"It was almost like a shopping addiction!" admitted Amanda, whose buy-to-let mortgage debts, from a starting salary of £22,000, total £7.5m - so, I'd be fascinated to know what Amanda's idea of a proper "shopping addiction" looks like.
Any attempt to legislate our way to a cooler earth, the argument goes, will inevitably resemble the package of cap-and-trade emission restrictions that passed the House last year: a Rube Goldberg contraption whose buy-offs and giveaways swamped its original purpose.
An inexpensive currency effectively subsidizes companies that export goods — and their workers — at the expense of most Chinese households, whose buying power is diminished.
Americans, whose buying binges have powered economic growth, spent cautiously in May for the second consecutive month, another tentative sign that the robust economy might be slowing.
Both use a "coupon-at-till" system called Catalina, which proclaims on its website that it "finds just the consumers whose buying preferences match" a particular product.
Stephen Hester, who will take over as chief executive later this month, is under pressure to restore dividend payments at the bank, whose buying spree included the purchase of parts of ABN Amro at the height of the market.
Patty Smith, a spokeswoman for Amazon.com, said the site already provided explanatory information about its business partnerships -- as with Toys R UsUs, which has a store within Amazon's site, and with Consumer Reports, whose buying guides Amazon distributes.
The economic concern now centers on the question of whether the American consumer, whose buying played a major role in making last year's recession a mild one, can keep spending.
But you gotta wonder how many actual people in the real world there are whose buying decisions would be affected by the comparison.
It's like the QVC model, but for GenZ shoppers whose buying habits are influenced by social video content on YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat.
