We are often told that the American economic system is driven by competition. But competition only really occurs when some people leave with bigger and better prizes. If you can afford to purchase nice things, then you are considered to have won the American competition, which is nothing more than the hunt for endless amounts of clutter. But is the clutter of high quality? Does clutter have any real use beyond attracting moths, spiders and mold? Or are you simply paying higher prices for the same damn products? This is the question that far too many Americans fail to ask, let alone answer. Well, I have the answer for you, and, unless you are like me, you are not going to like it. There are certain products that “professional” purchasers simply must have. They prefer the TV dinners from Trader Joe’s, not Safeway. They prefer the food at Cheesecake Factory, not Chili’s. They simply must buy their next clock from Pier 1 Imports, not Target. This yearning for more expensive products is what I like to refer to as vanity economics, a system that encourages the blind purchasing of vast amounts of junk, not because you need it, but because you can brag to your friends about it. Vanity economics is not new. It first surfaced during the Victorian era in the UK, when unsuspecting middle class members rushed off to buy wallpaper laced with arsenic and makeup with lead bases all in the name of high fashion. It was simply not prudent to be frugal like the poor folk. One must not only be successful, but also boast about one’s success with cartoonish clothing and newfangled inventions. America today is the Victorian UK on steroids. “Looking good is big business around the world, but no one spends more on cosmetics, beauty products, surgeries, and grooming than people in the U.S. In fact, in 2015 alone, the beauty industry generated $56.2 billion in the United States (to put it in perspective, the medical technology industry makes only $44 billion every year).” (bluewatercredit.com) Do your thing America. Vogue, strike a pose, and hope you don’t need that extra money to go to the hospital. But what is more disturbing about this economics of vanity is that many of these products are manufactured by the same companies and in the same factories. Brand names are simply labels that have been stamped onto products by the same laborers, most of whom are underpaid and work in unsafe conditions. In fact, many companies do not even own their own factories, but get their products made by suppliers in nations like India, one such factory is C L Gupta Export Ltd., which builds products for Target, Crate and Barrel, Ashley Home Store, Ikea, RH, and Pier 1 Imports. Another Indian supplier, Expeditors International India PV, builds products for Nordstrom, The Home Depot, Rockport, Arhaus, and CNHI International. While Pt Casalini Natura makes products for Marshalls, TJ Maxx, The Company Store, and Home Goods. The brand names also tend to get products from various suppliers, literally making it impossible to tell any real difference in quality between the stores’ products, since they are all built and shipped by the same employees who all work for the exact same companies. Yet these stores price these same products, which are all built by the same people, at vastly different levels from the almost comically affordable to the almost hysterically overpriced. So why are they doing this? Because these companies know that vanity runs the American economy. Your organic, naturally sourced cotton is built in the same factory that manufactures clothing made from the dead skin of tortured, exotic animals. Vanity is not just some slightly offensive moral concern your grandparents had. Vanity purchases pollute the environment, poisons our health, ruins our communities, puts hardworking small businesses out of business, and steals our hard earned cash with promises of perfectionism. It is time for us all to have a little less clutter and a lot more clarity.