This weekend I discovered that several "premium" brands in clothing and food products were recently discontinued. The same "high end" stores had new merchandise that was cheaper and much lower quality than anything I had seen there previously.
Consumers in the United States are at a crossroads. Will consumers be content with fewer but higher quality products or will they succumb to the "Wal-Mart" effect demanding more and more products at lower prices and lower quality?
Most of Europe made the choice to have a higher quality, lower amount of "goods" to acquire. The result? A richer life with higher quality merchandise that often sets the worldwide standard with design and quality.
The U.S., I'm afraid is tending toward the "cheaper" goods in order to have more of them. Do we really need so much? Perhaps this economy will convince people that less really is more and the intangible is often the most rewarding. It's our choice.