[mattgreenrocks]

What if make-work and consumption are inextricably connected? Retail therapy, Internet, and TV act as a release valve offering easy rewards, while an ever-ascending-and-more-difficult ladder exists for the more ambitious.

Meanwhile, culture modifies itself to reward consumption ("buy the expensive [read:right] things!") and ambition ("become powerful so you can buy the shiny things!"). I do believe we need to be productive, of course.