Excerpt from Term Paper:

...... Some are beginning to question, just like Galbraith, if creating wants through the market is really leading to greater well-being. In 1989, the average American consumed twice as much as in 1969, while the average worker labored 160 more hours, the equivalent of an extra month of full-time employment. The expectation that productivity increases would eventually translate into greater leisure clearly hasnt materialized. Communities are more fragmented and status has intensified instead of decreasing. And, unnecessary consumption with low or zero marginal utility is straining our natural resource.[9]
In summary, as we have seen, Galbraiths Dependence Effect theory doesnt seem as silly as supporters of Keynes seem to believe. Large power monopolistic competitors need to sell large volumes of differentiated products and spend a lot of money on sales and advertising to do so. They have a ready audience that, thanks to credit card companies, dont even need to be able to afford the promises they are offered. They get into debt in exchange for questionable, if not zero, utility of goods they just dont need. As they do so, their social well being declines
Bibliography


Advertising. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising
Bennet, Jessica. Spend Cycle. Newsweek 8 Aug. 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14251360/site/newsweek/

Galbraith,

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