The illusion that consumption – and its correlative, income – is desirable probably stems from too great preoccupation with what Knight calls “one-use goods,” such as food and fuel, where the utilization and consumption of the good are tightly bound together in a single act or event. … any economy in the consumption of fuel that enables us to maintain warmth or to generate power with lessened consumption again leaves us better off. … there is no great value in consumption itself.
