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Keep in mind 95% of us in the US and Canada are the 1%, in global terms.
It goes against human nature to want less, or to find happiness with less. In fact, getting more for less is exactly our human nature. The problem isn't with the 1%, it's with our biology. Even if somehow the 1% were willing to forego "excess", there's nothing preventing the bottom 99% from wanting the excess that was given up by the 1%. When humans are presented with the opportunity to have more, we choose more.
There is nothing fundamentally different from the so-called 1% and anyone else, other than opportunity, good fortune, and perhaps increased competence (a component of good fortune).
We could curtail consumption greatly if we only followed the governance of places like Venezuela. Not something I'm interested in, as the point of life isn't to pass time, but to strive and to thrive.
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