AffluenzaGraaf, John De, Wann, David, and Naylor, Thomas H. Affluenza: The All-Consuming

Epidemic. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005.

Mall Mania

◦“We spend nearly two-thirds of our $11 trillion economy on consumer goods” (13).

Ch. 1 Shopping Fever

◦More shopping malls than high school

◦ In 1986, we had more high school than shopping malls.

◦ We now have twice as many shopping centers (46,438) than high schools (22,180). 

◦ Seventy percent of us visit malls each week, and this is more than the percentage of people who attend houses of worship.

Ch. 1 Shopping Fever

◦More time shopping than with the kids

◦Americans spend six hours a week shopping and only 45 minutes playing with their kids (14).

Ch. 1 Shopping Fever

Plastic Nation

◦“The average American household carried about $9,000 in credit card debt during the year 2002, for a total of $764 billion” (20).>

◦“Even college students average $2,500” (20)

 ◦“Total American credit indebtness tripled in

the 1990s” (20).

Ch. 2 Rash of Bankruptcies

Lack of savings

◦ Americans now save only 0.2 percent of their income, which is about $1.50 a week on a $40,000 a year income (21).

 ◦ Residents of the European Union save 12

percent (21). 

◦ “[I]mpoverished Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani workers save 25% of their incomes” (21).

Ch. 2 Rash of Bankruptcies

Level of happiness 

◦Level of happiness reached a plateau in 1957.

 ◦“We felt richer then than we do now” (24).

Ch. 3: Swollen Expectations

Homes

◦The average home size is twice as big as it used to be in 1957, while family size is smaller.

 ◦Right after WWII, the average size home

was 750 square feet.

Ch. 3: Swollen Expectations

◦In the 1950s, 950 square feet was the norm.

◦In the 1960s, 1,100 square feet was the norm.

◦In the 1970s, 1,150 square feet was the norm.

◦In the 1990s, 2,300 square feet was the norm.

Ch. 3: Swollen Expectations

The alienation of the worker

Living through others 

◦ “The individual who finds no opportunity for self-chosen, meaningful expression of inner resources and personality… suffers ‘an insatiable longing for things to happen.>

◦ The external world is to supply these events to fill

the emptiness.

Ch. 9 An Ache for Meaning

◦The popular demand for ‘inside’ stories, for vicarious sharing of the private lives of ‘personalities’ rests on the craving for private life – even someone else’s – of those who are dimly aware of having non whatever, or at least no life that holds their interest” (80).

Ch. 9 An Ache for Meaning

The Law of Marginal Utility

We get tired of the same things, and so we want more and more

There never seems to be enough

LCD are not enough

Now there is a better technology, LED LCD tvs

LED tvs are not enough, because now there is…

Shopping for a Television

3-D LED HDTV!

And now 4k resolution!

Wall Street Journal reported that Playboy will even have a 3-D cover!

Playboy

Starbucks now have a bigger size drink called the Trenta!

Starbucks

Other News Stories

How bad do you want the iPad?

In 2011, Chinese teenager sells kidney to buy iPad

Started when teenager saw online ad for organ donors

Illegal agents organized trip to hospital and paid teenager $3,392

Teenager bought iPad 2 and laptop

Teenager Sells Kidney to Buy iPad

In 2008, a temp Walmart worker dies after the opening hour of black Friday

He was trampled to death after shoppers took the doors off the hinges

Worker Dies at Walmart

From Bloomberg News

141 million people shopped

Average consumer spending was $407

Total spending was $59.1 billion

2013 Black Friday Weekend