[bagacrap]

I don't think the point of consumerism is to separate humans from their wealth. You could do that easily and more effectively with many other organizational structures. Look at "communist" dictatorships, or feudalism, or isolated tribes that have no means of trade; their general population is very poor and shut out from what wealth the land generates or has the potential to generate.

The point of consumerism is to act as a motivator for the working class to keep working. Once you have that plentiful food and safe & warm hut, assuming that's all there is to aspire to, it would be very tempting to stay home from work on Fridays.

[homonculus1]

But... if you resist the temptation of shiny bullshit, we're so productive now that you could stay home from work on Fridays and the gears that provide that food and hut would keep turning. Why do people have to be motivated then? it just so happens that the excess of that extra work goes into someone's pocket.