Schumpeter was right on the money. Thrift means putting money in the bank, not WalMart. Americans are among the lowest savers on the planet. And Americans are indebted to an absolutely obscene level (if people could charge their mortgage down payments they would).
The mass marketer is not evil, just destructive. He has an agenda of subordinating the voices of church, family, and culture to his own. And since his bullhorn is the loudest, that makes him destructive. He is destructive of parental authority since it is his goal to turn children into walking bullhorns themselves (do you think the prevalence of smart mouthed teenagers talking back to their parents on sitcoms is accidental ?). Do you have any idea how much marketing Disney and Nickleodeon are saturated with ? How painstakingly marketed Britney Spears and the Olsens were and Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan are ? Do you think that the people doing this don't have a specific set of values they want your child to absorb ?
Shumpeter was wrong across the board.
Thrift means getting the greatest value for your money, not paying more than you have to so you HAVE money to put in the bank. WalMart and other discount retailers are built on giving the lowest cost possible (though WalMart suffers on the value thing, they generally sell cheap crap for cheap, other discount retailers though do better on the value).
Yeah we're indebted, but there's still a healthy chunk of society that saves up for purchases. Delayed gratification is FAR from dead.
The mass marketer is neither evil nor destructive, he just sells junk, that's his job. He has no agenda of subordinating anything or anyone other than people selling competing products; church, family and culture don't sell competing products so they simply are not on his radar.
He's not destructive of parental authority, but he does understand who actually buys the toys. Good parents though teach their kids the value of the dollar and don't buy Johnny every shiny trinket he asks for.
Do you have any idea how much marketing daytime TV is saturated with? Actually done a stop watch test to find out how much of Rush's 3 hours are spent on commercials? How painstakingly EVERYTHING is marketed. Good marketing doesn't put the marketer at odds with the customer, good marketing works WITH the customer, working against the customer makes them angry and reduces sales.
I know marketers I know for a FACT that the only specific set of values they have is PROFIT. They want it, they're all for it, they'll do anything to get it, and any morality they have is instilled directly from the customer. I'm all for not buying products that you feel are immorally marketed, boycott the hell out of them, but also encourage products that are morally marketed that way your message is complete. You must speak their language, their panguage is money. That's all they want, more money. When you give them a goal outside of profit you are wrong, and in being so wrong you have turned the issue into something it isn't, and set yourself up to lose the competition.
So put your money in the bank, teach your children to do the same, and leave the rest of us alone. I no more want you dictating my life than I do Hillary Clinton.