The free enterprise system has produced a technology capable of
providing the American consumer with the largest and most varied marketplace in
the world. Technological advances, however, have come hand-in-hand with
impersonal mass marketing of goods and services. Along with progress, too,
have come some instances of manipulative advertising practices and a
proliferation of products whose reliability, safety and quality are difficult to
evaluate. Today’s consumers buy, enjoy, use and discard more
types of goods than could possibly have been imagined even a few years ago. Yet
too often consumers have no idea of the materials that have gone into the
manufacturer’s finished product or their own motivation in selecting one product
over another. 62. Easy credit and forceful techniques of
modern marketing persuade many consumers to buy what they cannot afford. The
consequent overburdening of family budgets is a problem for consumers at all
economic levels. It is not unusual for families to allocate 20 percent or
more of their income to debt repayments witho6t understanding the effect this
allocation has upon other choices. Some families have such tight budgets that an
illness, a period of unemployment, or some other crisis finds them without
adequate reserves. 63. In addition to the growing complexity
of the market, consumers are sometimes faced with unfair and deceptive
practices. Although there are laws designed to protect the consumer, there is
not a sufficient number of law enforcers to cover all the abuses of the
marketplace. 64. There is growing concern and awareness,
too, of the disadvantage of the poor and undereducated American in the
marketplace of the affluent. Families in low-income inner city and rural
areas often do not have the same varieties of goods and prices available to them
as their middle-income counterparts. They are more likely to be targets for
fraudulent sales schemes and high cost credit than their affluent
neighbors. An adult in today’s society should be knowledgeable
in the use of credit. He should understand what is involved in purchasing a
house, and the many pitfalls to be avoided when entering into financial
agreements. 65. He should know enough about advertising and selling
techniques to enable him to discern the honest from the fraudulent and
deceptive. He should be knowledgeable about consumer protection laws
so that he can demand his rights. When he needs help, he should know the private
and public sources to which he can turn for assistance.