The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need

[TheDR196]

anyone know where i can watch this without paying?

[rhocassiopeiae]

So once americans have fulfill their basic need, there was no longer a drive to keep working, and without work....the american economy will collapse? So the new drive was luxury. Luxury kept the monetary system going forward in America. So now people are juts realizing that they are working to get luxurries that they dont need, and some have lost that drive. Oh, so then, now we are being bankrupt out of our homes, so that we will have that drive to work again?

[mikeypoo911]

I think its easy to point at consumerism and blame this american dream / consumer society for all of these problems of debt and forclosure etc etc. but the fact is people (adjusting for inflation) spend significantly LESS on goods than they did a generation ago. you guys should go watch the Elizabeth Warren lecture on the death of the middle class which is backed by 30 years of hard data and not easy conjecture.

[chewbacca1010]

@mikeypoo911 I hate to break it to you, but this is a snippet of a whole documentary which is in turn based on decades of Schor's research, so perhaps you ought to retract your final statement.

[mikeypoo911]

@chewbacca1010

and warren's decades of research dont mean anything?

Go look at some data that shows what actual americans spend money on. The vast majority of it is housing, transportation, and taxes. not exactly discretionary spending. And housing prices have skyrocketed while income levels have not really changed much.

Honestly. Go watch elizabeth warrens lecture "death of the middle class".

[chewbacca1010]

@mikeypoo911 I'm not contesting Warren's research, merely pointing out that this video here is merely a part of the larger whole. You claim that this video is easy conjecture and yet you're not even willing to look at it within its larger context, so tell me, why should anyone bother to listen to your recommendations?

[divinagoettel22]

i want to see this movie!! going to check out in webmovietube

[amielanquist41]

this is great !! going to watch this in webmovietube

[finehomemadewine]

..but they think of introducing 4 days work week, don´t they in US?

[msungs]

The American Dream, you have to be asleep to be living it. The American Dream boils down to this. You and your spouse working jobs you hate, sending you children to daycare where they are plopped down in front of the television so you can have your McMansion and drive you big shiny SUV (preferably a Cadillac) and where fancy clothes and make other people think you are something. What usually comes from this is divorces, terrible children, addictions, + suicides. The American Dream is dead.

[LadyRuin2012]

We are the most workaholic society in the world, with Japan second. I forgot where I read that.

Only buying what you need would ensure that our economy collapsed. Instead we should aim to only buy things we really truly want. Consider a purchase very carefully and consider if you really want it before buying it.

[eyeswideopen82]

What's really sad is that it has become normal for people to brag about working 60+ hours a week. That is not a good thing. "Yeah, I spend more time at work then I do with my family, but it's all good because we can afford a new Ford Mustang".

Most Americans don't work for survival. They work to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't know.

We are overweight, overmedicated, antisocial and very pissed off, but at least we can buy a new cell phone every 6 months.

[abmmwl]

Too many people spend money they don't have, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. This summarizes most of Americans.

[CWS1971]

This makes little sense.

I don't need a computer but with one I can easily answer any question I have.

I don't need more books but with them I can expand my knowledge and culture. I don't need to go see a play with friends but if I do then I add to my character. I don't need a larger car but with one I can bring my kids' friends along with us too the park/beach.

I don't need solar panels or wind turbines but with them I can help reduce the need for another coal plant.

[ShowtekGER]

@CWS1971 it's about useless consumption for the sake of consumption. a computer might be useful. but did i really need this new one? my old one was similarly efficient in "answering my questions". and did i really have to spend a lot of money on a mac or vaio product when i can get the same merit from a less popular brand?

no, i don't need any of these things. but i am too lazy and too anxious to abdicate such dispensable goods. which is the cancer of western societies and ultimately the world

[earlsutton]

this is so true

[cdltpx]

I have taken a job where I work 177 days a year max I will be considered below the poverty line but we have paid off the 07 prius 06 scion have 95 nissan truck little boat and the home is paid for.I rbefuse to pay for my kids education I will buy her a home vs paying for college I figure she wants education she will appreciate it better if she buys it herself.We all have a choice my home is comfortable but it sure isn't glamourous we have what we need you own the home you got it licked.

[caganb]

Taxes and housing costs are why. Nothing else.

[jamamanjamh13]

WHY?!

[xMarucsFenixX]

Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.

Btw people that work with entertainment make tons of money and teacher don´t make much money. That´s pretty stupid.

[ThatSmartHotGuy]

@xMarucsFenixX That's probably why about 95% of teachers in the public school system suck so badly. All the people who would actually be good teachers are able to get much better jobs where they are payed more and are more greatly appreciated.

[aviomaster]

rpaslux --- YES that is true , availability of things makes them desirable, IF it is not available than you would not want it.

Nice ... Next question is can you afford it.

[aviomaster]

"Why We Want What We Don't Need" -- This is dumb sentence ,,, YOU need everything you want ... Demand is unlimited ,, Demand can not be limited ...

I want I want ,,, never STOPS . The question is can you pay for it ....

[rpaslux]

people can only demand what is available to them. And I mean available as in "it exists and they know it exists so ... they might want it". if blood diamonds weren't real or were never discovered people would never demand or search for it. It's all a matter of obvious.

And I meant Blood diamonds like those diamonds that are found by people who are exploited and shot if neglecting to cooperate. But only ego-driven filthy rich people feel the need to buy those diamonds to compensate for st.

[ILoveRichardDawkins]

Very good video! Thanks for posting this! By the way, anyone who's interested in this subject might also like to see if your local library has "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. In it, they talk about finding your own personal level of what is enough.

[IantheLiberal]

To put it kindly, capitalism is for the moral lightweight

[fethers080]

Do you really want to know who's who and what makes America tick? I think the wools been pulled over the American publics eyes, the so called land of the free is not so free. Don't get me wrong but if you want to know who owns the mighty USA...check this out..i think it will open your eyes..."The Bloodline Of The Illuminati Who's Who And How part 2"...no offence given...but i think its important to know the real truth on who's who in this world...they call it "The Real World"...cheers

[Georgenfla]

Yes, but most amerikans work at McDonalds and Burger Kings! Most amerikans are uneducated, high school drop-outs. Very few have college educations. Most amerikans don't even know that Texas is a state, or even where it is. Then when you ask them about Europe, they are clueless. They drive big amerikan stationwagons, and complain about the price of fuel. They can't figure out that 4 cylinder Japanese cars get better fuel mileage, and are more reliable. But, they keep eating Big Macs and Whoppers!

[waylon07]

you are obviously uneducated

[rpaslux]

maybe they'd do better if they studied harder (I don't care how hard they study. If they can't understand something logical then they should study even harder. And that's that. )

And maybe you'd do better if you stopped judging on them and start reading a book, listening to music or do whatever you most enjoy ( but do not abuse it ).

[beancube2008]

Stupid in big corporations are just working for somebody else stock holdings. All these high paid academics are mainly creating languages. I mean their consciousness no longer belong to them and no one is dare to say something is wrong. When the top keep telling you competitions. That is called dreamy jobs trained by our schools.

[Aprilshowersss]

i just want comfort... but maybe that jsut cause im poor. maybe if i was middle class id want more.... all i know is that due to the experiences in my life up till this point i will always be happy with a middle class comfortable life if i ever manage to achieve it

[Le0zLion]

"...it does not argue that we are better off poor...the proposition is that only by recognizing our material abundance can we begin the task of improving the other aspects of our lives, families, communities, the natural environment and our minds." quoted from Affluenza - Clive Hamilton + Richard Denniss

[yanayrton]

A superb work to freedom the soul .

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. ~ YAN AYRTON

see my 2 musical videos here about this crucial issue :

1 )YAN AYRTON Piano The paths to distress and dispair The modern life ocidental CONSUMERISM.

2 )YAN AYRTON Piano - CONSUMERISM . This huge excess can exterminate the humans

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. YAN AYRTON

Thank you what you done to american people

[Downshifting07]

The real meaning of capitals progress is that growth must proceed until all desirable optimums are exhausted and destroyed. Preservation of any human or ecological balance, and more desirable state of affairs, is denied in theory and practice. Pursued for its own sake, and without reference to extant conditions, growthism is a cancer producing illusory profit, until space for natural freedom is exhausted and our enclosure, dependency, and despair are complete. -- Kent Welton

[KeevayMusic]

Prayer for America -- a Music Video of the American Dream Turned Nightmare

In "Prayer for America," shadow musician Catman Cohen warns of a dire future awaiting America if things do not change sooner than later.

[zody5]

Earth can satisfy mans need but not mans greed.

[painandink37]

Man is a product of Earth.

[bearcatpride]

Nice vid, but the comments being posted are even better, especially the Tyler Durden and Henry David Thoreau quotes, brilliant job guys

Stop buying things you don't need folks

Do we need food, clothing, and shelter? Of course....But do we NEED to live in a mcmansion, wear designer clothes, and eat filet mignon five nights a week?

[equandodominatio]

In fact, we don't even need "healthcare" either if we'd quit being weak, affluent pussies all the time.

[equandodominatio]

and even your typical household is too much too. i mean. who NEEDS phones, tvs, videogames, etc and all that crap?

[LeixVonStewart]

Phones and TVs can be a nessecity sometimes when it comes to communication.

TVs can give you the weather.

[equandodominatio]

so can cloud formation

[LeixVonStewart]

Most people don't read cloud formations.

I would much rather get my weather information from a reliable source with much more capable equipment.

[equandodominatio]

i do. dark and gray means rain, maybe snow.

[equandodominatio]

and the big dipper is a part of your natural compass too.

[attatawil]

shit, ive been out of work for a while and couldn't be happier. when I was working I was always chasing the next paycheck, planning for paychecks I didn't even get yet, and spending like I was rich! It feels good to get off of the "treadmill" and just worry about what I really need everyday.

[bodiless99]

I have some issues with this. So, prior to 1970, the average worker worked 29.8 hours per week? 1550hrs/year = 29.8 hours per week.

No. Here is what she has done: A higher PERCENTAGE of people are working now than worked prior to 1970. WOMEN started working/working more. At no time in history has the average worker worked only 29 hours per week.

[SisterSunnshine]

People need the Lord and stop worshiping the false god Mammon!

[hollywoodartchick]

In recent decades, new "necessities" have been added to our lives: Cell phones, computers, fax machines (at least in some homes). These are not cheap. But they are expected if you are to stay in the workforce, just to get jobs. Housing is a lot more $, as is healthcare. Just because bling is pushed does not mean it is the reason people go into debt. Sure, a lot of people would LOVE a mansion, but many go bankrupt just paying on minimal civilized survival. Wages have not kept up.

[kingsasquatch41]

Very interesting video! Also, very good comments! The "American Dream" is a sliding scale; as we push the average up so goes the Dream. That is American culture, like it or not. We are the richest (wealth), hardest working (longest hours, highest wages) nation in the world. This is also a free nation, and you are free to go if you don't like the culture. Also, keep in mind that the workers in the "sweatshops" make 2-3 times their countries average salary. Seeds of the American culture?

[msungs]

@kingsasquatch41 What culture? American consumerism? Worshiping the banks and the Federal Reserve as "Federal" as Federal Express as it shells out the Owebama bucks. America has no culture. A great book to read is "The European Dream". Right before I fled the USSA, I got to see another ignorant/uneducated American with his "Love it or Leave it" camouflaged hat. I left it and life is much better. America is a debt trap full of ghetto filthy criminal animals.

[BeatBuddy]

The man is rich according to what he can do without. ---Henry David Thoreau

[postformal]

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

-Fight Club

[UcanbeGOD]

The things you own end up owning you.

[arkmagix]

Imagine you wake up one morning to the thud of a large impact in your walls. You look outside to see what's going on and it comes - the shock-wave of a nuclear explosion.

Surviving the initial impact you get up to see the next wave - this time it's the heat and fire - it comes at you fast, engulfing everything behind it. You put your hands up and scream as it engulfs you and turns your whole body into flakes of ash.

We have become evil - pro-deviate, selfish, materialistic, slutty, people.

[UcanbeGOD]

I agree 100%. BUT don't harp on the slutty part too much. I like sluts. :)

[lukeastur]

i'm in new zealand and our minimum wage just went to $12/hr, our wages in new zealand but we are all still struggling just to pay our taxes and petrol and spiralling food costs. Things were easier when minimum wage was $9. The government is set to lose the election.

(New Zealand is 3000km east of Australia).

[madcatzy]

New Zealand is a very beautiful country! $12/hr is great! here we get about $7/hr before tax

[Kimiko1387]

Why is that everytime there's an issue with money, policy, etc. People say: blah blah blah things were changing and then the 80s happened like it was some kind of plague. I'm not being negative but I'm just saying there feels like some kind of trend going on there.

[moneymagnetelizabeth]

I have worked for two people mst of my life, the agency and myself. And the people that have the macmansions or higher salaries are the very few. They live in a bubble. As I go from job to job, industry to industry, my position is to help the companies move, or shut down. And, I do see the higher paid workers left with allot of shock and debt. The macmansion error was created for construction money, banking manipulation and outright robbing people of their being able to make a living or retire.

[backdoorlemur]

Blaming it on the decline of the unions makes me suspicious of who pays the narrator's salary. She did get it right when she said Americans work longer hours and then spend it. No one puts a gun to anyone's head and says you have to live like they do in aspirational magazine ads from Ralph Lauren, D&G or Coach.

[cozzensclan]

Exactly right!! It's time for people to quit whining and blaming their problems on everyone else...then jump in the car and drive to the mall and waste $100 on stuff they don't need. Want an easy way to avoid money trouble? Don't buy what you don't NEED. Of course, that will never happen in the US because we are used to having whatever we want, whenever we want, no matter what.

[marauder242]

Or you can be like me....do your job well enough that they're willing to hire you back after 3 months of vacation.

[gsxsixtyone]

Live your life to enjoy it, not let what you own suck the life out of you. You make your own choices, just dont blame everyone else when your life sucks.

[marauder242]

Some of u guys are a bit smug. I agree that america 'socializes' employees to work tons, but people do it by choice. I'm originally from india, was quite poor growing up in the states, now I make over 150k/yr, pay my taxes, and take 3 months of vacation a year to europe. The american dream is still alive. Don't believe the european hype. Scandanavia has the highest suidcide rates in the world. France has one of the highest unemp. rates in the West. US/AUS/CAN are still the best places to live.

[Tigerboy83]

On your 3 month vacation trips to Europe, have you ever thought of counselling these poor souls?

[psyop63b]

In today's competitive marketplace, here are your choices: 1.)put in those hours 2.)risk losing your job to someone who will. There's not a whole lot of "choice" involved.

[Thunderhouse2]

Oh yeah a nice "choice" you have: Either work and shut up, or loose your job to someone who does shut up, and die under a bridge of starvation (no social security pal).

You want to see some american dream? Go talk to the people dying in the ghettos, and all the people who can barely make it through the year with 3 jobs!! Increasing theyre debt at the bank just to pay thoses taxes.

But then, the US is the best country in the world for vicious-single-minded-slave-dr­iver-opportunists. *grin*

[jimmycrackcorn1983]

tehy choose because the idea of money is implanted in there heads from birth. i grew up on tv i dono what the fuck is going on nether do you. fuck this world its gone to shit time for change an ill be the man to do it.

[psyop63b]

"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. ... We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

[ferrous666]

i wasn't raised on television ads. i lived under a rock growing up and liked to watch anime all the time =).

[poop121]

So what is the solution to this problem? Governmental legislation or just personal awareness and responsibitity?

[5takhanov]

'Land of opportunity' sounds like a spin to mass migrate population to satisfy the labour demands of american industrialism. Did you know that there is propaganda called the 'Australia dream'? The Australian/American dreams are a perpetual marketing campaign to enrol people into the middle classes only to find 'bondage' in an industrialised world...suckers !

[alanhowitzer]

My grandma and others tried to form a union at Sears where she worked. Sears quickly put a stop to that.

[Farsay]

This is exactly what happened during the industrial revolution -- people were forced into the cities, and even though incomes went up, they hated it.

[crshanburn]

i hate work, my family and i literally work 18/7 everyday and it's very tiring.

[poop121]

where do you live?

[crshanburn]

believe it or not, in spring tx, of all places... eh

[poop121]

i feel for it dude

[crshanburn]

thanks i appreciate that

[BeatBuddy]

The wealth of a man is measured by what he can do without. ---Henry David Thoreau

[greyhoundfriend123]

Heard on NPR, Americans work longer hours than any other developed nation. Speaking as an American that wishes I could make enough money to live in France!

[moonrice555]

Yeah. It's ridiculous, but we are so obsessed with materialism. "I've got to own more crap because I'm consumed with what other people think of me." People in Denmark and Sweden are much happier---they pay higher taxes, but their lives are better. But our society is way to self-centered to ever switch to their ways. We don't care if other people have health insurance as long as OUR kids are covered.

[organfairy]

Maybe the taxes ARE the reason! Living in Denmark I can say that there is no point for me to earn more than I do. If I get a raise in income I will get into the high-income group. And they are "punished" with a high tax draw. So it's just not worth the trouble to earn more. But I must say that I envy the cheap cars in America.

[msungs]

@organfairy You need to read Atlas Shrugged. It is a whole fictional-book that tells the story of a society like the one you are living in and how people become less productive over time because the government hinders them from being more productive with taxes and regulations. You would like this book. I am in Germany and still need to finish it.

[jimbobanalbeats]

@msungs Ayn Rand was a sociopath.

[golddo]

hmmm.... almost makes me how my mom is a doctor and my dads a pilot... i... dont know why. :\

[jonathaneve]

An excellent video, gives us a real educated insight into american lifestyles. This sort of thing is becoming more and more common, and it's evident not just in the american economy but in the majority of all westernised society. People are no longer content with just existing comfortably, we are all now lusting after an overly luxurious lifestyle which we can't possibly hope to achieve. What are things going to be like in 20 yrs time?

[pootenburger]

Can you really claim that people didn't want to live better before the 1980's though? Hasn't the "American Dream" always been to better yourself? And how does one measure a change in the "American Dream" anyway?

[karoro1128]

Thought-provoking!!!!

[latinslav]

I calculated that to sustain my way of life as it is currently, I require about $29,000 a year. (That number includes the cost of good health insurance and taxes.)

[ckalbacher]

oh wow its just so weird I'm freaking out.

[Allflavorgurl]

Great vid.

[dannyiscool12]

yea good points. too bad affluenza isnt up on here.

[ITS370H55V3W]

thanks for posting this video.