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“AFFLUENZA”: The Disease That Dare Not Speak Its Name! Terminal? Curable? Do You Have It?
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posted Saturday, 21 January 2006
“AFFLUENZA”:
The Disease That Dare
Not Speak Its Name!
Terminal? Curable?
Do You Have It?
Medical Alert!
An outbreak of Affluenza has been reported in our community!
DO YOU HAVE IT?
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/treat/flyer.pdf.
Affluenza Side-Effects:
1- Medical conditions, treated indefinitely, create residual corporate profits
2- Built-in obsolescence in automobiles, etc has similar affect
3- Changing clothing styles yearly does same for designers, clothiers
4- Cosmetics have expanded into the population half, formerly untouched – men
5- Double-sizing at McDonald’s & Burger King for fat people
Since 1950 Americans alone have used more resources than everybody, who has ever lived, did before them. Each of us uses up 20 tons of basic raw materials annually. Only a small fraction gets recycled. We are ruthlessly cutting down the world's forests, degrading our lands, destroying our climatic systems, all in a quest for money. We Americans throw away 7 million cars a year, 2 million plastic bottles every hour, enough aluminum cans annually to make 6,000 DC-10 airliners. Our total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to reach halfway to the moon. Our rivers and oceans are already filled with pollution. Increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases accelerate global warming. Affluenza, the disease of consumerism, is spreading around the world. It is critical that we, in North America, begin to alter our patterns of consumption and set a better example for the rest of the world of what the good life really is, or none of us are going to have a good life.
'Affluenza', TV Documentary
http://www.psybc.com/seminar_detail.php?sem_id=46
Seminar: I Shop, Therefore I Am: Understanding and Treating Compulsive Buying (Fall 2005)
[12 Credits]
Dates: Oct 10 - Oct 28,2005
Cost: $125.00
http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=1576753573&PG=1&Type=BL&PCS=BKP
Affluenza (2nd Ed.)
The All-Consuming Epidemic
by
John de Graaf
David Wann
Thomas H. Naylor
Price: $17.95
Overview
* Revised edition -- over 75,000 copies sold
* Updated throughout with startling new facts and material including the first-ever "Affluenza Fever Index" and a new foreword by Vicki Robin, author of Your Money Or Your Life
Affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, virally transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.
Based on two highly acclaimed PBS documentaries, Affluenza uses the whimsical metaphor of a disease to tackle a very serious subject: the damage done -- to our health, our families, our communities, and our environment -- by the obsessive quest for material gain that, since World War II, has been the principle of the American Dream. The authors show that problems like loneliness and rising debt, longer working hours and environmental pollution, family conflict and rampant commercialism are actually symptoms caused by a single "disease": Affluenza, the never-ending search for more.
Like any medical report, Affluenza begins by detailing the symptoms of the disease. Chapters on topics such as Swollen Expectations, A Rash of Bankruptcies, Shopping Fever, Chronic Congestion, and An Ache for Meaning detail the many serious and unexpected consequences of our society's compulsive desire to acquire.
Deepening their diagnosis, the authors explore the origins of Affluenza. What causes it? Where did it come from? Why has it only recently begun to spread, seemingly unchecked, through the entire world?
Thankfully, Affluenza can be cured. If it turns out you do have the bug -- the book includes a self-diagnosis test so you can find out -- authors detail a number of treatments that offer hope for recovery. The show readers how millions have already enriched their lives by getting rid of the excess baggage, the cultural clutter, and the exhausting race to keep up with the Joneses. Affluenza offers prescriptions that deliver greater value for the money, time, and energy spent each day; for augmenting individual efforts with political remedies; for inoculating ourselves against advertising; for using technology and inspired design to minimize the side-effects of over-consumption; and much more.
Engaging, fast-paced, and accessible, Affluenza takes a hard look at a complex and serious issue, revealing ways of living and working that make more sense and are, ultimately, more satisfying. After all, the best things in life aren't things.
Excerpts
In our view, the Affluenza epidemic is rooted in the obsessive, almost religious quest for economic expansion that has become the core principle of what is called "the American dream." It's rooted in the fact that our supreme measure of national progress is that quarterly ring of the cash register we call the Gross Domestic Product. It's rooted in the idea that every generation will be materially wealthier that its predecessor, and that somehow, each of us can pursue that single-minded end without damaging the countless other things we hold dear.
It doesn't work that way. The contention of this book is that if we don't being to reject our culture's incessant demands to "buy now," we will "pay later" in ways we can scarcely imagine. The bill is already coming due. At its most extreme, "Affluenza" threatens to exhaust the earth itself. "We human beings, especially in this century, have been producing and consuming at a rate that far exceeds the ability of the planet to absorb our pollution or replenish the stock," says corporate critic Jeremy Rifkin.
Even one of Rifkin's favorite targets agrees. The Earth can't withstand a systematic increase of material things," contends Robert Shapiro, CEO of the Monsanto Corporation. "If we grow by using more stuff, we'd better start looking for a new planet."
Reviews
Yes, yes, we all know money can't buy happiness, but thanks to this book, we now know in lots of fascinating detail the range of personal and social ills money is buying us. If "Affluenza" were just a source of personal misery, that would be bad enough. But this human disease is spreading to the natural world through over-consumption. The prognosis, if we do nothing, isn't good. Affluenza is the perfect spoonful of sugar to make the important medicine go down, redirecting ourselves to the joys of simpler, more frugal ways of living. Le haim! To life!
Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money Or Your Life
The material basis for the American way of life is not sustainable here and is not replicable elsewhere. Our feverish mindset is burning up the natural systems that support us. Affluenza provides a witty, informed roadmap out of this unfulfilling dead end, and describes sustainable alternatives that are stimulating, healthy, diverse, and fun.
* Denis Hayes, Chair, Earth Day Network
You'll laugh . . . You'll cheer . . . You'll growl. But you'll be challenged and moved by this book. Affluenza looks at our epidemic of over-consumption and shows how we can live simpler, more meaningful lives. It's a fantastic book, very funny yet deeply serious.
* Peter Barnes, Co-Founder, Working Assets
Using humor, facts and compelling stories, [this book] exposes the disease of over-consuming that threatens our health, families, budgets, friendships, communities and the environment I've been fighting to protect for most of my 88 years. But it doesn't stop there; it offers concrete ideas that can contribute to healthier, happier lives and a more-livable planet. I was mightily impressed by the film "Affluenza," but the book version digs even deeper to illuminate the epidemic that's eating America. You should read it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you might even change your life -- or extend it!
* David R. Brower, Chairman, Earth Island Institute, and Founder, Friends of the Earth
The way to end a nightmare is to wake up, and this book is an alarm clock.
* Paul Hawken, author of Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism
Affluenza should make us all realize that material possessions are never enough to satisfy spiritual hunger. The authors of Affluenza challenge us to think beyond the superficiality for individual economic demand to the deeper meaning of life.
* Bill Bradley, former United States Senator and Presidential Candidate
About The Author
John de Graaf has been writing and producing award-winning television programs for several decades. In addition to Affluenza and Escape From Affluenza, he also produced Running Out Of Time, For Earth's Sake: The Life And Times Of David Brower, Circle Of Plenty, Green Plans, and Genetic Time Bomb, among others.
David Wann left the Environmental Protection Agency four years ago to concentrate on producing articles, books, and videos about sustainable lifestyles. He is author of two books, Biologic: Designing With Nature To Protect The Environment and Deep Design: Pathways To A Livable Future.
Thomas H. Naylor is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University where he taught for thirty years. As an international strategic management consultant, he has advised governments and corporations in over thirty nations.
David Horsey is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist whose work appears regularly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and in national syndication.
Related Resources
Affluenza (The Book) The All-Consuming Epidemic
By John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor & David Horsey (Paperback)
Affluenza (VHS) A PBS Special
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (VHS Video)
Affluenza (DVD) A PBS Special
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (DVD Video)
Escape From Affluenza (VHS) Living Better On Less
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (VHS Video)
Escape From Affluenza (DVD) Living Better On Less
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (DVD Video)
The Affluenza Video Collection (VHS)
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (2 VHS Videos)
The Affluenza Video Collection (DVD)
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (2 DVD Videos)
http://www.simpleliving.net/resources/resource.asp?sku=BAFF
Definitions:
Ted Halstead is the founder and president of the New America Foundation and the co-author, with Michael Lind, of The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Halstead
GDP: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total value of final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a year. It is one of the measures of national income and output. It may be used as one indicator of the standard of living in a country, but there may be limitations with this view. GDP is often abbreviated as Y.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDP
GNP: Gross National Product (GNP) is the total value of final goods and services produced in a year by a country's nationals (including profits from capital held abroad).
GPI: The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is a concept in green economics and welfare economics that has been suggested as a replacement metric for gross domestic product (GDP) as a metric of economic growth. Unlike GDP it is claimed by its advocates to more reliably distinguish uneconomic growth - almost all advocates of a GDP would accept that some economic growth is very harmful:
A GPI is an attempt to measure whether or not a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the welfare (or well-being) of the people in the country. Accordingly for example, the GPI will be zero if the increases in dollar costs of crime and pollution equal the total dollar rise in production of goods and services, all other factors being constant. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Progress_Indicator
Leading Economic Indicators
Etc (Wikipedia)
As a first step toward improving our quality of life, economists could change the way they measure progress. Critics say the current yardstick, growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is severely flawed.
As the economy that Americans experience gets worse, the GDP often portrays it as better.
With a family going through divorce for example, first they have costly legal bills, then they establish two households instead of one so buying and spending goes up considerably, but meanwhile what you have is family breakdown.
The more we pay at the cost of Affluenza, the healthier the GDP says we are.
Every time a forest falls, the GNP goes up.
Every oil spill, the GNP goes up.
Every time a new cancer patient is diagnosed, the GNP goes up.
Ted Halstead and his colleagues have developed a different measurement of economic success: the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator). The GPI takes into account 24 aspects of our economic lives that the GDP ignores.
They start with the value of housework and volunteerism; we add for that.
We subtract things like the cost of crime, the cost of car accidents, the cost of family breakdown, resource depletion, ozone depletion, cost of air/water/noise pollution, loss of farmland, loss of wetlands.
While GDP continues to rise, the GPI has been falling since 1973. By this measure, the overall costs of increased economic activity are starting to outweigh the benefits. There is now a gnawing sense that we’re passing on a world of social, environmental and economic debt to our children.
“Affluenza TV Show”
Hicks: Distinguish "income" from "capital depletion"
Hicks (1946) pointed out that the practical purpose of calculating income is to indicate the maximum amount people can produce and consume without undermining their capacity to produce and consume the same amount in the future. From a national income perspective, it is necessary to answer the following question: ‘‘Can a nation’s entire GDP be consumed without undermining its ability to produce and consume the same GDP in the future?’’
Fisher: Distinguish "enjoyment of life" from "production of goods"
Fisher (1906) contended that "economic welfare depends on the psychic enjoyment of life," not just the production of goods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Progress_Indicator
Affluenza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Affluenza is a term used by critics of consumerism. It is a portmanteau word formed by the contraction of affluence and influenza. Sources define this term as follows:-
Affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf, 2002)
Affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. (PBS)
According to the 2005 Australian book titled Affluenza by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss, the term was popularized in the United States by the 1997 documentary of the same name from KCTS and Seattle and Oregon Public Broadcasting. John de Graaf, producer of the documentary, also co-authored a book with the same title.
Affluenza in America
The American middle class is often criticized for never being satisfied. People are constantly wanting new things and are never satisfied with what they have. Affluenza ties into the criticisms that there is a superabundance of popular culture and such.
Consumerism has been criticized by many groups in America ranging from the hippies of the 1960s to religious groups in the 1990s.
Affluenza is sinking into American popular culture. A 2002 Sheryl Crow song features the line "it's not having what you want. It's wanting what you've got." The latest Simpsons' Halloween Special notes Homer saying that animals in zoos are "bored, obese, and have lost their sense of meaning. The American dream."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza
Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.
http://www.affluenza.org/
Affluenza Test:
1 Are you a registered Republican?
2 Do you think George W. Bush is a great President?
3 Do you feel that tax laws unfairly discriminate against rich people?
4 Do you follow the stock & bond markets regularly?
5 Do you have your own broker?
6 Do you understand the meaning of “Capital Gains”?
7 Do you own a Jacuzzi?
8 Do you read the Wall Street Journal?
9 Do you ever spell Christmas “Xmas”?
10 Do you think of marriage as a tax advantage?
Testing Analysis:
If you answered 1 of the above “Yes”, you have been infected with Affluenza.
If you answered 2 of the above “Yes”, psychiatric help is essential.
If you answered 3 of the above “Yes”, forget about penicillin and go straight to chemotherapy.
If you answered 4 or more “Yes”, contact George W. Bush himself – he needs you in his cabinet.
Seriously, folks, if the rest of your life is worth $10 to you, check out the following. And remember that money doesn’t buy happiness. “Standard of Living” does not equal “Quality of Life” – There is a difference!
ISBN: 0140286780
www.alibris.com
www.amazon.com
www.yahoo.com
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
There's a big difference between "making a living" and making a life. Do you spend more than you earn? Does making a living feel more like making a dying? Do you dislike your job but can't afford to leave it? Is money fragmenting your time, your relationships with family and friends? If so, Your Money or Your Life is for you.
From this inspiring book, learn how to
* get out of debt and develop savings
* reorder material priorities and live well for less
* resolve inner conflicts between values and lifestyles
* convert problems into opportunities to learn new skills
* attain a wholeness of livelihood and lifestyle
* save the planet while saving money
* and much more
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Based on their West Coast self-help seminars, Dominguez and Robin here map a route to financial security through a relaxed, prudent and environmentally-friendly way of life. Systemically analyzing one's overspending, as in the case histories cited, and calculating the "life-energy" cost (time, expenses, stress) of a competitive career, the authors maintain, can lead to reduced occupational expectations and to surprisingly large economies effected by pre-pricing food, clothing, transportation, loan rates, heath care and so on. Resulting surpluses, invested in Treasury bonds, will yield compound income eventually covering the reduced expenses. This "crossover point" brings financial independence, according to the authors, and freedom to choose one's work for greater personal satisfaction and the "commonweal." Some readers may be put off by the finicky detail and intense tone of the course, but few will fail to find here new insight and encouragement.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
www.amazon.com
Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Paperback)
by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin
List Price: $15.00
Price: $10.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. See details
You Save: $4.80 (32%)
Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Want it delivered Tuesday, January 24? Order it in the next 8 hours and 11 minutes, and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. See details
83 used & new available from $5.70
Tabacco: This is another unsolicited testimonial - I am living proof that making money doesn't make happiness. If they paid me to advertize something I believe in, I'd take the money (SMILE).
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
The Disease That Dare
Not Speak Its Name!
Terminal? Curable?
Do You Have It?
Medical Alert!
An outbreak of Affluenza has been reported in our community!
DO YOU HAVE IT?
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/treat/flyer.pdf.
Affluenza Side-Effects:
1- Medical conditions, treated indefinitely, create residual corporate profits
2- Built-in obsolescence in automobiles, etc has similar affect
3- Changing clothing styles yearly does same for designers, clothiers
4- Cosmetics have expanded into the population half, formerly untouched – men
5- Double-sizing at McDonald’s & Burger King for fat people
Since 1950 Americans alone have used more resources than everybody, who has ever lived, did before them. Each of us uses up 20 tons of basic raw materials annually. Only a small fraction gets recycled. We are ruthlessly cutting down the world's forests, degrading our lands, destroying our climatic systems, all in a quest for money. We Americans throw away 7 million cars a year, 2 million plastic bottles every hour, enough aluminum cans annually to make 6,000 DC-10 airliners. Our total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to reach halfway to the moon. Our rivers and oceans are already filled with pollution. Increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases accelerate global warming. Affluenza, the disease of consumerism, is spreading around the world. It is critical that we, in North America, begin to alter our patterns of consumption and set a better example for the rest of the world of what the good life really is, or none of us are going to have a good life.
'Affluenza', TV Documentary
http://www.psybc.com/seminar_detail.php?sem_id=46
Seminar: I Shop, Therefore I Am: Understanding and Treating Compulsive Buying (Fall 2005)
[12 Credits]
Dates: Oct 10 - Oct 28,2005
Cost: $125.00
http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=1576753573&PG=1&Type=BL&PCS=BKP
Affluenza (2nd Ed.)
The All-Consuming Epidemic
by
John de Graaf
David Wann
Thomas H. Naylor
Price: $17.95
Overview
* Revised edition -- over 75,000 copies sold
* Updated throughout with startling new facts and material including the first-ever "Affluenza Fever Index" and a new foreword by Vicki Robin, author of Your Money Or Your Life
Affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, virally transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.
Based on two highly acclaimed PBS documentaries, Affluenza uses the whimsical metaphor of a disease to tackle a very serious subject: the damage done -- to our health, our families, our communities, and our environment -- by the obsessive quest for material gain that, since World War II, has been the principle of the American Dream. The authors show that problems like loneliness and rising debt, longer working hours and environmental pollution, family conflict and rampant commercialism are actually symptoms caused by a single "disease": Affluenza, the never-ending search for more.
Like any medical report, Affluenza begins by detailing the symptoms of the disease. Chapters on topics such as Swollen Expectations, A Rash of Bankruptcies, Shopping Fever, Chronic Congestion, and An Ache for Meaning detail the many serious and unexpected consequences of our society's compulsive desire to acquire.
Deepening their diagnosis, the authors explore the origins of Affluenza. What causes it? Where did it come from? Why has it only recently begun to spread, seemingly unchecked, through the entire world?
Thankfully, Affluenza can be cured. If it turns out you do have the bug -- the book includes a self-diagnosis test so you can find out -- authors detail a number of treatments that offer hope for recovery. The show readers how millions have already enriched their lives by getting rid of the excess baggage, the cultural clutter, and the exhausting race to keep up with the Joneses. Affluenza offers prescriptions that deliver greater value for the money, time, and energy spent each day; for augmenting individual efforts with political remedies; for inoculating ourselves against advertising; for using technology and inspired design to minimize the side-effects of over-consumption; and much more.
Engaging, fast-paced, and accessible, Affluenza takes a hard look at a complex and serious issue, revealing ways of living and working that make more sense and are, ultimately, more satisfying. After all, the best things in life aren't things.
Excerpts
In our view, the Affluenza epidemic is rooted in the obsessive, almost religious quest for economic expansion that has become the core principle of what is called "the American dream." It's rooted in the fact that our supreme measure of national progress is that quarterly ring of the cash register we call the Gross Domestic Product. It's rooted in the idea that every generation will be materially wealthier that its predecessor, and that somehow, each of us can pursue that single-minded end without damaging the countless other things we hold dear.
It doesn't work that way. The contention of this book is that if we don't being to reject our culture's incessant demands to "buy now," we will "pay later" in ways we can scarcely imagine. The bill is already coming due. At its most extreme, "Affluenza" threatens to exhaust the earth itself. "We human beings, especially in this century, have been producing and consuming at a rate that far exceeds the ability of the planet to absorb our pollution or replenish the stock," says corporate critic Jeremy Rifkin.
Even one of Rifkin's favorite targets agrees. The Earth can't withstand a systematic increase of material things," contends Robert Shapiro, CEO of the Monsanto Corporation. "If we grow by using more stuff, we'd better start looking for a new planet."
Reviews
Yes, yes, we all know money can't buy happiness, but thanks to this book, we now know in lots of fascinating detail the range of personal and social ills money is buying us. If "Affluenza" were just a source of personal misery, that would be bad enough. But this human disease is spreading to the natural world through over-consumption. The prognosis, if we do nothing, isn't good. Affluenza is the perfect spoonful of sugar to make the important medicine go down, redirecting ourselves to the joys of simpler, more frugal ways of living. Le haim! To life!
Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money Or Your Life
The material basis for the American way of life is not sustainable here and is not replicable elsewhere. Our feverish mindset is burning up the natural systems that support us. Affluenza provides a witty, informed roadmap out of this unfulfilling dead end, and describes sustainable alternatives that are stimulating, healthy, diverse, and fun.
* Denis Hayes, Chair, Earth Day Network
You'll laugh . . . You'll cheer . . . You'll growl. But you'll be challenged and moved by this book. Affluenza looks at our epidemic of over-consumption and shows how we can live simpler, more meaningful lives. It's a fantastic book, very funny yet deeply serious.
* Peter Barnes, Co-Founder, Working Assets
Using humor, facts and compelling stories, [this book] exposes the disease of over-consuming that threatens our health, families, budgets, friendships, communities and the environment I've been fighting to protect for most of my 88 years. But it doesn't stop there; it offers concrete ideas that can contribute to healthier, happier lives and a more-livable planet. I was mightily impressed by the film "Affluenza," but the book version digs even deeper to illuminate the epidemic that's eating America. You should read it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you might even change your life -- or extend it!
* David R. Brower, Chairman, Earth Island Institute, and Founder, Friends of the Earth
The way to end a nightmare is to wake up, and this book is an alarm clock.
* Paul Hawken, author of Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism
Affluenza should make us all realize that material possessions are never enough to satisfy spiritual hunger. The authors of Affluenza challenge us to think beyond the superficiality for individual economic demand to the deeper meaning of life.
* Bill Bradley, former United States Senator and Presidential Candidate
About The Author
John de Graaf has been writing and producing award-winning television programs for several decades. In addition to Affluenza and Escape From Affluenza, he also produced Running Out Of Time, For Earth's Sake: The Life And Times Of David Brower, Circle Of Plenty, Green Plans, and Genetic Time Bomb, among others.
David Wann left the Environmental Protection Agency four years ago to concentrate on producing articles, books, and videos about sustainable lifestyles. He is author of two books, Biologic: Designing With Nature To Protect The Environment and Deep Design: Pathways To A Livable Future.
Thomas H. Naylor is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University where he taught for thirty years. As an international strategic management consultant, he has advised governments and corporations in over thirty nations.
David Horsey is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist whose work appears regularly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and in national syndication.
Related Resources
Affluenza (The Book) The All-Consuming Epidemic
By John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor & David Horsey (Paperback)
Affluenza (VHS) A PBS Special
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (VHS Video)
Affluenza (DVD) A PBS Special
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (DVD Video)
Escape From Affluenza (VHS) Living Better On Less
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (VHS Video)
Escape From Affluenza (DVD) Living Better On Less
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (DVD Video)
The Affluenza Video Collection (VHS)
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (2 VHS Videos)
The Affluenza Video Collection (DVD)
By John de Graaf & Vivia Boe, Producers (2 DVD Videos)
http://www.simpleliving.net/resources/resource.asp?sku=BAFF
Definitions:
Ted Halstead is the founder and president of the New America Foundation and the co-author, with Michael Lind, of The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Halstead
GDP: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total value of final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a year. It is one of the measures of national income and output. It may be used as one indicator of the standard of living in a country, but there may be limitations with this view. GDP is often abbreviated as Y.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDP
GNP: Gross National Product (GNP) is the total value of final goods and services produced in a year by a country's nationals (including profits from capital held abroad).
GPI: The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is a concept in green economics and welfare economics that has been suggested as a replacement metric for gross domestic product (GDP) as a metric of economic growth. Unlike GDP it is claimed by its advocates to more reliably distinguish uneconomic growth - almost all advocates of a GDP would accept that some economic growth is very harmful:
A GPI is an attempt to measure whether or not a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the welfare (or well-being) of the people in the country. Accordingly for example, the GPI will be zero if the increases in dollar costs of crime and pollution equal the total dollar rise in production of goods and services, all other factors being constant. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Progress_Indicator
Leading Economic Indicators
Etc (Wikipedia)
As a first step toward improving our quality of life, economists could change the way they measure progress. Critics say the current yardstick, growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is severely flawed.
As the economy that Americans experience gets worse, the GDP often portrays it as better.
With a family going through divorce for example, first they have costly legal bills, then they establish two households instead of one so buying and spending goes up considerably, but meanwhile what you have is family breakdown.
The more we pay at the cost of Affluenza, the healthier the GDP says we are.
Every time a forest falls, the GNP goes up.
Every oil spill, the GNP goes up.
Every time a new cancer patient is diagnosed, the GNP goes up.
Ted Halstead and his colleagues have developed a different measurement of economic success: the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator). The GPI takes into account 24 aspects of our economic lives that the GDP ignores.
They start with the value of housework and volunteerism; we add for that.
We subtract things like the cost of crime, the cost of car accidents, the cost of family breakdown, resource depletion, ozone depletion, cost of air/water/noise pollution, loss of farmland, loss of wetlands.
While GDP continues to rise, the GPI has been falling since 1973. By this measure, the overall costs of increased economic activity are starting to outweigh the benefits. There is now a gnawing sense that we’re passing on a world of social, environmental and economic debt to our children.
“Affluenza TV Show”
Hicks: Distinguish "income" from "capital depletion"
Hicks (1946) pointed out that the practical purpose of calculating income is to indicate the maximum amount people can produce and consume without undermining their capacity to produce and consume the same amount in the future. From a national income perspective, it is necessary to answer the following question: ‘‘Can a nation’s entire GDP be consumed without undermining its ability to produce and consume the same GDP in the future?’’
Fisher: Distinguish "enjoyment of life" from "production of goods"
Fisher (1906) contended that "economic welfare depends on the psychic enjoyment of life," not just the production of goods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Progress_Indicator
Affluenza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Affluenza is a term used by critics of consumerism. It is a portmanteau word formed by the contraction of affluence and influenza. Sources define this term as follows:-
Affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf, 2002)
Affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. (PBS)
According to the 2005 Australian book titled Affluenza by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss, the term was popularized in the United States by the 1997 documentary of the same name from KCTS and Seattle and Oregon Public Broadcasting. John de Graaf, producer of the documentary, also co-authored a book with the same title.
Affluenza in America
The American middle class is often criticized for never being satisfied. People are constantly wanting new things and are never satisfied with what they have. Affluenza ties into the criticisms that there is a superabundance of popular culture and such.
Consumerism has been criticized by many groups in America ranging from the hippies of the 1960s to religious groups in the 1990s.
Affluenza is sinking into American popular culture. A 2002 Sheryl Crow song features the line "it's not having what you want. It's wanting what you've got." The latest Simpsons' Halloween Special notes Homer saying that animals in zoos are "bored, obese, and have lost their sense of meaning. The American dream."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza
Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.
http://www.affluenza.org/
Affluenza Test:
1 Are you a registered Republican?
2 Do you think George W. Bush is a great President?
3 Do you feel that tax laws unfairly discriminate against rich people?
4 Do you follow the stock & bond markets regularly?
5 Do you have your own broker?
6 Do you understand the meaning of “Capital Gains”?
7 Do you own a Jacuzzi?
8 Do you read the Wall Street Journal?
9 Do you ever spell Christmas “Xmas”?
10 Do you think of marriage as a tax advantage?
Testing Analysis:
If you answered 1 of the above “Yes”, you have been infected with Affluenza.
If you answered 2 of the above “Yes”, psychiatric help is essential.
If you answered 3 of the above “Yes”, forget about penicillin and go straight to chemotherapy.
If you answered 4 or more “Yes”, contact George W. Bush himself – he needs you in his cabinet.
Seriously, folks, if the rest of your life is worth $10 to you, check out the following. And remember that money doesn’t buy happiness. “Standard of Living” does not equal “Quality of Life” – There is a difference!
ISBN: 0140286780
www.alibris.com
www.amazon.com
www.yahoo.com
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
There's a big difference between "making a living" and making a life. Do you spend more than you earn? Does making a living feel more like making a dying? Do you dislike your job but can't afford to leave it? Is money fragmenting your time, your relationships with family and friends? If so, Your Money or Your Life is for you.
From this inspiring book, learn how to
* get out of debt and develop savings
* reorder material priorities and live well for less
* resolve inner conflicts between values and lifestyles
* convert problems into opportunities to learn new skills
* attain a wholeness of livelihood and lifestyle
* save the planet while saving money
* and much more
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Based on their West Coast self-help seminars, Dominguez and Robin here map a route to financial security through a relaxed, prudent and environmentally-friendly way of life. Systemically analyzing one's overspending, as in the case histories cited, and calculating the "life-energy" cost (time, expenses, stress) of a competitive career, the authors maintain, can lead to reduced occupational expectations and to surprisingly large economies effected by pre-pricing food, clothing, transportation, loan rates, heath care and so on. Resulting surpluses, invested in Treasury bonds, will yield compound income eventually covering the reduced expenses. This "crossover point" brings financial independence, according to the authors, and freedom to choose one's work for greater personal satisfaction and the "commonweal." Some readers may be put off by the finicky detail and intense tone of the course, but few will fail to find here new insight and encouragement.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
www.amazon.com
Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Paperback)
by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin
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Tabacco: This is another unsolicited testimonial - I am living proof that making money doesn't make happiness. If they paid me to advertize something I believe in, I'd take the money (SMILE).
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
comments (2)
1. Tabacco left...
Monday, 23 January 2006 7:50 pm :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/
'BUY NOTHING DAY' occurs annually the day after Thanksgiving in both the
USA and Canada. It is generally referred to as "Black Friday" and is one
of the biggest shopping days of the year in the USA.
2. Tabacco left...
Sunday, 29 January 2006 1:02 pm :: http://tabacco.blog-city.com/
Thoughts on Voluntary Simplicity