Economy is only a tool

Do you really believe that free market cares about the ethical and environmental consequences it causes? Of course it does as long as it is profitable, but when the profit disappears of the plate, there is only the integrity of social and environmental sense of the involved left for us to count on. And what about the government..? Do you think it has the power to successfully direct huge corporations towards our well-being and life-quality improvements? Not any more, at least not the big ones and to the extend desired, as many international corporations are way larger economies as our own for example (Slovenia, http://www.corporations.org/system/top100.html) and have therefore vast influence on all economic movement on the specified territory.

But on the contrary, we the consumers (of course in large enough amounts) still have all the power in our hands. They still need new income for their survival, even more of it every year (or cheaper labour force (not indefinitely will Chinese work so cheaply and the subsidies to their export won’t last forever) or improved production technologies (very expensive, as usual)), if they want to manifest any growth and quote well on stock markets, therefore it depends solely on us, if we want to support them with our “money ballot” and extend their existence.

Therefore you should be aware of the company politics more than ever. You should try to buy the products you know that are healthy, their package (and even the product itself) is as recyclable as possible and its production or consumption doesn’t endanger environment in any other way, the workforce is treated and paid well and the company is active in solving various social and environmental problems in the area it is present. That usually leads to higher prices, but face it.. as many of us, you to probably impulsively spent mention-worthy part of your monthly budget on various “Chinese crap for one time use only” you don’t really need (or think you might need sometime in the future) or the higher price of some product would be well repaid in long term, by buying better quality product variant in the first place.

To conclude, consume frugally. Buy only the things you really need (not “the need” some ad wakes up in you), where you need quality and endurance of the product, you also buy the product with such attributes (and therefore reduce waste), and where you don’t need such premium attributes, you can still buy lower-quality and cheaper products that will still fulfill all of your needs. But overall.. simplify and focus! Your life, consuming habits, everything.. Get the stuff you really want and enjoy them at their fullest (may that be consumption products, relationships, various experiences, etc.) and don’t let yourself drown in huge amounts of mediocre stuff that consume all your life and make you even unhappier. Economy was meant to be a tool (as far as I understand it ) and therefore you should treat it as such and don’t let your whole life evolve around it. Life is much to important to be imprisoned in consumerism!