“I CONSIDER Bill Gates and Bill Clinton to be the all-time biggest promoters of ‘affluenza’ ever to walk the face of this earth!” Thirty years of teaching economics and computer science at the prestigious Duke University; introducing e-business to capital markets; advising Fortune 500 companies on investment strategies has eventually soured Thomas Naylor’s view of the American dream. The Frankenstein he helped invent, he now wants destroyed. All because the consumer-crazed Americans live with the motto: whoever dies with the most toys wins the game!

So he sat down and co-authored a book called Affluenza — the all consuming epidemic, then chucked his cushy life and moved out to picturesque Vermont — the only state that forbids billboards — in search of simplicity and communal bliss.

Meanwhile, the two Bills, subject of Naylor’s disgust, are having a ball ... getting wealthier by the second. Bill Gates, the seducer of millions of Internet users into believing that it is the ticket to fame, fortune, information, employment and great bargains, has paved the way with gold for Internet companies like Yahoo and Excite to toss their privacy policy out of the window, and flood their registered users with junk mail advertisements ad infinitum. A judge compared billionaire Gates’ (America’s single-largest donor and philanthropist) company Microsoft to a “murderous drug gang” and him to “Napoleon”.

And, of course, Bill Clinton is not far behind: he has been hired by a ‘friend’, a former grocery store magnate (It is only the American dream that cranks out a sabziwallah into a magnate!), on how to invest his millions.

Pummelling the Internet, Naylor calls it a god that provides an altar where human mind can be downloaded and sacrificed for greed, power and instant gratification. “It’s reminiscent of the 19th century California gold rush and oil boom in Texas.” While Clinton calls it “our new town square”, “people consider it their global postal system, shopping mall, university and library. They are unsuspectingly put under home page arrest and detained endlessly against their will because they are easily seduced.

“To me the net is anti-intellectual, anti-creative, anti-educational and anti-social tool ever conceived!” declares the man who spent his most creative years buried behind computers.

“Guess what Gary is getting for his graduation?” a filthy-rich mom asks me, “John and I are buying him the latest SUV (sports utility vehicle) because he already has everything else.” Sure the American couple and their brats typify ‘affluenza’ which ranges from beer, cosmetics, clothes, drinks, junk food, video games, automobiles, computers, expensive homes, high-tech healthcare, rock music and vacations to exotic destinations. “We’re doing Europe this summer,” gushes 17-year-old Gary. How does one do a country or a continent?

What drives these rich snobs to the shopping malls even if most hate crowds, complain about the schmaltzy piped music, fake glitter and plastic yuck? Author of Affluenza says the more you have, the more you want, “we’ve lost the ability to be humans. Our happiness depends on having superior power and the ability to manipulate others by one-upmanship ... Instead, we end up coping with meaninglessness and the fear of nothingness ... we go through life pretending we’re invincible, trying to convince ourselves we can live forever just through conspicuous consumption.”

Fear of mortality is indeed one of the forces driving older consumers. They want to finish their fortune before dying. On Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida, where America’s wealthy shop, a friend casually warned, “don’t walk down the street in your tee shirt, jeans and sneakers. You have to be formally dressed to be taken seriously by the shop attendants.”

I saw the fruitiest colours pass by — aging women covered from head to toe in mango, strawberry, pistachio, peach, watermelon and vanilla, matching dresses, shoes, make-up, bags, nails and jewellry inset with diamonds. And this was only 11 in the morning! And what were they and their equally snazzy escorts doing? Shopping for more at snooty stores one dare not set foot in.

Days after September 11, President Bush provided a comical relief to the already anxious, unhappy, angry and cynical Americans by admonishing them that they were not buying enough and, therefore, not helping push the economy! “Buy and fly” was his call. “Fly to Orlando’s Disney World with your kids,” he muttered at a time when the Americans were petrified even at the sight of a plane!

Do we know that the American per capita personal consumption expenditure is $22,000? Or $6 trillion, as a nation? With such unprecedented prosperity, why then does one see so many people stressed out on the roads? Why do so many couples divorce and go their own ways? Why is suicide so common and substance abuse, depression, incarceration and abortion so rampant?

Rarely do I see a person behind the wheel smile at a traffic light stop, or at the mall or inside a train. Everyone, young and old, either looks sad or serious or bored.

American novelist Percy Walker calls them “living dead”, saying, “there’s indeed something worse than being deprived of life, it’s being deprived of life and not even know it.” What is the reason for them being spiritually, emotionally and intellectually dead when they can virtually buy anything that they want? People, one knows, mostly surf the net. Check their e-mail messages. Frequent the Internet chat-rooms. Do some day trading and are mostly glued to CNN, hoping for an event in an otherwise uneventful life. Drive across town to Wal-Mart in search of more mark-down rejects. Stop at MacDonalds for a BigMac.

The only way to save global economy is through profligate American consumerism, says Bush’s financial genius Alan Greenspan, who recently congratulated the American people on the performance of the US economy bankrolled by their shopping binge. “The harder you work, more money you’ll make, the more you’ll buy and the happier you’ll be,” urges Greenspan. And people are doing exactly that: “Whenever I need a lift I buy a new dress and when I’m down I have a nice dinner at an expensive restaurant,” admit most high-flying women, making good money, but still sad. ‘Affluenza-afflicted’ consumers contribute two-third of the growth in US economy, making the 70-plus Greenspan a very happy man.

“What did the Easter bunny bring you?” questions a minister at a local church. The kids have come to hear a religious story just as they came at Christmas to learn about Jesus. Instead their priest asked: “What did Santa bring you?” No longer is the Biblical saying ‘it’s more blessed to give than receive’ relevant in America. Today ‘how much stuff did you get’ is what matters!

‘Affluenza’ that originated in America sure has spread all over, Pakistan being just an example. The US foreign policy rests on two premises: be like us, and might makes right. Bush’s fight with international terrorism is because he wants to make the world safe for American-manufactured Boeings, Internet, MacDonalds and Wal-Marts. He gives a fig for the 1.5 billion of the world who live in $1 a day.

But wait, here is the punch line: Bush is being bilked $70 billion a year in tax evasion by his two million subjects holding secret accounts in tax havens like Bahamas and spending the funds right here under Bush’s nose using American Express, Mastercard and Visa cards billed to these accounts.

“We have the enemy and he is us,” said a sage. How true!