The Invisible Hand of the Market Has You By The Balls

[Dystopia]

And ultimately endangering or causing economical, monetary and financial loss to customers who constitute the foundation of corporations since they're the ones buying products or adhering to services - A good example is my current internet provider who I'm happily going to sue if they continue to refuse to terminate the contract.

[fr0d0]

In the UK we have our government fully backing TTIP. Like deregulation is the answer to our woes rather than the fuel that feeds it.

[abaris]

In the UK we have our government fully backing TTIP. Like deregulation is the answer to our woes rather than the fuel that feeds it.

The conservatives are creaming their pants over TTIP here too. All the other parties want to oppose it.

[Minimalist]

[tantric]

I believe that consumer capitalism is driven by addiction. At the core, an addictive stimulus is an event that causes the brain to release dopamine, and thus experience pleasure. Meth, for instance, is chemically almost the same as dopamine. Once you get acclimated to a certain level of dopamine, and it is suddenly removed, your brain inhibits the enzyme that breaks down dopamine - and all other neurotransmitters, which is the remarkably unpleasant experience of withdrawal.

This system evolved for a *reason* and it seems likely that reason is to encourage use to preferentially eat certain foods. Just looking at a hamburger triggers a dopamine release. Same for most things we call 'junk food' 'cause those are the things our ancestors needed to fatten up. So evolution came up with not only a (butter sauted) carrot to encourage us to eat that stuff, but a stick, too. When you switch from junk food to health food, you go into withdrawal of a sort.

But food isn't the only source of dopamine. Shopping does it too. Getting Stuff. TV teaches us that happiness comes from having the right Stuff. But, of course, we never actually have it - 'cause once we get home with our Stuff, we actually feel kinda hollow and dissatisfied and start thinking about what more Stuff we can get.

It's idiocy, of course. Joy is a state of being, which comes from leading a fulfilling life and being a good person. Pleasure is junk - a cheap high that leaves an emptiness behind. But our economy runs on it. If people pursued spiritual fulfillment instead of a cheap buzz, the economy would crash. That's the real reason the USgov hates drugs - it's competition, a short cut for getting that buzz that doesn't boost the GDP.

Oh, yeah, I like biosociology.

[Minimalist]

Advertising exists to create a demand where one might not exist.

[downbeatplumb]

In the UK we have our government fully backing TTIP. Like deregulation is the answer to our woes rather than the fuel that feeds it.

I find myself in total agreement with you.

[Minimalist]

Every so often Frods gets one right.

[abaris]

Advertising exists to create a demand where one might not exist.

PR is worse. You know and expect that advertisment is out to shit you, but if you don't know the keywords, PR can get away with nearly everything. It's actually one of my fields of work, though from the opposite side, reporting on it. If you encounter phrases like "being excited to", "listening to customers" or "meeting demands" it's time to roll out the big bullshit carpet.

[Minimalist]

I assume everyone is full of shit. We only get to pick the texture.