The more I hear and read about “the credit crunch”, the more it seems that we are now paying the price for years and years of overdoing it.

And not just overdoing it with our spending on material goods either – the western world has eaten itself into obesity, has drunk itself into alcoholism and has popped enough pills to reduce itself to a drug-induced stupor. It seems like the more we have, the more we “need” and “want”, and yet nothing is ever enough to make us feel sated.

Every time you turn on the TV there is yet another programme dealing with one of these issues, pointing to a world which has gorged itself on excess but does not seem to know how to stop this over-indulgence. It’s like waking up with a mind-splitting hangover after yet another night on the town, resolving to be more moderate but then feeling that resolve slip away when someone offers us the next drink.

We can only laugh our loudest when we’re intoxicated, or feel that we got our money’s worth when our plate is heaped with food. All you can eat at Sunday buffet lunches, and all-inclusive cruises where food is served around the clock, are often given that ultimate stamp of approval – “il-vera worth it”.

We can only feel good about ourselves if we’re wearing brand names and our true value in society can only be measured by what kind of car we drive.

But even after we have bought all these things, and eaten so much that we feel nauseous, and drunk so much that we pass out, why do we still feel an emptiness so deep that it’s a bottomless pit?

Buy me

Lately I’ve become hooked on a British TV programme called Shopaholics, in which a financial/lifestyle consultant and a psychologist try and talk sense into someone whose spending is completely out of control.

This week the episode was about a 20-something young man who had got himself into debt to the tune of £55,000 (pounds sterling). What I always find fascinating is that these shopaholics have absolutely no concept of how much they are spending. He thought he was spending about £150 a week, when the reality was that, using his 12 credit cards, he was squandering around £700 a week, and he was overspending over and above his monthly income by around £2169 per month.

Looking genuinely shocked when presented with these figures, it was clear that because he wasn’t actually handling cash, but had reduced all his spending to plastic and/or online transactions, the true value of money had been lost.

When his expenditure was broken down item by item, it turned out that he was constantly buying things he didn’t really need, and which he never even used. Different versions of the same hi-tech gadgets, sports equipment still in its packaging and expensive designer jeans with price tags still attached were all evidence of where the money was going. Asked why he didn’t use or wear all this stuff and why he kept buying more he couldn’t explain it.

Eventually, of course, the psychologist did help him delve into the emotional reasons for his behaviour; as with other addictions, people become addicted to shopping to compensate for something else missing in their lives. As hopelessly cliché as it may sound, most of the time it really can be traced to something that happened in our childhood.

Although this kind of senseless shopping is extreme, we have all, at some point, probably been guilty of doing it to a lesser degree. I know I occasionally indulge in retail therapy to cheer myself up, not because I really “need” anything but because buying something new lifts my spirits. (Most men can’t seem to grasp this because they shop purely for utilitarian reasons. He needs black trousers, finds them, pays for them, and is out of the shop. I like to browse at leisure, until something catches my eye, and often come out of the shop with everything except what I intended to buy in the first place. When shopping with women, men tend to come out with such clueless remarks as, “but you already have that colour” or “why do you want another sweater?” or the most endearing one of all, “do you need it?” which proves yet again, that yes, we are from different planets.)

I’m also drawn like a moth to a flame to sales, especially when I’m abroad, because of the delicious thrill of finding something I like at a fraction of its usual price. It’s when the sales get nutty that I stay away – those long never-ending queues where people are rummaging with grubby fingers through piles of clothes hold absolutely no appeal.

With money being tight this year, the frenzy of certain sales verged on the creepy and is best epitomised by the tragedy of a Wal-Mart employee in the US in November, trampled to death by shoppers who had been waiting all night for the store to open. Sure everyone likes a good bargain (apparently plasma screens were being sold for a pittance), but have we reached the point where we are even willing to mow down whoever gets in our way?

The most shocking thing about this incident was that as police tried to clear the store, telling shoppers that someone had been killed, many of them objected, “I’ve been in line since yesterday”… and they continued shopping.

Eat, eat

Over-eating, like over-spending, is another compulsion which has become the mark of our “civilization”. TV shows, magazines, gyms, exercise DVDs, diet pills – there is a whole industry revolving around the fact that we all stuff our faces too much. TV stations seem to feel no shame in placing a commercial advertising the latest diet just before an appeal to give 30 cents a day to help feed a starving African child.

One of the more bizarre stories coming from the entertainment world is that of Oprah Winfrey. Here is a woman who is one of the richest celebrities in Hollywood, but who does not have control over a very crucial aspect of her life – her own weight. Throughout her career, she has (very cleverly) used her problems with weight to reach out to her loyal female audience, and yet, after years of personal trainers and dishing out advice about healthy eating, she now admits that she is embarrassed to be back where she started. Her weight has once again shot up to 200 pounds (91 kilos), but what is even more surreal is that Oprah and her weight gain merited discussion on Larry King Live.

Yes, with people being bombed and killed all over the world, CNN felt that debating why this one woman’s weight continues to fluctuate was more important. The conclusion is that she’s depressed (we could have told you that Larry; comfort eating is the number one reason most women gain weight).

Having it all is clearly not enough to meet the needs of someone as wealthy as Oprah, so she turns to food. Although she has had the same companion for many years, from what I have read, the relationship is ambivalent. I guess money is cold comfort when there are real emotions missing in your life.

Something in return

The overwhelming desire for “things” or for food is the symptom of a society that has turned greedy simply for greed’s sake.

If we needed a final example of how avarice has completely taken over, then we need look no further than what happened during L-Istrina. This year’s organizers failed in their attempt to bring back the idea of giving to charity and expecting nothing back in return. In retrospect, perhaps their idealism was a bit naïve. They wanted to put on an entertaining show; the salivating public at home just wanted to lay their hands on the prizes up for grabs.

Should we be that surprised? When you have conditioned people to “donate” by dangling the prospect of winning lucrative prizes in return, it is very difficult to turn back the tide.

Other charities manage to raise funds without prizes because that is how they have always done things. L-Istrina, unfortunately, has been forever “tainted” by its own format.

Instead of “kif tista’ ma ccempilx?” (How can you not phone?), perhaps they should change their slogan to “What’s in it for me?”

Booby-trapped

The Malta Tourism Authority promotional spot (http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=5iew0RvHmvY), which has an older man going gaga over a shapely young Maltese woman, is unbelievable – for all the wrong reasons.

What are we promoting here? Malta as a place where girls flaunt their cleavage and twirl off their bikini tops for gawking “dirty old men” tourists who take them out on a boat? If we are trying to sell Malta for potential sex tourism then we’re on the right track.

Can’t wait to see the next EU survey. That ad should really score us lots of points in the “how we portray women” department.

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