Dear Sir/Madam,

If the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston wants to "learn why Americans save too little [and] acquire too much expensive debt" they should have asked me: it is mainly because the media are full of role models who are rich, with corresponding lifestyles. In their vain attempts to emulate them, average Americans (and many Europeans) are left with little money to save, and many run up debts into the bargain (Calculating the Irrational in Economics, June 28, 2003).

The real problem, however, which most economists simply ignore, is that our economy is based and dependent more on man's animal than human nature, with people (following their animal nature) struggling to get as large a slice of the cake as possible, which is then held up as a measure of their success. And with most people wanting an ever larger slice, the cake has to keep on growing, only on a planet with limited resources and carrying capacity (Spaceship Earth), and a population heading towards 7-9 billion, such development is non-sustainable and must lead to disaster.