What are the consequences for our everyday definitions of success of the following quote from Veblen: "Purposeful effort comes to mean, primarily, effort directed to or resulting in a more creditable showing of accumulated wealth"
Conspicuous spending was one of the major topics that Veblen focused on in his book, "Wealth of the Leisure class." This quote epitomizes his main overall theme in which, people today are simply preoccupied with one upping the next individual. For many people life has simply become a struggle to ensure that they are better than their neighbor. Accessibly of credit fuels the concept of conspicuous spending. Many people were unable to earn enough to accommodate all their "needs" so in order to facilitate the high demands credit became available with the idea that you could get what you want today and worry about it later. However, there are heavy consequences to this type of mentality.
Credit has the ability to destroy families if not handled responsibly. In a time where numerous people every day file for bankruptcy, while numerous companies are making millions trying to help people eliminate high mountains of debt. It becomes easy to see just how easy it is for the accumulation of wealth to get out of hand. People no longer care to spend money on things that they need, but they care alot more on getting things that would look good for the guests. Another major consequence of the consumer mentality is the loss of personal value. People no longer judge their worth by the relevance of their work, but more by how much money they make, and what they can buy to show it. That is part of the reason that even though the United States is one of the wealthiest countries int he world it is also one of the most depressed.
