America is happy in the sense they know happiness as an undisturbed regimen of toil, stress and commodity consumption

joe bageant's got a new essay up...

Shy of open insurrection, a nationwide refusal to pay income taxes would certainly shake things up. But broader America is happy in the sense they know happiness as an undisturbed regimen of toil, stress and commodity consumption. Despite the way it looks in the news, most Americans remain untouched by foreclosure, bankruptcy and unemployment. So risking loss of their work-buy-sleep cycle in an insurrection looks to be sheer lunacy to them. Like cows, they are kept comfortable in the pure animal sense to be milked for profit. Animal comfort kills all thoughts of revolution. Hell, half of mankind would be thrilled with the average American's present material situation.

tonight, i fly out of buenos aires for what may be the last time... tomorrow, i will land back in the thick of it, my country, as it's ramping up to the biggest consumer orgy of the year... two parts of that experience will drive me to retching nausea... one is the in-your-face "buy, buy, buy" displays on view everywhere i turn, and the second is that it will all be accompanied by non-stop, treacly christmas music... i can hardly wait...

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