doesn't hold much appeal for those of us already living under the poverty level -- and who are hit first and hardest.

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If you really want all this to happen first you'd better get real angry and real involved ...

It is time to demand change, not dream of some utopian barf that only encourages you to lie down and take the crap that our current leaders dish out.

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The persistent fatal flaw in all such utopian visions is the notion that a spiritual revolution can be brought about by government policy. One thinks of Papa Stalin staring nobly out of a Soviet poster.

What do the authors envision for those who don’t care to hold hands and sing? “Join us in the commune brothers and sisters! Or join your friends in the reeducation camps.”

The fact is, the authors have not learned the lesson that religious faithful have taught policymakers for centuries. Governments that start by coercing thought end by shedding blood.

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The reason for the current economic crisis is DEBT.

Contrary to popular opinion, the reason most people are in debt is for the essentials...housing, food, transportation, clothing, electricity, and so on. I know many people who have to use credit cards just to buy enough food every month.

Not as many people as you would think are blowing money on too large houses, expensive cars, flashy clothes, and high priced electronics. Most people are, however, going in to debt just to buy the basics.

The price of basic goods like housing, food, transportation, utilities, phone/internet, etc is simply too high because wages have basically been stagnant for decades. Thus we need massive deflation (everything gets a lot cheaper) in order to bring the economy back in to line -- the other alternative is that the average wage needs to be increased by at least 1/3 while the prices of everything stays the same.

As for the nonessentials (but still important), why in the hell does a simple cellphone plus broadband internet (not to mention basic cable TV) still cost so much in a largely saturated/stable market where these networks are already set up and cost very little to maintain? The only answer is that Americans are getting massively ripped off; prices need to deflate massively: cellphone max 10 dollars a month; broadband about the same; cable a bit more depending on the package. Instead we are charged 5-10 times these prices. Absurd.

America is a deeply distressing place -- where else in the world does a person or a family spend anywhere from 1/3-1/2 of their income just for a basic roof over their head? Once you pile on the other essentials like groceries and utilities you are barely breaking even every month...so is it any wonder when people are FORCED to go in to debt just to survive in The United Sharktanks of America?

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I posted above but forgot to mention this simple face:

Modern industrial economies are largely around THE MYTH OF SCARCITY, and we are particularly suffering under this myth right now in America.

If anything, we are suffering from the effects of OVERPRODUCTION (as all hyperwasteful industrialized economies are). In America we have vacant houses all over the place, and plenty more empty land upon which to build more housing if needed. We have car dealerships with months if not a full year of inventory on hand, with millions more Asian auto imports majorly clogging ports on the West Coast (not to mention American car manufacturers producing more cars every single day even though no one is buying them). Many grocery stores routinely throw away a ton or more of food a day. We have dept. stores and malls packed to the roof with clothing all across America. Etc...etc.

However, despite all of this amazing abundance, THE PRICE OF THESE BASIC ITEMS DOES NOT DROP -- sickeningly, the prices of these necessities (housing, food, transportation, clothing) KEEPS ON RISING.

Sure, the price of some fancy TVs and assorted plastic crap at Wally World are dropping because of a huge oversupply due to cheap Asian imports, BUT THE PRICE OF THE BASIC GOODS NEEDED TO MAINTAIN A BASIC EXISTENCE DOES NOT DROP DESPITE A HUGE OVERSUPPLY. As such, we need MASSIVE DEFLATION to occur: the price of basic goods like housing, food, transportation, and so on need to drop by at least 25-33%.

What we have here in the USA is a massively rigged market, with too many (over)producers chasing too few consumers. Thus the only way for the (over)producers to make a profit is to overcharge (i.e., defraud) the consumers even if there is a superabundance of these goods.

It's almost as if the whole economy has become like the international diamond market -- a group of greedy dealers and producers have cornered the market and work assiduously behind closed doors to rig markets by fixing prices artificially high; they are trying to convince the gullible public that something is "valuable" and "rare" and massively overcharge them for it when in fact diamonds (just like houses, cars, food, clothing, etc) are nearly as common as coal in the larger scheme of things.

This analysis may not apply to other nations who actually do have shortages of houses/land, food, clothes, and other necessities (because of overpopulation, etc); but here in the USA we have been blessed with a superabundance of land and industry and lumber and farmland and other goods yet still we are criminally overcharged by for the basics necessities of life.

Something has to change.

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Well, guess what? I enjoy having a home that's groaning under the weight of all my dvds. I love the fact that every night I can pick out another book to read, or movie to watch or game to play. I don't have a high income but I've managed not to get myself into debt buying all the things I want. Two reasons. Firstly, self-control. I don't buy what I can't afford. Secondly, I have no children. It's parents I feel sorry for. Raising kids is what really makes life expensive in modern society. Isn't it time that some of these authors who insist on writing about how our stuff doesn't make us happy realized that not everybody shares their view? Some of us enjoy our stuff. One notices it's always those who've never known the hardship of a life lived under the "Jeffersonian ideal" who advocate this back to basics existence.

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Beautifully said and profoundly true.

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I just went back and read some of the angry comments above, and I am angry too. I don't know how we get from here to there, or if it's even possible. But if people cannot first grasp and adopt the important truths this article expresses so well, then there just isn't any hope.

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Schumachers 'Small is Beautiful', published in 1974, warned us all and showed us the way forward. This was in the days before the western world became entangled in consumer frenzy. Too late to shut the stable door, now that the horse has bolted - the above article is thirty five years past its sell-by date.

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What more could we say? The angry near off-topic snarls are of those who ignore the truth for a long time and then say it's old hat. The very last thing Sarah is saying is that government should legislate. Government is not here to tell us what to do - we are all here to tell them what to do.

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It is a beautiful article and I agree, as far as it goes, but some basic problems need to be clarified.

1. Money is like an addictive drug, so the only way to control it is to eliminate it. If each hour of work equals one labor credit, we equally share income and labor. Thus, we work for mutual benefit, not personal profit. I lived in such a community and it worked very well, indeed too well for the government to tolerate.

2. The human population keeps on growing and demanding more resources than the Earth can provide because so many women are not free to decide if and when to birth their children. When each and every woman is free to choose, the human population will reduce to a number the Earth can easily support, and there will be plenty for everyone.

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Well-written and "on the money" (forgive me) piece. The nature of many of the comments indicates how revolutionary is the concept of LESS. Unseating our worship of growth everlasting will be more difficult than overthrowing the Vatican. This religion has more followers than Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam combined.

Sharing essays like this is how we begin. Living by example is next. Raising our (two or fewer) kids according to these principles will help. I'm producing a film I hope will help to wake more people up and perhaps motivate them to step off the treadmill.

It will become easier as we slowly dismantle the current system. Of course the current system has dismantled itself, but I suspect we may resuscitate it briefly before it gasps its last, dying breaths.

Dave Gardner
Producer/Director
Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity
Join the cause at www.growthbusters.com

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CAPITALISM has failed U.S.
Corporate GREED is EVIL.
The Corpirates are blood sucking Parasites!
They've lied to, spied on and enslaved U.S.
They will do anything to keep the wheel turning.
The Delusion is over!
We can do better than this!
Anyone can!
It's a blessing in disguise.
The Cloud has lifted.
The Vales of secrecy growing transparent.
Who needs half of all this junk anyway?
Decentralize and
Economize.
Become efficient, self reliant and self sufficient.
If you lost everything today and went to live in the Hills what would happen?
Reality sets in!
Shut off your T.V. (indoctrination set) and Blast the Evil Corpirate Delusion to HELL!
Get down on your knees and beg Mother Nature’s forgiveness.
Scratch The EARTHS back and
Plant some seeds,
Water them with your Tears
And see what pops up?
Go to the SOURCE.

GO Local
GO GREEN
GO ORGANIC

Take what ever you have left and invest in your, family, friends, neighbors and communities.
Go high and dry.
Stay away from large bodies of water.
They will come to you.

The ROBBER BARON Industrial Age is over.
Good riddance and goodbye.
Celebrate!
Your Independence and FREEDOM!
If you expect The Media and FRANKEN FOODS to save you?
I'm afraid you’ve been FOOLED and sadly mistaken.
Mr. Terminator Genes is out to get ya!
Gotcha!

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In times of great economic catharsis its important to note how corporations use these times to LOWER wages, break unions and shred regulations.

What isnt mentionned above are not the quaint "Its a Wonderful Life" kind of small family bank that goes under. There are few of these left. What remains are big banks with both voting and non-voting shares that would foreclose on their own families if that meant greater profits. Guards should never be left down. Especially in times of great crisis.

Remember, the rich have a great hate for the current system. They want to live in an Ayn Rand kind of world and the Chicago Boys and Freidman had it right. They want only one thing. Government only to serve them and other elites. In these unknown times.... one should not assume that ONLY prices will come down. Wages are bound to as well.

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One thing I would like to see more of is people developing their own talents instead of vegging out in front of MSM. People laugh at me because I like myspace, but I would much rather read what real people have to say than corporate sell outs. I would love it if kids started learning music again. Why sit back and let a small group of Hollywood power mogels tell you who is talented? There is talent all around us. And there is something so enriching and rewarding about local talent. I think it is as psychically nutritious as local grown food vs gmo.

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We must identify our existing and inherently true human characteristics and needs; these are at the core of human behavior. Human behavior (all human actions) is the result of our will to fulfill our basic needs as influenced by our experiences. Once we start to recognize these relationships we will be able to establish a solid foundation from which to reexamine all of our societal constructs relative to how they fulfill our human needs.

The Universal Humane Needs Assessment - This is a project to specifically identify, broadly verify, widely disseminate [phase 1] and utilize an intuitively understandable set of needs and experiences universal to humankind.

Identifying the metaphoric equivalent of, a 'periodic table' of human elements, is a critically fundamental basis from which we can start to reexamine, monitor and influence our behavior to live more humanely balanced lives as individuals and create more sustainable humane economic, social, cultural, legal and political constructs as societies.

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It doesn't matter where you are on the economic ladder.....you have to live within your means.
Most Americans don't, however, and life certainly bites them back.

People making $100,000 live like they make $400,000....people making $70,000 living like they make $150,000.

Of course, for those living below the poverty line, things are different. Just paying bills is a struggle.
But, I also see so many people living right at the poverty line, "the working poor", that are just clueless as to managing their money. I see this everyday!!!

Satellite dishes or 200 cable channels, large screen tv's, cell phones, window air-conditioners running constantly in the summer, thermostats set to 80 in the winter, $35,000 dollar vehicles sitting in the driveway, eating fast-food everyday which is not only expensive, but bad for you.

These people wouldn't be "working poor" if they just cut out half of the crap in their lives.


My wife and I live well within our means. We could afford 200 cable stations....or cell phones.....or more expensive vehicles. We choose to not have those things. I'd love to have air-conditioning in the summer and would love to set the thermostat over 64, which is as high as it goes in our house.
But, we get by, windows open in June........layers of clothing in the winter.

Then there's the children factor.

If you can't afford to have them, then you damn well better not have them! The children factor is why so many people find themselves buried in poverty to begin with.
Children are expensive.

If most would just live within their means, our tax dollars would be better spent for those that truly need help. That certainly could be any of us at a given time.

Bailing out large corporations and executives is wrong and makes my blood boil......but so does bailing out individuals who live irresponsibly.


Allstar Cookie

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Recently, we all have been made to feel good about doing with less. This is nothing new regardless of who was in the White House. A monied society, coupled with artificial scarcity will always have a 'see-saw' economy; whoever is up top, someome has to be at the bottom so everybody, shut up because directly or indirectly you suppoort this shit in the first place-you vote and pay taxes. Solution? Take an Ativan and don't give a damn..

1789

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Kinda like the government, commercials, churches, etc?

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Even today, people still belittle those who are frugal, conserve, resuse, and recycle. With those too low to be true prices, I have to be on the road at 5 AM just to avoid high volume traffic ! It wasn't this shitty when the prices were higher because frivolous drivers didn't hog up the roads. Thankfully, it won't be long before gas prices as well as all other prices go right back up now that election season is over. As for everything else, it's all about materialism and where do we get our guns, tvs, clothes, etc ... made in ? Far less in America and far more in countries that "tolerate" SLAVE labor. This is why it is so easy for people in this country to DELUDE themselves into believing that everything's so "cheap" and disposable. Well, I hate to sound like a mad man again but maybe GOD is RETALIATING by making America pay the price with restlessness and unhappiness !!

And if Obama has the balls, he'll replace Robert Gates with Reverend Jeremiah Wright !! He may sound controversial but he's damn right about telling the truth !

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but the paradox is that massive deflation will only increase the debt burdens under which many people already suffer.

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that to rappers. Tell them they's gots to give up they bling and they beyatches, and they'll pop a cap on yo ass.

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The following statement was made by Dr. Harvey Cox, a liberal Protestant theologian at the Harvard Divinity School. Dr. Cox, the author of Secular City, sees Eastern spirituality as an alternative to the mass consumerism and crass materialism of the West:

"In American society, I believe we’re now in the late phase, the most deteriorated, decadent phase of consumer capitalism. When I say ‘consumer capitalism,’ I don’t mean simply the form of our economic life; I mean our whole culture. It’s not just a capitalist economic system. It’s a capitalistic culture, with personal lifestyles, values, morality, and meaning perceptions all in some measure shaped by this underlying ethos. And all this means that the value of the person is greatly underrated.

"People’s primal energies are fixated on commodities that are supposed to bring satisfaction of inner hungers. Through the suggestive and hypnotic powers of the advertising industry, a direct connection is made from very basic things which satisfy those needs; but of course they do not. Furthermore, the life pattern is pretty well set out through educational, occupational, and career structures which define for people the meaning of success in material terms, and in a way that people think that they’re making choices. But they’re actually being coerced and manipulated into a structure which really does not pay off in terms of genuine spiritual satisfaction.

"The result...is the creation of a lot of unsatisfied hungers and unresolved fears which turn into anger and violence. I think a lot of the violence in our society is a result of this...Ultimately, I become angry at the whole society that is the cause of my unfulfillment, and there’s a tendency to take that frustration out on other people. So I think the whole web of violence in our society is related to this in ways that are not explored thoroughly enough by psychologists.

"Now, from my point of view, what Christianity should be doing in this country is providing an alternative to this capitalist-consumer ethos, in terms of personal values and ultimate meaning. There are a few Christians who are doing it, but the vast majority of people who call themselves Christians are, in fact, completely caught up in this un-Christian value system."

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We do indeed, need a new lease on our collective life. But this author seems a bit overzealous in pronouncing the end of the troublesome relationships between the wielders of capital and the rest of us. Crisis is always neutral in that it opens roads in multiple, and often opposite directions. Unless we organize our behinds off to ensure this sort of vision for our collective future, we can be assured that financial capital will assert similar or worse relationships with the world majority. So while I appreciate the poetic vision for our collective future, I bristle at the Jeffersonian, conflict free vision for how we are supposed to get there.

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I couldn't agree with you more. A few months ago I posted a similar topic. http://whyiwanttoseetheeconomycollapse.blogspot.com/

I was surprised at how angry people became. Like most of the responses I see to your article there are a lot of very academic and statistical responses. But quite a few angry ones.

I don't believe your thinking is utopian. It wasn't very long ago in American history when that was the way we lived.

I think the anger comes from those who drank the kool-aid and who still believe in this false construct either in whole or in part. The reality is that decadence suits no one. I would rather have free time than stuff and I would rather spend time being productive than purchasing.

At any rate the good news is the change is coming and no one can stop it. So heres to the future. A more humane and less cluttered reality.

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outlines a way of life whereby we can all do with less, those now in poverty and others not so blessed. check it out!

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Let's cut to the chase. These feelgood fantasies are nice and all but they're never going to happen. Americans, and increasingly other countries, want to consume mass quantities. We say we care about the planet and our children's futures, blah blah blah but then go right back to our consumptive ways. We're full of shit basically. Our morality is rhetorical only and it's no wonder. We learned it from politicians and Hollywood.

It's not enough for a few hundred thousand people to change. Tens of millions of people need to change and that will never happen here because Americans prefer to battle their coworkers and neighbors over scarce resources than find real solutions that can benefit everyone. Americans equate everyone having a good life with them having a bad one. We are clinging to our spoiled existence like Linus clinging to his blanket but the rich are ripping it away from us regardless because foreigners do everything cheaper.

Corporations will always seek cheaper labor to boost profit margins and Americans will always worship capitalism and greed, the very cause of our own demise. To coin a aphorism, we would rather "Fight than be bright and do right". I wonder if our atoms at a quantum level really know how stupid we are in this evolutionary form. Maybe evolution will get it right one day if we destroy ourselves before the entire planet.

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Well, living after the meltdown for me is nothing different than before. I've always lived my life as a lower middle class person mainly because that's always been my income (with some shifting up and down a bit).

I learned early on that living beyond ones means is not only a money losing effort (paying interest is giving away money) but that it creates more tension in ones life worrying about making payments.

Now, I've been lucky in that I've always had a job or found one with relative ease. Cross my fingers, I hope I'm not going to be one of the unemployment statistics that are coming out monthly at higher and higher numbers because at my age I'm not sure this time around that a job will be forthcoming so easily as the past.

So, that's my worry as for many others. The meltdown is hitting the working class hard, as it usually does.

The silver lining for those of us who manage to hold our jobs is deflation. Prices are falling for near everything except food. Just wait until after the holidays in early 2009 we might see prices of all sorts of things plummet in order for companies and retailers to rid themselves of stuff.

Home prices will continue to drop, we haven't seen a bottom. And more than likely we won't see a bottom in 2009, but you'll know when home prices simply level off to an equilibrium of buyers/sellers to price. As long as we continue to get more unemployment you won't see home prices stop declining. And of course the credit market will need to open up again.

Cash is now king, if you have it, you can make great deals. The problem is that this deflationary time may be only a year or two long. Sooner or later with the leaps in the federal debt and the government spend-a-thon going on our dollar will get its comeuppance and inflation will rear its' ugly head. Also by that time the business cycle will have run down its' inventories and everything will start costing more. The trend will have reversed.

And since the oil prices have dived, oil infrastructure investment is going to slow to a crawl and in turn when oil prices start creeping back up (and they will) then we will find we are short on oil production and the oil prices will then really move higher.

So, not only are we going to have to get used to this depression, we will have to keep our eyes on a near future of inflation (maybe hyperinflation), higher oil prices and less goods available.

Hold on for the ride, it's not going to be pretty.

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Two from Yes! craptasmazine in the same week! OMG, I can't wait the see the Ode heroin coming down the pipe!

Hey rich people, over here... I gotta cardboard box for ya in the alley behind my landlord's place (that I rent from her at exorbitant sums of cash while she systematically removes more and more of the things I need, AC, heat, now plumbing...). I bet with all that "free time" you'll have living simply you'll be so very happy indeed.

I'll even help ya' move in, rich folk, and I'll be thrilled to take all that nasty troublesome cash and big flat screen teevees and the Mercedes off your hands.... because, as always, it's all about your happiness, isn't it!

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A few comments about "having less & being happy" as the average American has not had a sufficient wage increase in years, we already "have less"! Do you realize that "just the basics": shelter, food, heat/ac, health-care costs eat up the basics! Why is it that a "modest" 2 bedroom apt. should cost around $1,000.00+ a month! That's not putting me on Park Ave., that is still in the boonies! Not to mention that every year I am in said apt., I am the recipient of a "rate" increase! Every year if you are lucky enough to have insurance, your costs are going up, the deductable out of pocket cost is increased, the premium is increased, the prescription costs are increased! If you still have your home your property taxes are increasing! If you're lucky enough to pay for cable, those costs are increasing! At what point can the price of everything else stagnate!

It is not so much people are splurging on the "luxuries", people are trying to keep their noses above water for the basics! Yes, there is a large debt load per household, but the prices of everything else going up doesn't help! Yes, yes, I know don't have cable (I don't), don't eat so much, wear 4 sweaters in the house to keep those heating bills down~ it's hard to be happy when your teeth are chattering because you're trying to keep that the thermostat set at 65 degrees or below!

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Hey all you aging hippies out there who want to go back to "living simply"! If you want to give up your big screen tv, your big house, your big car, and all your "sinful" consumer indulgences...could I please have them? Because for myself (and millions of others like me) we HAVEN'T had the chance to possess anything like that.

My dad was a farmer and he passed away two years ago at the age of 89. And--God Bless him!--although he was frugal he often talked about how he NEVER wanted to ever go back to the supposed "wonderful world of simplicity and frugality". The world of outhouses for your bathroom (he often talked about what it was like to have to use them in the winter at -10 deg), iceboxes for food preservation (food still spoiled), kerosene lanterns for light, hauling in wood in the middle of the night to keep the furnace going, no telephone, no tv, no radio, pumping water by hand to water the livestock, etc.

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Less. Greed. Care. Need. Fear. Love. Share. More. Hope. Despair. Act. Anger. Work. Reach. Fall. Dream. Fantasy. Vision. Pain. Promise. Peace.Passion. Loose. Find. War. Ache. Long. Clarity. Confusion. Poor. Spirit. Rich. Power. Die to live. Give to have. Revolution. Life.
----bring it on----

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Some years ago I decided to give having less a try. I bought a much smaller house than I might have, subscribed to a community-supported agriculture box, got a bus pass, rode my bike, stopped shopping for amusement and simplified Christmas.

Guess what? It worked so well I'm not even remotely tempted to go backwards into a consumerist lifestyle.

Because I only have to support a small house I am able to work 3/4 time which enables me to balance my work life and my home life.

Nowadays when I spend my money it is fun to see if I can use more money to buy things I want (like ballet tickets and National Parks) and less money buying things I don't want (like coal fired power and big-box stores).

If everyone lived like me the economy would not collapse. People would still buy bicycles and theatre tickets and food and clothes and home repairs and such. It's just that more money would go to experiences and less to buying stuff.

The trap of consumerism is, it tells you that the thing you want is an object, but in fact, the thing that is really going to make you happy is an experience. Sometimes the object you buy is a pathway to the experience, but not usually.

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Why did millions of Americans buy houses they couldn't possibly afford and drive themselves into debt to fill these houses with cheap plastic crud? Was it because being house-poor was a great way to live? No - it's because most people want to be perceived as better than they are. Advertising sold Americans on the notion that social status is proportional to the size of your house and your SUV. Americans eagerly wrecked their lives so they could appear rich to their neighbors.

Imagine what kind of country America would be if we rewarded different qualities. Like being smart. What if the way to gain social status was by working out the solution to a pressing problem? And what if the way to be socially ostracized was to treat other people like sh*t? What if the guy who cut health insurance for his workers was treated as a failure and avoided like the plague - rather than feted as a hard-nosed businessman?

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I’m all for the ideas in the article, however…

This is all well and good for people who have a bit of wiggle room, but they are getting fewer daily.

The real effect on most people will not be to have less stuff and more time.

They will have less stuff and LESS time.

Because they won’t be working overtime to pay for luxuries, they’ll be doing it to pay for essentials. In fact, far too many already are.

And the same goes for debt: there’ll be more, and it will be for essentials. Real, not perceived, essentials.

Sorry, but all forms of theft will go up as more people get more desperate.

We don’t know our neighbors, we’re not in communities, so it’s going to be hard to turn into communities pulling together. And if you do, how will you fight off the marauding hungry hoards that didn’t manage it?

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that make the life worth living. And, generally speaking, experiences don't cost much. I'm not talking about the experience of a week in Figi on the beach, or looking out over the country side from your Italian villa veranda, I'm talking about a meal with friends. A walk down the street with someone you care about, reading a book, a walk in the woods, helping your neighbor. These things enrich us all, yet cost nothing.

There is a lot of good out there for us all that is not tied to our wallets. All we have to do is look for it.

And no Dabear, I am not, nor will I ever be, a rich man. Monetarily speaking anyway.

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I'd never have guessed you have Asperger's. Your comments on AlterNet are among the best; you've already attracted my attention with them!

Agh--living with your right-wing mother. My deepest sympathies. You're an excellent writer and thinker. You'll write and think your way out of this.

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Why? Simply because I really have nothing but indebtedness just as this government prefers, to keep us in over our heads - pay, pay and then pay some more.

I have to wonder how it is possible for people to bid millions for a Senate seat, also question who fronted Barack Obama the money to buy the Illinois Senate seat in the first place? What a country we live in, just when you think you've seen it all - you haven't!

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But we can't be happy BECAUSE we have less. It requires adjusting and it depends on where a person is situated in the first place. If electricity is turned off lighting a candle gives aome light. But it doesn't cheer everybody up. So it depends on where you start. I think it is better to think ahead and make some changes while we get to make the decisions. Better than waiting until our backs ar to the wall. ANNA

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"How Having Less Will Make Us Happier"

thus the title of the article asks us rhetorically.

It reminds of a joke the great Romanian theologian Richard Wurmbrand used to tell.

"Adam and Eve were the first communists. They had no clothes, no roof over their heads, they both had to share the same apple---and they still thought they were in Paradise!"

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But I still like buying crap, and I love capitalism.

The problem isn't buying shit. The problem is not knowing when to STOP buying shit. If you can't afford it, either save up or don't buy it.

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I agree with much of this article, at least after the first sentence. I must point out that the "pursuit of happiness" barely made it into the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson's final draft had "pursuit of property" as the last of the three "inalienable rights". He was persuaded by Madison and others that the phrase wouldn't appeal to the majority of colonists who owned next to nothing. I would argue that Jefferson's original wording better reflects the values I have observed in my 35 years as an American. However, I agree with the author that the abysmal state of capitalism offers us an excellent opportunity to opt out and redefine our values in a way that might bring us true happiness.

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I already am near the bottom. I have a large garden, with the help of my husband and a freezer full of organic vegetables. We are both in our seventies. We live and have lived with the realization that what you own and subsequently show off as proof of your worth as a human being, does not determine how happy you can be; all it determines is that you spent a lot of time and energy displaying the bright colored plastic toys for your kid in your front lawn as proof of your parenting skills. We are in fear should an illness occur, we will be truly wiped out even though we both have worked hard all our lives and have the knarled bones to show for it == and that is the truth. How silly of us not to invest in the stock market! How stupid we were , eh? And should we succumb to some illness, we can look forward to the younguns telling us that at our age, we should not expect treatment. It is better spent on them and their children, even though they may have a fatal diagnosis.

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Yes, children are a choice...plain and simple.

In a perfect world...we would have them in the proper order of our lives...we'd all remain blissfully happily married forever and raise a gaggle of loving well-adjusted kids to send along into the 100 years.

We all know though it does not always work that way. No one ever starts out life intending to make bad choices or being victim to life's difficulties...

I think most of us have kids with the best of intentions...life throws curves sometimes..you adjust, get through it and go on to give them the absolute best you can. Remembering that the most important thing you give them is unconditional love, a solid set of values and a good work ethic.

I completly agree with living simply. In this country we have had way too many years of unrealistic silliness with regard to what we want and what we need. How big do our houses have to be? How many cars do we need to own? Is there really a need to have more than one cell phone a person in any house?

I really hope that as we each are forced to re-prioritize and create a different future going forward that we take the lessons learned with us..and that we pass them on to our children.

Isn't that how we affect change in the future...?

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We need safety nets for the vast number of growing poor in our nation. we need welfare, job programs, housing, healthcare, education daycare. We cannot let people starve and die in the gutter. This is not moral! It is horrible. We bail out companies while we let people starve in the gutter. We pay 40,000 per yr per inmate and fund the biggest prison system on the face of the earth but we don't care aout all the MILLIONS of AMERICAN, men, women and children who are living in dire poverty! And as China, India and Europe are offering their populations affordable college we are charging our kids 40 to 50 thousand a yr. How can we ever compete in the world and build a prosperous nation if we don't invest in our future? Students and workers need to rise up and protest, march and fight for their lives cause as Paul Krugman said " we are sinking like a stone"

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These articles are so aggravating! As someone who has saved money by doing a lot for myself, I can say, unequivocally, that gardening, child care, sewing and knitting are all time and labor intensive activities. It takes a full day to make a set of curtains, for example. Winter squash - months of weeding, not to mention preparing the bed, etc. While the authors may think that there is something more inherently good about these activities than, say, working as a receptionist, they are still time consuming and exhausting. I'll bet a weeks pay that neither of the authors has more than two children. If they did, they would know that you actually need money to deal not only with necessities, but also just the things that go wrong that cost a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a pop. Child illnesses, stuff they break/destroy, educational needs they present (no child left behind anyone?). It goes on. As a mother of a gifted child I have read two page single spaced suggestions for what parents can do to supplement the paltry resources devoted to our kids in the public school system. Guess how many of those things are cost free? We don't have an SUV but we do have cable, because the Discovery channel can explain things very effectively that are beyond my ability to grasp, and certainly are not being taught in school. Cable costs money. I work to pay for it. Child, please. Alternet really need to think before posting such inflamatory content.

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I am willing to donate to this worthy cause. DaBear is frustrated and angry as am I. But I worry about his future. If he doesn't get the help he is crying out for I fear we may lose him. Please who will help me in this struggle to save my worthy adversary?

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@healthyhomefronts
"I'll bet a weeks pay that neither of the authors has more than two children. If they did, they would know that you actually need money to deal not only with necessities, but also just the things that go wrong that cost a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a pop."

You just hit the nail right on the head, and you were too stupid to know it! Don't have more than two children! If, on average, each woman in the World had an average of 2.1 children per her lifetime, then the World population would never increase or decrease...ta-daaah! A stable population, and as long as we control our appetites for stuff and live in an environmentally sustainable way, our planet's ecosystem stays healthy and support us.

People are so self-absorbed and under-educated that they can't even do basic math...2.1 children per woman...period. THINK, woman!

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Americans are creating more and more consumer credit debt, and it is sending them running for cover of payday loans, or ill-advised use of the credit cards, which gets them more credit card debt. However, many don't know the difference between a good debt and a bad debt. Bad debts are when you purchase something on credit, and then after you've paid the creditor back, the thing that was purchased does you no real good. A brand new car is the worst of these offenders, as they lose thousands once off the lot. Good debt is debt that after incursion will make you money in the long run. The best examples are mortgages and educations. A college education guarantees that you will out earn those with only diplomas, and a home appreciates in value over time. The more you've paid down the mortgage, the more of the home you own, and the more equity that you have. Payday loans can be good debt, if by using one you stave off a late fee or overdraft charge. You can read more on this article.

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