Huffpo published this piece on a businessman who takes anti-consumerism seriously:

Travel company operator Hal Taussig buys his clothes from thrift shops, resoles his shoes and reads magazines for free at the public library. The 83-year-old founder of Untours also gives away all of his company’s profits to help the poor _ more than $5 million since 1999. He is content to live on Social Security.

Taussig takes a salary of $6,000 a year from his firm, but doesn’t keep it. It goes to a foundation that channels his company’s profits to worthy causes in the form of low-interest loans. If he has money left at the end of the month in his personal bank account, he donates it. . . .

“I could live a very rich life on very little money. My life is richer than most rich people’s lives,” said Taussig. “I can really do something for humanity.”  . . .

He calls consumerism a “social evil” and “corrupting to our humanity” because of what he said is the false notion that having more things leads to a richer life.

“Quality of life is not the same as standard of living,” he said. “I couldn’t afford (to buy) a car but I learned it’s more fun and better for your health to ride a bike. I felt I was raising my quality of life while lowering my standard of living.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 11:32 am and is filed under Consumerism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.