It is said that the United States has become a nation of consumers.
When our economy was doing well in the 1980's, 1990's and even into the middle 2000's before the "great recession", we Americans consumed. Depending on the item, we consumed like locusts devouring almost anything we wanted almost to the point of becoming gorged.
The problem with that kind of consuming is that you eventually run out of stuff to consume and or you are paying too high a price to get what you want to consume. At some point the consuming must stop or you will burst. How many times have we gone to a one-price buffet only to find out on trip number five to the bar that our eyes have been much larger than our stomachs. That's probably why the ancient Romans came up with the (in my opinion) twisted idea of "vomitoriums" where you could "relieve" yourself and continue gorging. That's far from healthy either. Like it or not we may come back to this aspect later.
But I'm not here to discuss food. I want to discuss life and how we are supposed to live it. When we consume, we're not necessarily committed to the product or service that we are consuming. I'll explain in a little bit.