Quote:
Originally Posted by truckncycle
I do agree that our consumer culture is excessive. Who really needs a 4500 square foot house for a family of four?
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I don't even know that "excessive" is the right word. I have nothing against luxury, you understand, to say nothing of showering regularly. But where's the luxury in that 4500 sq ft house, when it's on a 10,000 sq ft lot with the neighboring houses so close that you could spit in their windows? The same money (or often less) spent on smaller house on a bigger lot will often be more pleasant to live in, as well as not using as much energy - and having lower mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and so on. If you ask me, one of life's greatest luxuries is not having to worry about how I'm going to pay the bills at the end of the month.
This vaunted lifestyle reminds me of nothing so much as the buildings in old western mining towns: a street of pretentious false fronts tacked on to lean-to shacks. The McMansion hides the monthly scramble to meet the mortgage, the Hummer compensates for other insecurities, people spend their free time shopping for things they never need or use, because they can't think of anything more interesting to do.