[hirako2000]

He and his family certainly would if all they can afford to make it a special weekend is plastic crap from the dollar shop.

The real concern isn't that consumerism is threaten, as you seem to indicate that could be a good thing in fact.

I consider the U.S slowly becoming 19th century China.

I would like to remain positive but it might even be worse.

Globalisation, the U.S economy has been relying on developing countries to provide raw and finished produce. Not only de-industrialized, the population suffers from some superiority complex that makes it even hard to accept it may have to learn how to work and make stuff. Betting on AI to solve the universe, a migration to Mars.

Orders of magnitude more potent Pharmaceuticals. fantanyl is a hundred times more potent than Opium, a hundred times cheaper, and far easier to smuggle and conceal.

The U.S got to wake up, not just reconsider its consumerism culture.