Maybe it’s just iPad obsession, but Bloomberg reports today of a new-normal consumer that is “schizophrenic,” someone who is financially strapped and on the one hand saves by buying generic brands of toothpaste and shampoo while buying fancy, high-tech goodies on the other. Case in point from the Bloomberg piece: Ralph Ronzio, who bought himself a $500 iPad soon after foreclosing on his home.

Writer Devin Leonard calls this the “new abnormal,” which “has given rise to a nation of schizophrenic consumers. They splurge on high-end discretionary items and cut back on brand-name toothpaste and shampoo. Companies such as Cupertino, California-based Apple, whose net income jumped 94 percent in its last quarter, and Starbucks Corp., which saw a 61 percent increase in operating income over the same time frame, are thriving.”

I think this weirdness is also due to the fact that there’s a great deal of pent-up demand for buying the stuff we really, really want. After a period full of “staycations,” eating in and shopping at dollar stores, we are lashing out and sticking both hands back in the cookie jar.