If Some is Good, More is Better

As Americans we often think bigger is better -- bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger portions of food. Where has this thinking gotten us as a country?

Our automotive manufacturers have collapsed under the misguided notion that bigger cars were the ticket to a healthy bottom line, and they were in the short term. However, as gas prices increased drastically, Americans figured out what the rest of the world has known for a long time: "gas hog" pick-up trucks and SUV's are not the road to energy efficient redemption.

The American desire for "McMansions" has led many to leverage their soul in the quest for a bigger house, and to fill that house with more "stuff" -- stuff usually purchased on credit cards, or even worse with a home equity loan on said McMansion. But, in many places those houses now happen to be worth significantly less than they were purchased for, and this has helped shape the current financial crisis we find ourselves mired in.

"Supersized" portions are expanding American waistlines at an alarming rate. Americans are fatter today than at any time in our history, and for the first time in two centuries, as a result of health problems associated with obesity, the mortality rate of a younger generation is predicted to be less than that of their parents.

This is a lot of doom and gloom, but these problems are correctable. America needs to start thinking: If some is good, some is good enough.

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