by Brad Tuttle
Why do some people take their roles as consumers literally and consume and consume and consume—purchasing items they don’t need, splurging on silly gifts (for friends and themselves) without pausing to consider costs, hitting the mall whenever they’re feeling down or bored, and digging themselves huge amounts of credit card debt in the process?
People aren’t that dumb. It’s pretty obvious that overspending leads to financial problems. It’s also pretty obvious that very few people actually need to go shopping when they say, “I need to go shopping.”
So why is it that so many consumers are unable to control their spending habits? How come they can’t approach shopping and other expenditures with detached logic? How come we all seem to buy way more than we need, and some of us pay the price in more ways than one? Why can’t we be more rational about consumption?
