consumerism

Consumerism is basically the equation of money (or the things money can buy you) with happiness and fulfillment. 

Consumerism is purposely driven by entities who want you to buy things.  Advertisement campaigns (by definition) do their best to influence people with the intent of creating and/or strengthening desire to buy more 'stuff'.  

In practice, humans are frequently capable of surviving (and even thriving) without succumbing to consumer traps.  This involves thinking for oneself, analyzing the actual value of an object (or service) as relative to one's own wants, needs, and personal beliefs.  

This is not always as easy as it sounds, because everybody seems to want a piece of you (or, more precisely, your money).  As members of modern society, we are constantly bombarded by communicatons designed to sway our desires in a particular direction. 

Consumerism is actualized when someone buys something for any reason other than actually wanting or needing it.   This creates waste of resources, and adds power to those who would manipulate your mind for their own gain. 

People with this Idea

	Title	Author	%	Category	Thoughts
	Buy antiques in the Midwest and sell them on the coast.	Agent Pugsly		Belief	Idea Group:  Consumerism Idea Category:  Belief In the midwest heirloom class furnititure is somewhat more common than it is on the West coast.  Sometimes this stuff shows up in auctions and rummage sales.  Many places in the midwest will have rummage sale days for an entire town or area.  These are exceptionally good times for hunting out high quality antiques.   Antiques are usually very bulky items so it would probably be best to ensure item sale before shipment.  This may mean that a storage unit needs to be had somewhere centerally located in the midwest for agents to hold purchased goods unti they are ready for mass long-distance transit.
	Exotic Cigarettes	Agent Pugsly		Belief	Idea Group:  Consumerism Idea Category:  Belief "Premium, hand rolled, exotic, blah blah" cigarettes in a glossy pack.  Each in an individual compartment.  Marketed as a premium object.  Target college kids on vacation and in magor dance club strips.