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The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue
Little Brown and Company
September 2009
On Sale: September 1, 2009
320 pages
ISBN: 0316030287
EAN: 9780316030281
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction | Self-Help Money
Cheap. Cheap suit. Cheap date. Cheap shot. Itβs a dirty word, an epithet laden with negative meanings. Itβs also the story of Lauren Weberβs life. As a child, she resented her father for setting the thermostat at 50 degrees through the frigid New England winters and rarely using his carβs turn signalsβto keep them from burning out. But as an adult, when she found herself walking 30 blocks to save $2 on subway fare, she realized she had turned into him. Should she be horrifiedβ¦ or proud? In hard times, questions about Americansβ conflicted relationship with consumption and frugality become more urgent and provocative. Why do we ridicule people who save money? Whereβs the boundary between thrift and miserliness? Is thrift a virtue or a vice during a recession? And was it common sense or obsessive-compulsive disorder that made her father ration the familyβs toilet paper? In answering these questions, In Cheap We Trust offers a colorful ride through the history of frugality in the United States. Readers will learn the stories behind Ben Franklin and his famous maxims, Hetty Green (named βthe worldβs greatest miserβ by the Guinness Book of Records) and the stereotyping of Jewish and Chinese immigrants as cheap. Lauren also explores contemporary expressions and dilemmas of thrift. From Dumpster-diving to economist John Maynard Keynesβs βParadox of Thriftβ to todayβs recession-driven enthusiasm for frugal living, In Cheap We Trust teases out the meanings of cheapness and examines the wisdom and pleasures of not spending every last penny.
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