Cultural Consumerism

This article on 'cultural consumerism' from the AP presents a pretty strong perspective on how ingrained consumption is in our culture. It points out how our leaders tell us, "The point of an economic stimulus plan is to get money into people’s pockets so that they spend that money," and that this consumption culture "ran so deep that it permeated not only our wallets and our attitudes but our financial institutions." I think the columnist gets it right on many counts.

Maybe, though, we will see a change at the top. I read today that Obama thinks we may not return to our role as a "voracious consumer market."

How deep is our consumption culture? I guess we'll have to wait and see...