four years of war—and a decade of Depression before
the war—demand for things—for houses, cars, clothes, children, etc. had never
been higher.
Things were, in a word, overheated.
The policy makers and plutocrats that run our country didn’t
even tap on our supply and demand brakes. They kept the engines of production
and consumption running at full throttle. Fueled of course by the engine of
cheap credit and cheap money.
About 20 years ago I read a long interview in “The Wall
Street Journal” with John Updike. Updike said that the central problem with
Rabbit Angstrom and all America is that we do not cotton to the word “enough.”
There is never enough. There is always the desire for the insatiable “more.”
Some of that desire for more is created by us in the
advertising industry. The constant blaring of messages that proclaim we haven’t
enough. We do some of that. We all feed the beast—the all-consuming consumption
machine.
Things seem different here in New Zealand. The nation has
fewer than five million people and in the scheme of things New Zealand is a
small economy.
Last Monday I went with my wife and daughter to see Paul
Simon and Rufus Wainwright in concert in Auckland. There were no ads on my
ticket stub. No giant logos festooning the stage. No blared out “thanks to our
sponsors” before, during and after the show.
No, it was just a concert. An event staged so you can hear
music.
Not what we do too often in the States.
Stage an event so you can shout commercials.
