Interesting Neal Wood excerpt

"  The United States is an inegalitarian class society generating a horrifying environment of crime and violence. Much of this seems to have resulted from advanced capitalism’s ever expanding tyranny over our thoughts and activities. Capitalism appeals to and unleashes what used to be called the ‘baser impulses’ of humankind. Today, these baser impulses have been legitimized, are exalted, even eulogized, and promoted by every conceivable means at the disposal of the agents of capitalism’s unregenerate tyranny. The emphasis, often ingeniously designed to avoid offending the squeamish, is invariably on the self, on enhancing the pleasure of the individual in the endless chase after money and possessions. No wonder a recent book by Marc Lewis,Sin to Win, should be doing so well in America. As reported in the Financial Times of 18 February 2002, Lewis maintains that ‘self-interest is eternal— everybody always wants more’. He is of the opinion that ‘vice is essential to success and no one should feel guilty about it. Coveting stops you being complacent.’ Shades of Mandeville!1
The Culture of Consumerism The disease of consumerism has swept through capitalist America, impelled by advertising, the din of the mass media, the ease of borrowing. We are forever being urged to spend and spend, to buy and buy, to invest and invest...." Neal Wood obituary