On the more-than-just-me front, it isn't only the rich keeping "us" down. It's many of "us" being unquestioning lovers of spending money. Advertising works in at least the general sense of spreading a sense of "needing something" whether it's from the grocery store, the mall, a telecom company, a car dealership, or an airline.
IT's been said by someone wiser then me, concerning the problem of debt in the US (and the self imposed economic slavery that it brings to it's victoms) that too many young people want tohave right now all the nice things thier parents speant a life time earning. So the people go into debt, and before you know it, most of thier income isn't going to building a secure financial future, but instead is being used to pay off interest.
If more people would realize that you don't
NEED: a computer made in the last several years, cable or for that matter a television, new furniture, a new vehicle, an Xbox/PS2-3/console system, alcohol, cigarettes, etc, then there would be far less poverty. I'm not saying it would cure all of our poverty ills, but I know it would cure a lot of them.
When I lived in Mobile Alabama I speant a lot of my times in some of the most gang filled, drug infested streets in the south. I noticed that many of the homes that would be lacking glass for their windows, working front doors, and that would be falling apart in general, would often have a big television and a modern game system. It was truely sad.
I personally don't buy into the whole "corperate capitolism is keeping us down" trend. The reason why (and my brother, whom you know as Teancum, can attest to this) is that for many years our family struggled to get by. Times were hard, and my dad worked two jobs to try to make ends meet. After years of hard work, we were blessed with the oppertunity to get out, and are now doing fairly well. If we can do it, others can also.
