the unseen cost of consumerism

The cost of consumerism is more than just the money wasted on unnecessary gadgets, trinkets, and toys. Perhaps the most egregious cost to bear is the misplaced capital, research, engineering, and production that would otherwise be dedicated to more meaningful products. By consuming "junk" we are signaling to manufacturers (both domestically and abroad) to allocate their production capacity as well as research and development to items of questionable value. For every widget that is conceived, produced, and purchased for consumption, valuable resources were expended that otherwise could have been directed to more meaningful endeavors. Initially this shift in resources may seem benign until one considers the absolute cost of such waste. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars are spent annually on products that provide little to no lasting value, are destined for a landfill, and are frequently toxic.
In addition to the misapplication of production capacity there are additional costs as well. Money aside, the hours and mind power spent accomplishing something of little enduring value has to be acknowledged and accounted for. This energy if redirected and focused on some worthy (I'll let you decide what that might be) cause would pay enormous dividends to current and future generations. What if a significant number of television viewers decided to volunteer their time towards a social cause for just an hour a week? How many man hours would that tally to? At some point in history the quest improve life reached an inflection point shifting from a positive reduction in labor and time to what we have today where even the poorest (at least in the United States) will fritter away valuable time on useless gadgets, games, and television programming. At no other point in recorded history have we had the ability to waste the way we do presently. Perhaps some of it stems from ignorance or even apathy; either way the fact remains that millions of people starve to death each year while the developed world throws away cheap toys from fast food kids meals. No mentally healthy human being would allow another human to die in exchange for a (insert useless item here) yet that is precisely what we are doing. Just today I received a request from World Vision asking for as little as $27 to provide medicine for children who will likely die without it. What have you spent $27 or more on in the last week that had the potential to so profoundly impact a life?

We have the capacity to eliminate much of the suffering throughout the world by simply reallocating how we direct our resources. What's wrong with us?

-Joe

How to pay for health care

It appears to be fashionable these days to complain about the status and cost of health care in America. At the risk of being labeled an apologist for the insurance industry (yes I despise them too, but I'll save that for a future post) a few inconsistencies struck me as odd. Primarily, I'd like to know how it is that people are unable afford health insurance yet are able to afford some or all of the following items:

• cell phones
• large screen televisions
  
• cable television (the big screen just isn't cool without digital cable)
  
• high speed internet access
  
• multiple vehicles
• fast food
  
• iPods
• computers
• cigarettes
  
• alcohol
• soda
• candy
• movies
• home theater systems
  
• vacations
• gym memberships
• video games

Granted, the list isn't exhaustive and a few of the items could be considered necessary; it doesn't really matter. The issue is that many people who can't afford insurance somehow find ways to get the other junk they want. Additionally, and I'll probably come off as an insensitive jerk for saying this but if you drink, smoke, eat, or otherwise abuse your body for decades and end up diseased as a result, it's your own fault. The cost of care should have been considered long before you ended up talking with the doctors. It makes me wonder how much we spend annually treating entirely preventable diseases of lifestyle?
Is it really a mystery that people who eat nutritionally deficient food, stare at a television for hours each day, and get little to no physical exertion end up sick?
Clearly health care needs to be reformed, (although it's laughable to think that a bureaucratic albatross like our federal government is going to come up with a cheaper and more efficient system than we currently have) is it too Polly-Anna to believe we would collectively save more money and be healthier by simply changing our own habits first?

It' s easy to complain about the cost of insurance, but much harder (and more effective) to change our own behavior.

-Joe