Our forebears who lived through the Great Depression and/or in war zones accepted lifestyle changes that we can barely fathom. But consumer culture has told us from infancy onward that we are exempt, that want equals need, that having to wait for what we want denies our basic human rights. We are taught to see, in mirrors, want-shaped selves. We are taught that the more we crave, the more we get, the more real and alive and beautiful we are. A lot of talent and capital goes into this training. Corporations spend around $30 billion every year advertising food products in the United States alone. McDonald’s annual marketing budget is over $1 billion. …
Getting Smacked by Economic Reality