Consumerism

There are many aspects to consumerism, and we need a big push to make it more constructive and holistic. What people spend money on reveals the true identity of a people: they are truly voting with their wallets. Sure, we need various things to survive, entertain, and to develop ourselves and those around us. However, there are many things offered by the market that has no utility value, or even negative utility. We need to separate the wheat from the chaff.  

Guiding Principles:

Marketing/Advertising

  • Discourage marketing directed towards baser instincts
  • Advertisements must contain the actual product/service
  • Incentivize objective and informative advertising
  • Discourage advertisers from inventing holidays
  • Avoid capitalistic adulteration of traditions/customs
  • Allow religious, NGO, and political advertising
    • Dedicate certain days exclusively to such
      • Tie time allocation to size of orgs. member-base

 

Transparency

  • Increase transparency about price, production, and ingredients
    • Label food and beverages with health ratings

 

Sharing-Economy

  • “Sharing-economy” should not be about regulation- and tax-evasion
  • Make it easier for companies to participate in product recycling
  • Cooperate with insurance companies to make sharing safer

Competition

  • Encourage competition 
  • Promote free-trade
  • Breakup monopolies in physical and digital commerce

 

Debt

  • Establish credit card debt registry
  • More strict regulation of credit card companies

 

Tax Incentives

  • Correlate food/beverage taxation with their health benefit
  • Use tax incentives to promote sustainable production methods
  • Incentivize educational projects and R&D

 

Law/Litigation

  • Full receipts should be sent to customers bank account digitally
  • Protect companies from predatory “customers”
    • Exploitation of customer protection policies
    • Highly litigious individuals