Whereas, in the "over-developed" world the Surgeon General  focuses on couch-potato children whose obesity presents a major health problem nationally, and our TV ads bombard us with endless  products, health clubs, and gadgets for fighting overweight (all of  which invigorate the economy through further consumption based  on perceived "scarcity" or inadequacy).     

Malnutrition is the principle cause of infant and child mortality  in developing nations. In many, over 25% of the population die  before reaching the age of four. The average family in Costa Rica  eats less meat than the average American housecat. (This is our  neighbor right next door. But again "neighbor" only in the old- belief sense of the Good Samaritan; according to the new capitalist  gospel, of course, we have no neighbors except as they can further  our own self-interest). The world's cattle alone (not including pigs  and chicken) consumes a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs  of 8.7 billion people, which is nearly double the entire human  population of the planet.     

If Americans were to reduce their meat consumption by only 10%,  this would free over 12 million tons of grain annually for human consumption—enough to adequately feed the 60 million people  who will starve to death on the planet in a year. Land, water, energy  used to grow livestock feed could feed 60-100 million people if U.  S. reduced its meat intake by 10%.     

We have seen a 24-fold increase in major depressive disorders  since World War II; the use of anti-depressant medication along  with alcohol and drug-use is at record high. Prozac, the "feel-good  drug," is latest in increasing reliance on psychotropic /  psychopharmacological management of unhappiness. We are finding  it increasingly difficult to maintain the ability to live a normal,  worthwhile life without the use of drugs (legal and illegal). (The  Canadian physician and first Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins,  William Osier, said: "The difference between men and animals is the desire to take pills."). We are not talking here about clinical  depression, but rather something akin to Huxley's Brave New World,  where we rely on drugs to relieve stress, anxiety, melancholy, angst  and emptiness, not brought on by biological or genetic conditions,  but growing out of environmental and social disease.     

What has become clear is that there is no direct association  between affluence and happiness. Let me repeat: the central premise  and promise of capitalism is that there exists a direct relationship  between material wealth and human happiness. It is impossible, of  course to be happy without food and shelter. But if we have enough  money to satisfy our basic material needs, further increases in our  disposable income do not seem to bring about corresponding  increase in our happiness. For example, over the past 30 to 40 years  there has been a remarkable increase in the number of material  goods (cars, color TVs, microwaves, computers, video recorders,  cell phones, pagers, etc.) owned by members of an average  household in many Western countries, but with no similarly dramatic  increase in happiness, by any measure that anyone has been able to  apply. In fact, the opposite seems to be occurring.     

The University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center  has found that the proportion of Americans who describe themselves  as "very happy" has remained fairly constant (1 in 3) since the  1950's. This can partly be explained by a phenomenon known to psychologists as "habituation"; we quickly accustom ourselves to  new acquisitions/highs only to return to neutral flats. This flattening  out of newness in turn brings out the urge to ignite new passions;  and so this cycle goes on and on without any qualitative rise in  contentment or fulfillment (like Tolstoy's restless peasant in the  story). We get caught up in a cycle of wanting, longing to get,  grabbing, getting, and feeling empty, wanting more, ad nauseam.  An ideal set of conditions for an expanding economy, but not for not necessarily for human happiness. Instead of satisfaction, the  opposite occurs, where greater activity results in diminished  rewards...thus anxiety and depression. We have, as one noted  psychiatrist observed, "a profound misunderstanding of the true  nature of happiness...determining what makes a person happy  requires self-knowledge, more self-knowledge than most of us  possess." Thus we find ourselves living in a particular contemporary  nihilism: a dream of wanting where everything wanted is finally  worthless. This is what the Buddha called, "Born drunk and dying  in a dream."     

Young people in some ways provide an even more sensitive  measure of the "soul" or "spirit" of a society. They are most in  tune with the Zeitgeist and reflect the core values and trends.  Buddhism argues that desires unrestrained, greed too much excited,  leads to competitive striving and invariably frustration. Frustration  at never getting what one seeks, in turn foments anger and eventually violence. These "healthy" habits essential to a market-driven way of  life, play themselves out (harmlessly some would argue) in our sports,  games, our movies, and other fantasy fare. But increasingly the  distinction blurs between fantasy and reality. This is especially true  for the younger population. Thus,     

-The murder rate among 14 to 17 year-olds, increased 165 percent   in the past 10 years.  

-Every day, 135,000 children take guns to school.   

-70% of 12 to 13 year olds know someone their age who smokes;   44% know someone their age who drinks; 33% know someone    their age who does drugs; 29% know someone their age who has a     gun; 27% know someone their age who has been to jail; 20% know    someone their age who has a child or is pregnant; 12% know  someone their age who has been forced to have sex.

To be continued