Summary Of Our Wealth Where Is It Taking Us By Henry Veldboom

Wealth can be defined as a surplus. This surplus is distributed among a society. The distribution creates associations among the people of the society with respect to wealth. The Gospel of Wealth, written by Andrew Carnegie, describes two classes and the association of wealth between them. Adam Smith’s passage, Of the Natural Progress of Opulence, similarly, includes a reciprocal relationship of production between the town and country. Unlike the other essays, Marx’s, Communist Manifesto, debunks the separation of classes and urges equal distribution of wealth and, The Position of Poverty, Galbraith’s composition, emphasizes the importance of wealth in the public sector to abolish poverty. The essays all have a common structure of the distribution of wealth and include some insight on how to maintain the distribution or how to alter it so that it is more beneficial to society. Carnegie, Smith, Marx, and Galbraith explain the distribution of wealth and it’s affects on society.

In our human culture, desire has always been prevalent in our lives, as humans always strive for that longing or want for something. William R. Leach takes the time to explain the type of desire that changed America's views on consumption in his novel Land of Desire. In Land of Desire, Leach conveys his main point that during the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, American society significantly transformed on a consumer basis. Leach believes that the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era gave birth to consumer capitalism. Consumer capitalism puts the advantage in the sellers hands rather than putting the advantage in the consumers hands, which has many negative affects for the people of America. Throughout the book, Leach has a negative view of consumer capitalism, but makes the point that the consumer capitalism we know today started in the early 1900s, and he discusses why it happened in the first place. Leach answers his two-fold argument of when and why consumer capitalism came to be by explaining the events that led up to the rise of this new consumer ideology, and explaining the people's desire for goods.

There are 195 countries and America has the biggest population of millionaires and billionaires in the world. But how do wealthy people affect our economy as well as our country? Wealth, which is the median net worth of a household in the United States varies by race, education, location and sometimes gender. The number of wealthier households is continually rising, especially with baby boomers hitting the highs of their careers.

“The new slavery is consumerism,” Bryant McGill once said. America has over gone many phases and forms of slavery through the course of history. Does this statement hold true in in the current state of America’s culture? Is this something that American’s should be concerned about? One can be altered in their way of thinking without fully understanding it. It’s the small voice that tells society that one must have more and more. The feeling that can never be fully satisfied until a new level of “want” is achieved. The fact that consumerism is overtaking family and values is concerning and should be properly evaluated. In order to completely understand this quote, one must dig deep into how and why America got this way. Due to many reasons, consumerism has caused American’s to become conformed to the media’s view of the American Dream.

The thought of being rich existed in most Americans’ minds before the Civil War, but trade happened slowly and people hand-made a majority of their goods. The tedious process of business meant less money circulated; wages were low and many people lived in poverty while having a full-time job. Those who had wealth had been born into a rich family or had inherited significant amount of land. Few people had turned themselves into someone notable at this point due to the fact that society did not support upward growth of the poor. This was a pivotal time; the business facet of the country beginning to grow and several people acquainting themselves with the industrial side of the country. America could have focused its efforts and people on farming

News, media, advertisements, and word of mouth can all affect how a person identifies with a brand. Douglas Rushkoff uses children and young people in his essay to explain that if they do not identify with a brand they may not buy it. He explains that marketers plan specific ways to get young people to buy their product like using techniques to get young shoppers to experience a “state of confusion and vulnerability” while shopping and turning that into their benefit. (386 Rushkoff) These techniques may work for a while but the battle begins as the children “develop defense mechanisms” which are then counteracted by the marketers. (386 Rushkoff) He then goes on to show that marketing companies even use anthropologists to study young people to develop better marketing techniques.

First off, marketing to children has become a favored way for companies to succeed in earning money. Since marketing to children has become an efficient way for companies to get children to buy their products, the income of the amount of money companies make from children has dramatically increased throughout the years. To illustrate, in ‘’Study Shows Fast Food Companies Aggressively Market to Kids, Minorities’’ to explain the amount of money marketers spend on marketing to children, Wartman states ‘’Indeed, the $4.2 billion dollars spent in 2009 on advertising by the fast food industry is working… 40 percent of parents report that their children ask to go to McDonald’s at least once a week and 15 percent of preschoolers ask to go every day’’ (Wartman). In this quotation, it is clear that companies are wealthy, they spend an excessive amount of money only to provide advertisements. This technique of advertising works well since it is proven that children want to go to McDonald’s every day, that is because McDonald’s

The Second Law of Thermodynamics (also called the Law of Entropy) states that, generally, the universe moves from order and structure to a state of disorder. What we witness around is staggering complexity. Complexity has found its way into economics too. Eric Beinhocker, the author of “The Origin of Wealth”, estimates that in New York City alone, there are some 10 billion SKUs, or distinct commodities, being traded in a day. This is why, when an invention as simple as bitcoins was created, it made the economy uneasy. Over the past years, there has been an increase in interst in the cryptocurrency system by financial institutions and governments. However, their position is typically stated by “I like blockchain but not bitcoin.”

The media with the advertisements of good and cheap food, can influence a person 's way of thinking,of whether or not to go buy some groceries and cooked themselves. The commercials that come up every 10 minutes about Wendy’s giving out “free fries “ with a purchase of a salad can make someone get up from the sofa and go buy the special, to once again come back and sit in front of the Television and gain weight. “As the amount of media children consume continues to increase, so does children 's exposure to advertising and food marketing”(Jones, 2011). The children watch all the commercials and get hypnotized by the television’s encouraging deals and good food. For example, the McDonald’s happy meals, that bring toys along, children love that. The parents love seeing their child happy, taking them every weekend is one of those habits, that are hard to ignore in the future. Unlike the media, the judgment of children on other children can lead to a negative emotional response.

In 2006, the food industry alone spent more than $1.6 billion on marketing to the youth, $900 million on marketing aimed directly at children younger than the age of 12. (Harris & Graff, 2013). Every year Advertisers’ put their money on the line in support of their efforts of influencing innocent audiences. Is it acceptable for companies to advertise to children? No, because of not only what these companies advertise and promote, but also moreover, the way brainwashing products are forced into children’s heads sparks curiosity to the ethics behind these big-boy companies.

The average adult watches close to 1,500 hours of television each year; the average child watching just over 3 hours daily. This accumulates to the average child watching over 20,000 commercials each year (Singer 447). Fast food advertisers have also known children should be a separate, focused advertising market since the 1960?s and that often, the restaurant choice is made by the child, and then paid for by the adult (Singer 449). Because ?[children] lack the ability to differentiate between commercial and non-commercial content? they are vulnerable to the advertising of these companies (Lancet 2064). Moreover, by fast food chains convincing the youth worldwide that their food is the best tasting and the most fun to eat, they are creating a subconscious attraction to their company with the child. People that grew up with fast food advertising have a subconscious connection to the restaurant that they ate at as a child. This discreet bond also quickly penetrates children?s minds, and affects their decision to choose a meal.

In “Facts about marketing to children” it said “More than half of the children surveyed (53%) said that buying certain products make them feel better about themselves”. The average American child watches nearly 40,000 television ads a year. More than 10 percent of 12-13 have admitted they

Sociologists have looked at consumption theories primarily through adult relationships of production and consumption. By introducing children as consumers, it is opens up a wide range of areas to study their influence on consumer culture. It is evident through the child’s relationship with their parents, money, identity, and social relations that children have a crucial role in consumption patterns. New marketing and advertising techniques have been introduced accordingly, further emerging the child consumer and their influence on the economy. The child’s relationship with technological devices opens them up to a world of advertisements and marketing ploys made just for them. The idea of consumer culture and contemporary childhood agency have been interwoven and then becomes questioned whether it is benefitical to children or not. This develops concern in many parents as they feel as though they should be protecting their children from these influences. This paper will address the issue of children as ‘passive’ or ‘active’ consumers and whether their participation in consumerism is useful to them.

Children are the angelic offspring destined to grow up as strong characters to their society. It is an instinct to protect and guide them with the purest intent to lead them towards a better life and upbringing. Children are impressionable; they see the world around them, take everything in, and grow from their experiences to adulthood. When creatures of the dark are under their beds and in their closets, the older and wiser come bravely to face any sweater monster, or Furbie that starts talking to them from the toy box at obscene hours of the night. However, there is a darkness that snakes its way into even the lives of those brave adults, slipping under in disguises, passed every ‘Is-This-Safe?’ radar, and corrupting the habits, growth and learning of kids everywhere. Companies use a form of almost-mind control to trick customers of all ages into buying products. Marketing is hindering the world from utopian society because it uses children as middle-men to their families’ wallets and ruins their ideas of self-respect.

There is so much to talk about in this essay, so I will personally get straight into this paper starting with the mystery hidden worldviews that we all do not really take a look at that much.From the beginning they shed light on the fact that all people are consumers at one level. We were made by God to consume, to eat, to enjoy, to live. Healthy consumption should take one’s responsibility to others into account. This is not the case when consumption becomes an “-ism.” They state: “Consumerism absolutism consumption by believe that we can find fulfillment by accumulating wealth and everything that comes with it” This tendency is true in all facets of American culture. We desire “just a little bit more” of anything that we think will