Once upon a time there was an affluent society whose citizens were brought up to spend money. From six to 60 they bought new toys, played with them, threw them out, and bought newer toys. To them, plastic and polyester were the pigments with which they painted a civilization...

Times may be tough, but the giant corporations whose profit margins depend on compulsive consumption of non-essentials arent giving up so easily. In a decade where many people can no longer afford the sale-priced pleasures of the material possession dream, these corporations continue to melt down our natural resources into the most nonsensical of products. It was all much easier to take when everyone felt the need for new toys to give meaning to a consumer existence and had the credit cards necessary to acquire the toys. But if we skip lunch for a month or two and fudge our taxes, maybe we can still afford a toy from time tp time.