I was listening to NPR yesterday. You know, the taxpayer funded radio network that makes conservatives foam at the mouth because they can’t shut it up without an act of congress? I don’t know about everyone else, but I have noticed an overall dissatisfaction and thus depression amongst my fellow humans that I had figured was just a sign of the times. I mean, recession, war, and the such being so prevalent in our every conscious moments thanks to the media. Then this author starts throwing out statistics and theories on our entire culture being an environment where each and every one of us is leading a deficit existence. That’s where we are bombarded with advertisements that state we will not be safe or better or perfect or happy unless we own this or that. Of course very few of us can afford this or that so we run up huge credit card debt (about 8 grand each on the average) and mortgage our lives for material things that will never satisfy us. We are not only living in an economic deficit but also an emotional one. This is nothing new. I think quite a few of us have understood the pitfalls of a total consumer based culture. Maybe we are just pushed a little more over the edge. It’s great for the pharmaceutical industry. Behavior modification drugs abound. …Just another thing to mull around.