Yet we have more unneeded crap than we’ve ever had before (not to mention buying crap for everyone else)
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!
Is there any other country that could produce a show like ‘Hoarders’ or ‘Storage Wars’?
Some only blame Wall Street for our demise. But a significant blame should be given to Madison Avenue. The cursed marketing of stuff that does not create value or better our lives that created massive debt slavery rather than economic freedom should be rejected.
That's part of the fallacy that consumption will sustain the economy. The Fed has been subsidizing consumption in two ways: penalizing saving and artificially lowering rates so the politicians can spend more. That action has hollowed out the economy since nobody commits capital to any long term ventures any more. China is in the middle of this mess by functioning as a money conduit from consumers here to the politicians here. In return the consumers get disposable crap they don't need, and the politicians get to spend and put us more in debt.