i&#x27;ll go out on a limb and suggest that most things that consumers buy are things that they don&#x27;t need to buy -- at least in my part of town.<p>i wonder how much of the world&#x27;s economy is geared to providing consumers with things that they don&#x27;t need? (this easily covers fashion + cars + travel + the latest gadgets + a lot of food)<p>i wonder how much of the world&#x27;s economy is B2B style businesses geared towards assisting companies provide consumers with things they don&#x27;t need? perhaps a fair bit?<p>i think one can argue that advertising makes &quot;the economy&quot; more efficient, perhaps.<p>one still has to answer the question of &quot;is the economy a good thing?&quot; -- i.e. efficiency in itself is not obviously a positive attribute - it isn&#x27;t good to find increasingly efficient ways to carry out something that is a terrible idea.<p>it isn&#x27;t obvious to me that the economy we find ourselves stuck inside is a particularly good thing (it doesn&#x27;t seem particularly good at dealing with the problems that it causes).