Analysis Of Galbraith's On Dumpster Diving

The mentality that carries Americans today could only be described as a plague that seems to be spreading more and more every year. It started out as the simple American dream, which was to live within your means and prosper in your very own way. However, as the years have gone by many people have been subject to greed and the need to stay with the times, owning all of the new technology, clothes, and other consumer items that are on the market today. Lars Eighner, author of the piece "On Dumpster Diving", couldn't have said more perfectly when he said, "Between us are the rat race millions who have confounded their selves with the objects they grasp and who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not what. I am sorry for
John Kenneth Galbraith, author of The Dependence Effect, puts it best when he says, "One man's consumption becomes his neighbor's wish. This already means that the process by which wants are satisfied are created. The more wants that are satisfied, the more new ones are born." (Galbraith) We can infer from this statement by Galbraith just how convoluted and endless this cycle may seem. Its hard to deny the fact that this might be attested to human nature in general, however we must recognize the factor that advertising may play in this new ideal. As Galbraith go's on to point out, "In 1987, total advertising expenditure- though, as noted, not all of it may be attached to the synthesis of wants- amounted to approximately one hundred and ten billion dollars. The increase in previous years was by an estimated six billion dollars a year. Obviously, such outlays must be integrated with the theory of consumer demand. They are too big to be ignored." (Galbraith) Galbraith go's on to further clarify his point by saying, "It recognizes that production, not only passively through emulation, but actively through advertising and related activities, creates the wants it seeks to satisfy". (Galbraith) We can clearly see here that the wants of many Americans may have been created through advertisement
The first one being able to recognize what we need versus what we want, if we are able to distinguish between the two then we may begin to see useless spending and stop it dead in its tracks. Next, we must find alternate ways to fulfill our needs that doesn't include our wallets. This can come from being around friends, exercising, or any other activity that can suit your needs that doesn't involve you spending money. As stated before, money is the most useful commodity in America and to be spending it on things we dont need or just to cope with our lives is a waste. If you have ever read Fahrenheit 451, you might remember a scene in the book where Guy Montag's wife asks her husband for the possibility of owning and installing a fourth large screen TV into the living area. I'm sure as we were all reading this we were thinking to ourselves, "Who could possibly need 4 TV's? Let alone 3." Well, after the evidence thats been presented, its not to far off from reality to imagine in 50 years our children justifying these types of actions. Thats truly a frightening