>>508789341One of the things I've been saying is, there is a certain max-level of consumption that is optimal. But beyond that point, consuming more actually hurts you rather than helping you.
People should consume enough to be healthy, but not so much they become obese. People these days have garages filled with plastic marvel figurines, large vehicles, fabulous entertainment systems.
Imagine if, instead, they consumed what they needed. Then spent the rest of their time bettering themselves. Reading books, working out, inventing things, doing art projects....etc.
This entire consumer culture is a product of the debt-based economy. Consumption has to go up, and up. They lower interest rates to keep the consumption hamster wheel going, and gin up a massive amount of unnecessary consumption. When in reality, we should be consuming less. Cut the work-week, let people have more time in their day. The fact that we're still working 40 hours a week in 2025 is ludicrous.
Imagine if you only worked 20 hours a week. You saved your money instead of spending it. Everyone was trim and fit, and spent their free time on self improvement. That's the kind of culture we should build.
I'm also convinced that many of the jobs we're doing aren't even beneficial. Besides consuming resources and making lenders happy, we don't need all these jobs. If we cut the work week, we'd consume less and produce less. But we would unlock a vault of creativity and passion that exists within people, which they cannot express today.
They'd go outside and build cool shit. Monuments, trails, cathedrals...who knows. They're generate art, and invention for us. The font of creative energy we are suppressing could be far more valuable than mediocre labor.