Helicopter Money

Spending Money Like They Asked Me To

I've been a little lax lately with my own spending, despite the looking Global Financial Crisis hitting our shores shortly. Part of it has to do with the feeling that with interests coming down to levels unseen, it might turn into a Deflationary situation like Japan, even just briefly. Indeed, I keep getting good deals on things.

Apple brought out a new range of iPods so I got a 160GB iPod from the previous range for a tidy little sum. It was impulse, but the deal was too good and it had a time frame.

Ditto the computer I'm using to blog this right now. Back in 2006, I hit the road with a 14" ibook and I'm telling you friends, it was still a little cumbersome to  be writing dispatches and missives and keeping touch with the virtual communities. So when somebody was off-loading a Powerbook G4 12", I leapt at it. It's running OSX Tiger, but it's still handier than most $500 computers. The 1.5GHz processor is even faster than my ibook.

These two purchases alone sort of clued me into the downward spiral of computer and related hardware prices. Even as we speak, I'm typing on my newly acquired G4 laptop. It's pretty cool. I can remember when these babies were worth 8-10 times what I paid. 

My trusty DVD player I bought back in 2002 died. This prompted me to look for a replacement machine, so I also shelled out for a Sony PS3, mostly for the Blu-Ray playing function. It's probably the best option in terms of Blu-Ray playback, short of buying the 17" Aldi laptop that is on offer for $1499 that has a Blu-Ray drive. Heaven only knows how that one came to be so cheap, but anyway I went the PS3 route instead. Besides which, I was eloquently advised by an old baseball friend  who now runs a Games Shop that buying a Blu-Ray player on its own was "fucked".

As if that wasn't enough I blew my budget for X-mas shopping again this year. That was suboptimal, but how am I going to go cheap on my nephew and niece? Perhaps I was going to spend that money anyway.

All this is to say, I've been stimulating the economy as much as I can in my own little way, but it's feeling like there are bargains to be had everywhere if you were so inclined. I imagine the whole retail sector is letting out a massive sigh of relief as it registered one of the best X-mas periods in recent memory (Go Ostraya!). Kevin Rudd ought to be proud of me. 

Having said that, the vibe at X-mas sales at the various shopping centres was subdued this year. It was spooky how there weren't the hordes of people waddling around with shopping trolleys filled with whatever gifts they had. I can't recall a X-mas shopping season that seemed so low-key. There was nary a crowd in some of these places except J&B Hi-Fi. Borders was pretty scant when I rocked up to buy a bunch of books. I don't think I even had a single road-rage moment in the parking lots - which is pretty rare in recent years. Maybe all the big cash was spent after Boxing Day.

Usually when the economy goes through a downturn, it's the bottom feeders that get hit. I remember finding it hard to find work in the wake of the 1989 crash, the Recession We Had To Have, the Asian market crisis, and the wake of the dotcom bubble bursting. In each instance, the frinegy media jobs I had evaporated faster than anybody could say "dole". This time is different. My frinegy job at an Events Lighting company hasn't vanished just yet, but it's bankers and finance sector folks who are taking hits by the hundreds in the last 16 months. Dare I say, this is the first time that I've seen a downturn hit that end of town faster than it hit me. Which is sort of why I'm kind of spending, relatively guilt-free. It's not my problem just yet.

Now this is definitely a strange phenomenon. It's as if after years and years of preaching about the benefits of a trickle-down effect wherein the big end of town gets the bigger benefits first, this time the damage seems to be following the trickle-down model for once. And if all things stay to style, there will be very little that will trickle down to me as trouble, just as there was hardly anything that trickled-down to me with the benefits.

I can't say I'm not enjoying this downturn. :)

I'm sure the pain is going to hit me later this month and next. In the mean time, I'm trying to enjoy what's left of the so-called good times.