Comment: Consummerism is a good.

Dear Mr. Nystrom,
If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that“…the endless quest for growth that underpins our modern consumer society”, is bad. I’d like to suggest that growth is good. I for one would not want to return to the days of “Merry Olde England”; I prefer modern privies. The problem is not consumption nor consumerism. We all consume; even the beasts of the field consume. Consumption and its hand maiden "free" trade/barter has created a nation where the poorest is far better off than the most wealthy in “Merry Olde England”

The culprit is fiat money. When money is created out of thin air it loses its value and men soon lose the notion of their own value. Personal value then is not determined by our work and our savings, but by the manipulation of our credit. My father would never have been caught taking on debt in the recent housing boom. He knew how hard it was to make a buck.

Please, don’t condemn me for what is simply my nature—to want to improve my condition in life. Condemn rather those who teach me to be profligate. A child and a nation learn by example.