Cost of Luxury

I've been thinking the past few days about the economy and the recession and our changing habits - whether or not they exist. There's a lot of argument out there about whether we have changed our spending and consuming habits in the wake of the fiscal crisis. I'm not an economist (in fact, the UPS guy at my office seems to think I'm a shopaholic) so I can only go by what I see and what I do. And honestly, what I've done is not very different from what I've been doing. Sure, I've curbed my spending a bit and focused on building my savings - but it's not because of the economy, it's because of impending life changes I see in the nearish future.

If I had been unemployed and hadn't found a new job that I love, I'm sure that would be different. I have no doubt that I would have tightened the metaphorical belt - canceled the Netflix, eaten out less, etc. But, that didn't happen and so, my habits haven't really changed. I don't buy generic any more than I used to, I still buy the things I want and when I do opt out of my purchases, it's not the economy at large that's top of mind it's my personal economy.

That said, we know that 10% of Americans have a pretty poor personal economy right now, being out of work and all. Chances are, a good number of them have changes their spending habits. Like I said, I'm no economist, but this seems like a self perpetuating cycle of doom here - unemployment begets less spending begets layoffs begets... well you get the idea.

The only articles I could find on this topic were fairly old. I'm wondering - what are you guys seeing? What have you read? What are your plans this Christmas?

For your perusal, some links:
LA Times: Luxury skin-care products defy the economy
Guardian.co.uk: Recession takes bite out of organic product sales
Social Media Explorer: Will The Recession Change Our Buying Habits For Good?
Reuters: Affluent Consumers Not Likely to Change Spending Habits Despite Economic Slowdown