Affluenza

IM BAAAACCCKKK Wow so much going on sorry I haven't posted but I intend to reconnect. Busy working out 1-2 hours daily at the exclusion of all else aside from my voice work which is busy as well- and raising my children and shuffling them around to dance and plays and Destination Imagination and basketball and...well you get the drift. I dug up this gem and may have posted it some time ago but felt it was worth another look- it's from 2000 and the statistics are even more of a chasm now. It is about the now named condition of "Affluenza"--- with more and more studies coming out now from college kids who don't know how to handle lifes normal "problems" or bumps in the road due to the proverbial silver spoons in their mouth, to the married couple who needs a Shalom Home counselor to help show them how to "be a family" with their kids. The Native Americans saw this affliction very early on in the Europeans early materialism. Imagine what they must think now. Simplicity a thing of the past to such a point that many that are lacking joy are now CHOOSING it consciously. What a concept. Yet the chasm of have and have not's grows. 400,000 dead in Darfur. 2.2 million displaced while the world looks the other way. Jangaweed fueled by Saudi Arabia money to rid Africa of colored and the poor. We said never again about Holocaust and yet again it unfolds before our eyes. The compassionate feel helpless. The powerful not doing enough. And materialism grows- for no apparent reason as it is a pursuit of a "false" happiness. Love is where happiness comes from. Memories. Quality time with loved ones. Nature and it's beauty. A sunset. Finding the Big Dipper. You get the drift. More later- Jill



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.




1. Which of the following is comparable to the size of a typical three-car garage?
a. a basketball court
b. a McDonald's restaurant
c. an "RV" (recreational vehicle)
d. the average home in the 1950s.
Answer: d. Many of today's three-car garages occupy 900 square feet, just about the average size of an entire home in the 1950s. Many people use the extra garage space to store things they own and seldom use. Often we hear that Americans have lost ground economically and have less purchasing power. But Americans are buying more luxurious items, partly by working more and going deeply into debt. The homes they live in and the cars they drive today are often bigger and more technologically advanced than those purchased by their parents.
2. The percentage of Americans calling themselves "very happy" reached its highest point in what year?
a. 1957
b. 1967
c. 1977
d. 1987
Answer: a. The number of "very happy" people peaked in 1957, and has remained fairly stable or declined ever since. Even though we consume twice as much as we did in the 1950s, people were just as happy when they had less.
3. How much of an average American's lifetime will be spent (on average) watching television commercials?
a. 6 months
b. 3 months
c. 1 year
d. 1.5 years
Answer: c. In contrast, Americans on average spend only 40 minutes a week playing with their children, and members of working couples talk with one another on average only 12 minutes a day. (I remember being shocked by this. We do that amount DAILY! And we schedule "Family time" which kids' friends are fascinated
by)
4. True or false? Americans carry $1 billion in personal debt, not including real estate and mortgages.
Answer: False. Americans carry $1 trillion in personal debt, approximately $4,000 for every man, woman and child, not including real estate and mortgages. On average, Americans save only 4 percent of their income, in contrast to the Japanese, who save an average of 16 percent.
5. Which activity did more Americans do in 1996?
a. graduate from college
b. declare bankruptcy
Answer: b. In 1996, more than 1 million Americans declared bankruptcy, three times as many as in 1986. Americans have more than 1 billion credit cards, and less than one-third of credit card holders pay off their balances each month.
6. In the industrialized world, where is the U.S. ranked in terms of its income equality between the rich and the poor? (First being the most income-equal.)
a. 1st
b. 5th
c. 12th
d. 22nd
Answer: d. The income disparity between the rich and the poor is greatest in the United States.
7. The world's 358 billionaires together possess as much money as the poorest _____ of the world's population?
a. 15 percent
b. 30 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 10 percent
Answer: c. Nearly 50 percent. The world's 358 billionaires' combined assets roughly equal the assets of the world's poorest 2.5 billion people.
8. Since 1950, Americans alone have used more resources than:
a. everyone who ever lived before them
b. the combined Third World populations
c. the Romans at the height of the Roman Empire
d. all of the above
Answer: All of the above. Since 1950, Americans alone have used more resources than everyone who ever lived before them. Each American individual uses up 20 tons of basic raw materials annually. Americans throw away 7 million cars a year, 2 million plastic bottles an hour and enough aluminum cans annually to make six thousand DC-10 airplanes.
9. Americans' total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to:
a. wrap around the Earth six times
b. reach half-way to the moon
c. connect the North and South Poles
d. build a bridge between North America and China
Answer: a. and b. Even though Americans comprise only five percent of the world's population, in 1996 we used nearly a third of its resources and produced almost half of its hazardous waste. The average North American consumes five times as much as an average Mexican, 10 times as much as an average Chinese and 30 times as much as the average person in India.
10. Which president feared that untamed American capitalism might create a corrupt civilization?
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Ronald Reagan
c. Theodore Roosevelt
d. Abraham Lincoln
Answer: c. President Theodore Roosevelt feared that allowing American capitalism to develop unleashed would eventually create a corrupt civilization. He was a strong proponent of simple living.
11. Which economic indicator counts pollution three times as a sign of a growing economy?
a. the GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
b. the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator)
Answer: a. The GDP counts pollution three times: first when it is made, second when it is cleaned up and third when health-care professionals treat pollution-related health problems. An organization called Redefining Progress developed an alternative economic progress measurement, the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator). GPI takes into account 24 aspects of economic life that the standard GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ignores. The GPI adds value for such activities as housework and volunteerism, and subtracts for the costs of such problems as crime, car accidents and family breakdown.
12. Of the Americans who voluntarily cut back their consumption, what percent said (in 1995) that they are happier as a result?
a. 29 percent
b. 42 percent
c. 67 percent
d. 86 percent
Answer: d. Eighty-six percent of Americans who voluntarily cut back their consumption feel happier as a result. Only 9 percent said they were less happy. In 1996, 5 percent of the "baby boom" generation reported practicing a strong form of voluntary simplicity. By the year 2000, some predict this number will rise to 15 percent.