The Runaway Economy

Once the standard of living reaches affluence, continued growth becomes increasingly destructive and economically suicidal, confining the human career to productions and wastefully generated consumption.

As it expands, the economy increases its control over society, dominating urban form, education, the media, and social imagination. Rather than freeing people, the increased economic wealth offers vast promotional for business to control human behavior---note that advertising multiplied forty-fold from l950 to 2000. Schneider stresses how society must fundamentally redirect human thought and economic power to fulfill specific social purposes that constitutes human progress.