"...our age of plenty does not resemble the age of leisure that was being predicted
just as plenty’s threshold was being crossed, back in the 50s and 60s."
" It’s
comical now to remember the promise that people in ‘the year 2000’ would only
work two or three hours a day, and would need to fill the remaining hours with a
glorious efflorescence of golf-playing, symphony-composing, helicopter-piloting
and basket-weaving. "
"It isn’t that the wealthy future turned out less wealthy
than the futurologists of 1960 imagined. On the contrary, a range of
self-indulgences exists now that they never even dreamed of. Parascending,
anyone? Karaoke? Broadband on-line wargaming? "
"It’s that the structure of our
wealth forbids us to run any slower. And, to keep us consuming at the rate we
need to in order to expand our plenty (which is to say, to maintain it) the
persuaders labour night and day to keep us dissatisfied. We are more advertised
at than anyone in history, because it is so vital that we shouldn't fall into
happy, non-buying repletion."
faust as a card carrying member of the booboise
