It's not consumerism, it's just beautiful, unadulterated capitalism. The incredible thing about the evolution is that nobody planned it. The invisible hand magically produced a society of lonely, desperate, and paranoid people who must work and study all the time less they become poor and be totally ejected from polite society. Most Americans don't even get two weeks vacation time. It's absolutely appalling but, as an investor, it's also kind of amazing.

In the end it's difficult to imagine any kind of fundamental reevaluation of America's economic model and so the culture won't change. Instead I suspect we'll see more and more people turning to often toxic online communities to manage their anxieties. The problem here is that it's very easy for lonely, desperate people to be radicalized and this could put significant downward pressure on profits. I'd really like to see something done to address this issue before it's too late. The market can over commit on stuff like this and it introduces significant volatility into long term returns.