The latest edition of Maclean’s magazine features a cover story on The Joy of Frugality. The story talks about a new mood of thrift sweeping the globe in the wake of the credit crisis:

There’s a growing sense that our lifestyles are about to be dramatically transformed. For the first time in as much as half a century, a new, “frugal future,” as some economists have come to call it, seems all but inevitable. “Frugality is now replacing frivolity,” declared Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg. Households are about to be put on a radical diet; debt is a dirty word again, and living within one’s means could soon be a fact of life.

The story says that the signs of transformation are everywhere — a Hummer dealership in Las Vegas is being replaced with one selling Smart cars, $50 “credit-crunch suits” are flying off the shelves of discount stores in the UK and many people in L.A. and New York are foregoing $1,600 Botox treatments — and notes the environmental (less Hummers means less pollution), social (lower divorce rates in lean economic times) and even health benefits of a pared-down lifestyle.

Call me a skeptic, but we’ve seen this movie before. The “voluntary simplicity” movement seemed to gain popularity in times of economic stress in the past only to fade away when the good times returned. Why should it be any different this time around? Grasshoppers do not turn into ants overnight.