Book Review: Against Thrift by James Livingston

Against Thrift:
Why Consumer Culture Is
Good for the Economy,
the Environment, and Your Soul
By James Livingston
Basic Books; 257 pp; $27.50

The nation’s unemployment rate sits obstinately above 9 percent. The housing market is still underwater. Consumer confidence stinks, the stock market is schizophrenic, and the big banks have been humbled. We aren’t in another recession, according to the professionals, but it sure feels as if we’re stuck. To cure this listlessness, the following treatments have been applied: bailouts, stimulus packages, programs that aren’t called stimuli but really are in intent, blue ribbon panels, verbose op-eds, foreclosure assistance, short sale assistance, even interest rates that are essentially zero. And still, here we are in an ever-deepening rut, with elected officials bickering about the next steps.