[shoo]

i'll go out on a limb and suggest that most things that consumers buy are things that they don't need to buy -- at least in my part of town.

i wonder how much of the world's economy is geared to providing consumers with things that they don't need? (this easily covers fashion + cars + travel + the latest gadgets + a lot of food)

i wonder how much of the world's economy is B2B style businesses geared towards assisting companies provide consumers with things they don't need? perhaps a fair bit?

i think one can argue that advertising makes "the economy" more efficient, perhaps.

one still has to answer the question of "is the economy a good thing?" -- i.e. efficiency in itself is not obviously a positive attribute - it isn't good to find increasingly efficient ways to carry out something that is a terrible idea.

it isn't obvious to me that the economy we find ourselves stuck inside is a particularly good thing (it doesn't seem particularly good at dealing with the problems that it causes).