Here’s a Grinchian question for the holidays: How much do Americans spend on stuff they don’t really need? A very rough analysis suggests they’re blowing more money on nonessential items than they have in more than 17 years.
Back in the 1950s, the economist John Kenneth Galbraith made a bleak argument about modern capitalism: Advertising can create artificial wants -- say, for the latest gadget or skin cream -- that spur ever-greater consumption without actually making people better off. As a result, economies can grow without improving the lot of humanity.
