America: A Materialistic Nation

America is seen as a very materialistic nation, from within and by other countries as well. People criticize us for being wasteful with our dollars. People complain about how much money is being spent on the Iraq War and wonder how we can even afford it with a national debt of over 8 trillion dollars. Is our behavior really so selfish and self-indulgent?

In 2004, the president of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs, announced that the top customer of the company's iTunes music store had spent $29,500. According to the John Locke Foundation, Americans spend more on Nike shoes, lipstick, and personal fitness trainers than on all local, state, and federal elections combined. According to the book, The Overspent American, twenty-seven percent of all households making more than $100,000 a year say they cannot afford to buy everything they really need. "Sport utility vehicles, laptop computers, digital cameras, electronic personal organizers, and cellular telephones all became necessities."(Wuthnow, 192) These are just a few examples of the American people's materialism. According to American Mythos, a national survey showed that 82 percent of Americans thought they were materialistic and 77 percent said they are self- indulgent.

What about spending in the government? More than one in ten families, and about 17% of all children, live in poverty in this country. However, spending on TANF is less than 1% of the total federal budget at $17.5 billion. The Iraq war has cost American taxpayers approximately 380 billion dollars. According to database.nationalpriorities.org, this amount of money could pay for 2,940,426 affordable housing units, 62,398,244 scholarships for university students, or 6,435,412 elementary school teachers.

The average income in America is about $70,000 according to USA Today: Money. A doctor in Iraq makes around $1,800 a year. In Liverpool, England, the average salary is $21,958. In Niger, a country in Africa, the average person makes less than $1 a day, amounting to about $350 a year. In Ethiopia, the average annual salary is $108. If one American decided to feed third world children instead of buying a $90,000 Ferrari, they could feed 100 children for 4.9 years. If an American decided to provide AIDS medication to developing countries instead of spending $50,000 on a diamond necklace, they could provide 100 people with life saving medication for 200 days. Food and medicine are necessities; sports cars and jewelry are not. It seems that the world is correct. America is the richest nation as well as the most wasteful with their dollars. "Terrorist attacks, a man from Portland wrote to an online chat room, were a way of saying 'you bloody yanks are greedy, selfish imbeciles.'"(Wuthnow, 194)

It seems some Americans are beginning to see the error of their ways however. Buddhism, a religion that focuses on simplicity, was considered "appealing" by 26 percent of Americans, according to American Mythos. The book also mentions that in 1999, 69 percent of the public thought materialism had become a "serious" problem. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor figures show that the average household spends $2,235 a year on eating out and a book called Affluenza says we spend more annually on shoes, jewelry, and watches than we do on higher education. "In short, we seem to place high value on material goods at the same time that we worry about being overly materialistic." (Wuthnow, 200)

So if Americans can see how negative their materialistic behavior is, why don't they do anything about it? The media puts a lot of pressure on us to buy their products. Even if at first you say "well I am not going to buy Jimmy that toy," eventually you probably will. Jimmy will see a commercial for that toy 22 times a day and will ask you to buy it for him every time he sees the commercial. Most parents would cave after this annoying behavior. Other people influence us as well, so even if you might want to stop being so materialistic, your friends and family might not. Say there is a new product that gets rid of your wrinkles. Your mom tries it and she tells you how great it works. You tell her you can live with a few wrinkles. But then your aunt tells you how great it works, and then your best friend. You start to wonder why you should have wrinkles if you can spend $49.99 to get rid of them. I think if more Americans were able to ignore the media and other influences, they would be able to make their own decisions on what they need and don't need. They would see that many of the things we use and buy are unnecessary. They may decide to save their money for their children's college education, or make a monthly commitment to donating money to the World Wildlife Fund or 'adopt' a third world child. If all the Americans who indulge in expensive cars, jewelry, and houses chose to spend some of their money on others, the world would be a much better place. America wants to be seen as a country that helps others, but we have to do something as a whole to get countries to see us that way.