The discourse about consumerism is vague because even though it’s cast as something bad, everyone likes to buy stuff; they imagine consumerism is cheap TVs at Walmart. While that perception is not too far from reality, it doesn’t encompass the trade-offs, which are substantial, maybe existentially important to society. To understand the problem, you have to realize that society used to be worker-centric because workers were the backbone of an industrial economy. As the U.S., and West in general, became more about information & finance, workers lost much of their previous value, so much so that we changed to a consumer-centric society. The focus changed from economic security for workers to cheaper goods for consumers.
It’s humorously, but insightfully, been said that we buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t know. The people selling us those things don’t care about their customers any more than how to instill the desire to buy their product, using whatever means possible, be it subconscious, hypnotic or fear of missing out; and financiers don’t care about anything but increasing their already great concentrated wealth. They want monthly payments forever, as high as possible, no matter the burden it places on the regular people who owe them. Consumerism is the perfection of slavery because it achieves what the Elites want, control, and the masses are unwilling to rebel because they can’t go without a bigger TV.
