To think of a world in which people mattered instead of production. Compassion and preservation as more important issues than consumption and materialism. Humans by nature are driven by an urge for self preservation and security. People dont trust that their needs are going to be met so they overconsume. Our economy would highly benefit from Buddhist economics. We would be a more prosperous culture by theory but Americans are so used to this way of life it woud be difficult to grasp any other way of life. Women in the workplace is a sign of economic failure to buddhists. Accustomed to this way of life, it has become the goal to have a so called higher standard of living which requires more than one income to sustain this way of life. Therefore women feel the need to be in the workforce instead of raising thier children. I believe our society would greatly change for the better if it was more of a value to instill ethics and compassion to our children. Our children would make better choices about taking care in thier pursuits as well as recognizing the importance of our resources from the environment. If americans were less concerned with material possessions and consuming and more concerned with creativity and satisfaction within their means, we would overall be a happier culture. Americans are not content. America is a culture of whats next, or whats new. We feel the need for accomplishment every day. The thought of "to be" isnt practiced withing families or taught in schools. We are not taught the skills needed to be content. We are taught individualism at an early age as well as the need for becoming all that you can be without regard or compassion for how our actions may effect the environment and others. America is always on the go and unfortunatly it is a culture of feeding greed. This country is driven by the three poisons: delusion, craving, and hostility.
In Buddhist economics, to work in a manner that becomes meaningless and boring is considered a criminal act.