Greetings. It's Friday, November the 29th, 2024. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum, narrating today's daily article, written by our co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison.

There is something anachronistic in the fact that America's Day to focus on giving thanks for what we have

is followed immediately by America's Day to shop for what we don't have.

Black Friday was 2023's most popular day for in-store shopping with 76.2 million shoppers visiting brick and mortar locations.

It was also the most popular day for online shopping with 90.6 million U.S. consumers

shopping in this way. Both were up significantly from the year before, but buying and even

giving more stuff is apparently not making

us happier. Among 24 countries surveyed, Americans are the least likely to feel close to

others in our country or community. In the last election, 82% of voters said that they want to

see substantial change or complete and total upheaval in the U.S.

We are experiencing the collapse of self-worth in our digital age.

Horror novel sales rose 54% last year.

Our partisan divisions are persisting.

86% of Republicans are optimistic after the election,

while only 11% of Democrats say the same. No place in America typifies consumption, like Las Vegas,

which sees more hotel visits than any other city in the country. Three-fourths of all visits

to the city happen in the afternoon and evening hours

when dining, shopping, gambling, and shows predominate. At the same time, more people die by suicide

every year in Las Vegas than in any other place in America. Large hotels in the city are especially

known as suicide magnets, in part for those who've lost their life savings at the gambling tables.

For this reason, most Las Vegas hotel rooms have neither balconies nor windows that open more than an inch or two to permit ventilation.

In such times, counseling on finding hope is not hard to find. Time recently published an article,

...