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build it beautiful. Now, welcome to the award-winning best-of-a-left podcast with Cups Today from

the Center for New American Dream. Redacted tonight with comedian Lee Camp, the David Pakman show,

RSA, animate, the story of Stuff Project, the National Sierra Club, Buzz Poe, Jim Hightower,

and Ted Talks. Every day Americans are bombarded with hundreds of messages suggesting that the

good life is attainable through the goods life. By making lots of money and spending it on

products, the claim to make us happy, loved, and esteemed. On the new shows, we hear a near

constant refrain from economists and politicians about the importance of consumer spending and

economic growth. And around $150 billion dollars are spent most years to embed consumer messages

in every conceivable space, from TV shows and websites to public bathrooms and escalator handrails.

Lately, marketers have even been paying actors to drop sales pitches into conversations in

bars and city parks. But commercialization and consumerism also reach deeper,

warming their way into people's psyches and encouraging them to organize their lives around

higher salaries and owning more stuff. Unfortunately, this can come at a high price for the well-being of

both people and the planet. Research consistently shows that the more that people value materialistic

aspirations and goals, the lower their happiness and life satisfaction and the fewer pleasant

emotions they experience day to day. Depression, anxiety, and substance abuse also tend to be higher

among people who value the aims encouraged by consumer society. Strong materialistic values also

influence our social relationships and thereby affect other people's well-being. Scientists have

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