I'm sorry to break it to you, but American Capitalism is unsustainable. Deep down, I know you already know this.
How do I know you know?
Because what Utopia does American Capitalism offer?
iPhones and fancy cars and flat screen TVs and private jets and personal trainers, dieticians, therapists, interior decorators, and gardeners.
It is ever-increasing population consuming an ever-increasing amount of resources.
Isn't that what American Capitalism tells us to strive for? Isn't that what all of our economic metrics measure? More junk for us and our kids--that's progress. That's a higher standard of living.
How is our tiny planet Earth going to survive this?
Do the problems of illness, poverty, crime, homelessness, depression, and hunger exist because everyone doesn't have enough material possessions? What about racism and homophobia? Does American Capitalism solve these ills? Is it because everyone doesn't have a high-def TV in their 5,000 sq foot house? Or lack of health care?
What is it we're working for? What is it you're working for?
Perhaps the problems isn't we're not working, but we're working too much. What's the point of technological advances if I still have to work 40 hours a week?
And remember, for 99.99% of Homo Sapiens’s existence on this planet we had none of our modern day "improvements".
This post is more of a question, though it lays out a simple, undeniable, concrete fact. American Capitalism--our lifestyle, our American Dream--is unsustainable. It is a fundamentally flawed dream to work towards.
So what are we going to offer up to replace it?