Afluenza

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

are two vivid examples of the amazing rate at which affluenza is growing. These numbers are occurring
Causes & Cures
despite the strong economy and perhaps because of it. With the economy in the U.S. going so well credit card companies are issuing more credit. Consumers are then using their new found credit to buy without even thinking of how they will pay for the products. They get the credit cards because of the appealingly low 5.9% introductory rate and go for it, but the credit card companies usually run those rates up to 18% or more in the first six months before the consumer pays off the purchase, (Insight into the News IIN, 1997). This in turn leads consumers into over extending themselves. Although 96% of all consumers are using credit cards responsibly according to American Bankers Association '97, the typical person who files for bankruptcy takes home less than $20,000 a year and has more than $17,000 in credit charges and of that's not overextending oneself what ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

and other companies have access to her credit report which states her credit history, including current debt, and surely bankruptcy.


Materialism is also a symptom of this disease we call affluenza. What perpetuates materialism and causes affluenza? This simple answer is marketers by uses an abundance of information that cannot be avoided they condition consumers to buy. One example that supports this claim is a statistic, it states by the age of 20, the average American will have seen 1 million commercials, (Spokesman Review, 1997). It would be reasonable to believe that if someone view a commercial even half the number of times they would feel the need to buy or use that product, ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: