Does materialism drag our faith...
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Does materialism drag our faith commitment downward? Consider this: As the value of America's gross domestic product (GDP) has risen, its physical weight has fallen.
Analysts for the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation have actually measured the weight of everything made in the United States that counts toward the GDP, including raw materials, manufactured goods and agricultural products. Figures on the poundage of GDP exist for every year since 1977, when the amount was 1.17 trillion pounds. There's been some fluctuation in the intervening years, but the weight has gone down since 1988. The GDP for 2000 was 1.08 trillion pounds. The lower weight trend is the result of an increasing impact of services and a decreasing role of goods, plus technological advances (such as glass fibers instead of copper and plastics in place of steel) that have trimmed the heft of some items.
What makes this remarkable is that the U.S. population has increased by 55 million since 1977, meaning there is more "stuff" in use.
Now, if we could only find a way to reduce the weight of possessions on our souls. ("Economic Weighing Game," Wired, September 2001, 80.)
Analysts for the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation have actually measured the weight of everything made in the United States that counts toward the GDP, including raw materials, manufactured goods and agricultural products. Figures on the poundage of GDP exist for every year since 1977, when the amount was 1.17 trillion pounds. There's been some fluctuation in the intervening years, but the weight has gone down since 1988. The GDP for 2000 was 1.08 trillion pounds. The lower weight trend is the result of an increasing impact of services and a decreasing role of goods, plus technological advances (such as glass fibers instead of copper and plastics in place of steel) that have trimmed the heft of some items.
What makes this remarkable is that the U.S. population has increased by 55 million since 1977, meaning there is more "stuff" in use.
Now, if we could only find a way to reduce the weight of possessions on our souls. ("Economic Weighing Game," Wired, September 2001, 80.)
