American Culture: The Tendency to Spend Money on Useless Things

850 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Short essay on american culture

What is one of the most embarrassing traits that describes the average American? Before the answer is revealed, here are some items that might give you hints. The first is food. The American's love of eating out and then discarding left overs to make room for new items is astounding. Scraps of food are thrown away like dead worms, ending up either in the treads of a car or a shoe, or washed away in the rain. Second is money. This resource is the one thing that can bring the country to its knees, let alone the average American. The tendency for Americans to spend money on useless things, or to go out and bet their money in the hopes of winning more is what can define many average Americans. Third is the overuse of energy. From the misuse of natural energy to the lack of efficiency in the energy cycle, Americans greatly under appreciate the importance of energy. Lastly is poor time management. Time is arguably one of the most valuable (if not the most valuable) resources known to man, yet Americans have seemed to master the ability known as "time wasting." Has the answer revealed itself yet? Yes, there it is, in the last sentence. The answer is wastefulness, if you haven't yet figured it out. American are some of the most wasteful people in the world. Discarding everything from food, to money, to time -- Americans not only waste their own, but sometimes those of other people as well.
America is a very gluttonous country. On a yearly basis, the average American can consume a grand total of 1 TON (or 2000 pounds) of food. However, the real problem comes before and after the eating. In total, America loses 40% of the food it produces, from farm to landfill. This shows that in 1 ton of food, 800 pounds are lost, in either the waste...

... middle of paper ...

... English, it is the love of material things. This "love of material things" causes the majority of people to spend money carelessly, always buying things that they believe make them "happy". In a study done by 24/7 Wall Street, there are 10 things that the "average" American household spends almost 15% of its annual income. These ten items are, in order from highest to lowest (in number, not price):

(10) "Apparel Products and Services"
(5) "Lodging, Vacation Homes and Hotels";
(9) "Tobacco"
(4) "Pets, Toys, Hobbies, and Playground Equipment";
(8) "Nonessential Entertainment Equipment and Services"
(3) "Television, Radio, and Sound Equipment";
(7) "Alcohol";
(2) "Gifts"; and
(6) "Fees and Admissions";
(1) "Food Away from Home".
These ten categories are what 24/7 Wall Street says are the things that the "average" American spends his/her money on the most.

Show More
Related

  • Affluenza: Buying Unnecessary Items

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever felt like you are spending too much money at a time, on pointless items? Statistics show that American’s consumption rate of goods has increased by forty-five percent in the last twenty years (Statistics-Consumption/quality of life pg. 194). Americans are experiencing a thing that is many times known as “Affluenza”, this is when someone buys more items, such as clothes, cars, houses, or any unnecessary items. Many people talk about this so-called “Affluenza”, like it is a medical term. The word Affluenza is pretty much saying that people make money and work hard for their money and they like to buy nice things, because they can and they have the money to. They are fortunate enough to be able to have these nice things for themselves because they work so hard for it. Many Americans are not satisfied with their positions because of false ads, selfishness, and jealousy. Some celebrities, some of the wealthiest people on the planet have committed suicide because they are not happy with what they have and they feel like they need more items, when really they have everything they need to be happy, but they suffer from Affluenza and make these bad decisions.

    Read More

  • Ugly Americans In The Film By The Whitman Brothers

    149 Words  | 1 Pages

    Stereotypically, Americans are viewed as closed-minded, self-centered, and materialistic. On the other hand Americans can be independent, innovative, and driven and determined when completing the task at hand. Unfortunately, some of the negative characteristics of Americans outweigh the more positive characteristics.

    Read More

  • The Indulgence of the Disney Coorporation

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    The industry rapidly establishes consumerism in Americans. For instance, Disney since the age of three drives children to own collections of films and merchandise in order to fulfill satisfaction in the idealistic fairytale living. Americans do not realize these material goods are not necessarily important, instead, it becomes a routine of material objects to have a sense of completeness; these buying habits are perpetual. America is now defined as materialistic rather than over-consumption. People deliberately purchase material goods constantly and frequently without needing it. Shopping has become a lifestyle, there is no appreciation or sense of value to what we own, and instead it is depicted and seen as a “retail therapy.” The consumption of materialistic goods is what makes America feel happy and complete.

    Read More

  • Greed and Sucess in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans take less vacation time. Americans work longer hours. Americans retire later. Americans revolve their lives around work. Americans overwork themselves. They dedicate their entire lives to their careers, to being promoted to a higher position, to attaining that higher payroll, to only get farther in the workplace. Americans are so caught up in their jobs and careers that they end up neglecting other things like their personal lives . Unlike people from other countries, Americans do not take enough lesiure time for themselves.

    Read More

  • Food Waste In Canada Essay

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Among them are: Individuals waste some $14.6 billion worth of food every year, about 47 per cent of the total. This mainly consists of food items that Canadians buy with the intention of using in their homes, but never do, so it ends up eventually in a landfill or composted. Food manufacturing and processing is responsible for as much as one-fifth of the food wasted across the country. Ten per cent of food waste happens on a farm, before even entering the broader system. Retailers waste another 10 per cent. Restaurants and hotels waste a further nine per cent. The rest is wasted at processing facilities such as food terminals, or during transportation. The report notes that food waste in the travel sector is especially egregious — up to five kilograms per person, per day, according to some estimates. Even using more conservative estimates, the paper says one could feed 200,000 inhabitants of poorer countries for a year with nothing more than the food that gets wasted on European airlines every year. On international flights, regulations require any excess food be thrown out after a flight — regardless of whether it was used. And cruise liners are the worst culprit, generating the highest per capita food waste. Waste like that costs everyone, not just the person who bought the food and the person who made it. The report estimates that what it calls "avoidable"

    Read More

  • Materialism In American Culture

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    Of all the strange beasts that have come slouching into the 20th century, none has been more misunderstood, more criticized, and more important than materialism. Who but fools, toadies, hacks, and occasional loopy libertarians have ever risen to its defense? Yet the fact remains that while materialism may be the most shallow of the 20th century's various -isms, it has been the one that has ultimately triumphed. The world of commodities appears so antithetical to the world of ideas that it seems almost heresy to point out the obvious: most of the world most of the time spends most of its energy producing and consuming more and more stuff. The really interesting question may be not why we are so materialistic, but why we are so unwilling to acknowledge

    Read More

  • Food Waste In America Essay

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Roni Neff, Marie Spiker, and Patricia Truant, up to 40% of all food produced in America is thrown away (Neff, Spiker, & Truant, 2015, p.2). This wasted food is worth hundreds of billions of dollars that is lost each year in the United States alone, and creates many threats to our country. Food waste is an important and widespread issue in the United States because most of the food thrown away is perfectly fine, it could be used to feed the hungry, and the waste hurts the environment.

    Read More

  • 'The Treadmill Of Consumption By Roberts's Consumers Of Consumption'

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Proper society did not think about making money, only about spending it.”, said Barbara W. Tuchman. This quote shows our real world, and the people that spend money, but they forget about the value of money. Nowadays people want more that they have. They forget how many things they have, and how much money they spend. Most people when they see other people having something better, and in that moment they want to have it also. Also, people forget how hard they got that money, but how easily and quickly they spend it. In the article “The treadmill of consumption” by Roberts, he says that people are willing to go into debt to buy certain products and brands. That is right that people can do crazy things to buy certain goods.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    She suggests that Americans should reduce their overconsumption of such commodities since they are overburdening the non-biodegradable waste load in the garbage collection facilities. It is surprising to note that every Americans disposes more than four pounds of trash on a daily basis (Royte, 2005).

    Read More

  • Synthesis Essay: The Role Of Materialism In American Society

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    American citizens live in one of the richest and most fortunate countries on the planet. Yet, our society struggles with a stunning lack of appreciation for what we have. Even with an abundance of material goods, we’re always looking forward, always wanting more. This materialism, or obsession with material objects, remains an immense problem in American society. Materialism clogs rivers and countrysides with waste, uses up resources that could be better utilized elsewhere, and gives Americans a mindset that will hinder their happiness.

    Read More

  • Consumerism

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, we open our mailbox only to be bombarded by the next Visa ad "0% APR until 2010" and many American consider it, after all, the second refinanced mortgage payment is due soon. We are swiping away our values and mortgaging our morality all in pursuit of what American history has been found upon: consumerism. Through the history of this nation the ethnically and culturally different people who have helped build our material oriented society all have one thing in common: the American dream. This pursuit of wealth gained momenteum on the eve of the industrial revolution's assembly line and today's dot.com speed whirls American to pursue faster than can consume it. This has left us an greedy indebted nation. In this essay I will illustrate how our taste for newest and best production has shaped modern American history. I will focus upon how public opinion towards this consumerism, beginning in the 1890s and leading into the great depression of the 1930s, is seen through the eyes of gender, class and ethnicity.

    Read More

  • America 's Values : American Values

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    By far the most important ideal Americans possess is their idea of individualism. The belief that each person is unique and responsible for their own life is instilled in every person beginning from childhood. Rather than seeing themselves as a member of a group, Americans believe everyone is different; therefore, this causes them to believe that society has no influence over the values they themselves hold. This is one reason it is difficult to ask an American what America’s values are. Along with the concept that each individual is in control of their own being, instead of viewing the wealthy as lucky and the poor as unlucky, they are regarded as the hard working and the lazy. Since each individual is responsible for their own life, where they finish by the end of it is up to them. Lastly, with individuality comes value placed on privacy. Americans expect that everyone needs time alone in their daily lives to restore their energy. If one says they need time alone, the feeling is understood, and respected.

    Read More

  • Essay On Food Waste

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    Food waste is the biggest space consumer in our landfills, which may seem surprising, but shouldn’t be based on the amount of food that is consumed on a daily basis and the large proportion of food that is wasted. The main problem with the amount of food waste in landfills, is that it produces methane as it decomposes which is detrimental to the atmosphere as a whole, and can have lasting effects. The buildup of all the methane produced results in huge amounts of global warming potential which is extremely detrimental to our environment. Also, because of the fact that so many resources are used in order to grow certain foods, they are all being put to waste when the food that used these resources goes directly to landfills. This applies to water usage, soil richness, and petroleum usage. As far as costs go, food waste affects the economy by about $750 billion a year, which is a massive amount of money that could be going elsewhere. Because we are losing so much money, it is clear that there is a great need for change in the food system, especially in the United

    Read More

  • Money Can't Buy Happiness

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Material goods don’t make us happy. Acquiring things like houses and cars only have a transient effect on happiness. People’s desires for material possessions crank up at the same, or greater rate, than their salaries. Again, this means that despite considerably more luxurious possessions, people end up no happier. There’s even evidence that materialism make us less happy.

    Read More

  • Leftover Food Essay

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Price et al. (1985), estimated values of the total global food loss and waste to around one third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, amounting to about 1.3 billion tonnes (1.28×109 long tons; 1.43×109 short tons) per year . In developing countries, like Ethiopia it is estimated that 400-500 calories per day per person are gainful

    Read More

More about American Culture: The Tendency to Spend Money on Useless Things

Open Document