Dealing With An "Orgy Of Self-Ingulgence"

Judith Warner presents a dyspeptic view of our culture in the wake of deregulatory disasters like the housing crash and the BP spill:

Under normal circumstances, the emotional,reward-seeking, selfish, "myopic" part of our brain is checked andbalanced in its desirous cravings by our powers of cognition — ourawareness of the consequences, say, of eating too much or spending toomuch. But after decades of never-before-seen levels of affluence andendless messages promoting instant gratification...