So I was on Youtube looking up videos of the Whitest Kids You Know.  They are a genius comedy troupe that has their own show and season three is actually starting in like four or five days.  Anyways I came across this gem and I laughed really hard and I was all by myself so it was really surprising that I laughed that hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRhy__C0UqQ 

So anyways don't get me wrong I do believe that free market capitalism is the best type of societal structure to follow, but it definitely has downsides.  I recently did a report type of thing on Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's 1978 Harvard Address and if you haven't read this yet I would highly encourage you to do so.  I think the main thing that leads to capitalism's problems is that it is based on greed.  All humans have narcissistic impulses to some degree and we live in a culture that thrives off of this.  Advertising is a serious problem in my opinion because all it really does is make people desire something they don't need and eventually it ends up distracting people from real issues and problems, which the average person becomes aware of through education.  I believe that religion is a good thing because most religions teach people to limit their consumption and to focus on things that are more important than material wealth, such as developing character attributes which will lead to people doing good and fighting evil.  I believe that the biggest problem that is facing america isn't terrorism, the economy, or global warming, but rather the fact that the new generation (mine) for the most part has a distinct lack of character, morals, and work ethic.  It is really disturbing how many teenagers I know who are apathetic to education, politics, and world affairs.  To become stronger one must exert themselves past their limits of comfort, and I believe that this applies to all aspects of life, not just physical muscle growth.  Our society of extreme excess is not creating enough strong individuals.

If you were interested by any of that I suggest you read Solzhenitsyn's 1978 Harvard Address (which I basically just paraphrased about 3 paragraphs of). Also these don't really apply so much but check out the movie "Fight Club" and the magazine "Adbusters."  Both provide an interesting commentary on our societys ability to provide for our physical needs but not really our spiritual needs.