The culture of consumer spending

Too few of us realize what scientists call the


Growth creates new industries and generates the jobs needed to keep unemployment within reasonable limits.

The North American economy must grow by at least three per cent annually for that reason alone.

To achieve that goal, businesses and government, too, operate on the view that people can be programmed to have insatiable desires for goods and services, and along with that, ever-increasing expectations. Where does that lead? Author Thomas Homer-Dixon states that it entails