In an ideal word Capitalism is a great idea.

I am continually appalled at the vapid nature of people these days. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE stuff, I am a self proclaimed pack rat, border line hoarder. But I justify my inclination to enjoy the Things that are around me because I'm painfully sentimental and get physical stress at the idea of getting rid of something that invokes pleasant memories for me. As if I might no longer retain those memories faced with the absence of the item.

But while logged on s variety of social media locations I repeatedly find my self becoming annoyed by people's obsession with flash, label-love, and need to show off or brag-shame. Why does everyone feel the need to make a point of the fact that they have the biggest, the best, and the newest?  With that why and how have we become a culture that holds an expectation that they should be GIVEN those things? Why do people believe that they some how deserve something with out working for it?
Let's take a look at all these items that we are so obsessed with:

Clothing:

The obsession with brand names, Label drenched  handbags, designer shoes is nothing new. Designer brands have been around for nearly a century.  Our obsession with getting the newest design is what brought us from hand made dresses from "Ma' to department stores to begin with.
However what most people seem to fail to acknowledge is that more than 99% of the clothes that you hand over your hard earned money for,  were made in a third-world country, most likely by a worker under the age of 16 years old, making a weekly wage that is less than what you make in a HALF HOUR.

Cars:

That fancy whip every little girl is dreaming about getting at her overly extravagant sweet 16 birthday party is fueled by a resource that adds no less that 5 chemicals that could kill you by themselves, never mind what they are doing to our atmosphere or plants and animals around them.

Wedding - EVERYTHING

This seemingly "sacred' commitment that people enter into because they supposedly love each other has be come a $51 billion industry.

I am going to wait a second and let you register that.

Here let me help

that is $51,000,000,000

That is the cost of 12,000,000,000 iced peppermint mocha american blends from Starbucks. That is roughly what it would cost you to buy a coffee for EVERYONE in New England.

Here is the kicker when it comes to that number.

$25,500,000,000 is a complete waste of money considering right off the bat, 1/2 of all marriages in the United States end in divorce.

Houses

It isn't solely the fault of banks or investors that the housing market in the United States became ridiculously inflated and as a result completely collapse.  It was OURS. The obscene obsession to have houses that are bigger than needed, and cost more than one can legitimately afford, just to show off a status that they don't really have.

This is particularly horrifying when you take into account that on any given night in the United States  there are 610,042 people who are homeless.

How many empty bedrooms do you think there are across this country? I am willing to go out on a limb and say that there are more than 610,042.

I am not saying that it is wrong to enjoy items that you work hard to earn. I just want to see people take a moment to thing twice before they make a purchase, "Do I need this, is this REALLY going to make my life better, is it worth it?"