ironically, it was all suppose to give us more free time. Yet, there are whole subcultures and religions dedicated to time management now. It's funny in a sad clown sort of way.
In my own life, the consumerism thing that has given me the most headaches lately is that people have figured out the easiest way to make money, a lot of money, really quickly, in the area I live, is to start a storage unit business. They're full almost immediately.
People have so much stuff they will rent multiple empty garages just to store shit no one cares about. I'm talking furniture, electronics, household white goods, clothes, all kinds of stuff. Just clutter and hoard.
Well the assumption back then was wages would keep up with productivity growth and prices wouldn't rise to gobble up what gains had been made. Both of those have proven false, first wages stagnated while productivity continued to rise and then housing prices have completely shot through the roof in most major cities from a combination of limited supply and speculative investment.
