Parents need to learn to say "no"

"Unfortunately, I will not be able to purchase many of the toys that my sons have asked for; we simply don't have the money," wrote Todd Helmkamp of Hudson, Ind. "By bombarding them with advertisements ... you are placing parents like me in the unenviable position of having to tell our children that we can't afford the toys you promote."

- Excerpted from an article describing a letter-writing campaign

<sarcasm>I, of course, got absolutely every single thing that I ever wanted as a kid.</sarcasm>

An interesting book on Western consumerism is Consumed by Benjamin Barber, which is one book that I've been working my way through this year. It notes Bush's request post 9/11 for the people to continue to fill the shopping malls and spend money. It notes government complaints about people in certain countries saving too much money and failing to go into debt to purchase things. It goes through some of the campaigns to create desires which a product can then be purchased to satisfy. All in all an interesting book.