Pop Stars are Not Durable Goods or Why Durable Goods Numbers Have Nothing to do With the Economy's Health

Somebody raided Beetlejuice's wardrobe

Today's release of the United States durable goods data has caused some consternation as too the health of the economy. Anyone who is concerned about durable goods clearly hasn't been paying attention to Grow the Fuck Up.  A durable good is something that is expected to have a life span of three or more years. As anyone who keeps track of changing consumer tastes would be shocked if the numbers weren't falling faster than Robin Thicke's libido while receiving a lab dance from Miley Cyrus.

The declining interest in suburban life has led to smaller demand of durable goods. As the United State population continues to move more often they want fewer and fewer possessions they have to take with them. This cuts into durable goods not only in lack of appliance and automobile purchases but also in the digital entertainment industry. Where as 20 somethings used to have shelves filled with CD's and DVD's now all of those goods are stored remotely in servers or on MP3 players.

Also to be considered is the fact that more and more people are choosing replace their televisions with computers or tablets. Where as at one point in time a person might have three TV's in their dwelling they may now simply use their tablet device and have no television at all.

Americans are living smaller these days without giving up anything. A cell phone, a laptop and a tablet have for all intents and purposes replaced the following list of durable goods for many Americans. A television, CD collection, DVD collection, land line, answering machine, video game console, video game collection, tape recorder, mp3 player, personal organizer, watch, clock, flashlight and that is just off of the top of my head.

Durable goods have gone the way of album oriented rock. They have both been replaced by newer sleeker objects that don't weigh you down to your past. It's neither a good nor a bad thing it just is. To put it another way a world tour featuring the original line ups or the Who, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles is more likely to occur than for durable goods to have an impact on the economy. I mean the Zombie Apocalypse is bound to happen unless movies and TV have lied to me again.