Thank you for this thoughtful piece. From the responses you are getting, it's clear some of us question and deplore how our economic structure allows for this obscene wealth gap in which the "few" can spend and use resources without limit while so many others on the planet have not enough. Others claim this inequality and waste is justified because it creates jobs for those down the ladder. They seem unaware of the context in which this overspending takes place: a finite planet, with ever decreasing natural resources and an economic system designed for consumption that is now driving us towards extinction.