If there is anything that capitalism requires and promotes it is consumption, hyperconsumption if you will. It is all about convenience yet who here would say they have more time to spend on themselves after buying a dishwasher or really anything that is meant to give you more time to yourself? really not the point even if they have given you more time but it is undeniable that is what most os society wants. This is in essence what 'fast food and fast cars' are all about, convenience. SUV's and super-sized meals are Icons of how most people view America (don't mean to pick on America but it is the capital of it all) Is there anywhere this combination meets more than the drive through? Are we really that lazy that we cannot get out of our 'fast cars' to get our 'fast food'? All this to speed up the process of as McDonalds say 'on the move' 'easy access all day long'. The result is we have a 'McDonaldized' landscape. In the 1980's in America 3/4 of money spent on food was for home preparation food, while today there are figures as high as 1/2 of the money spent on food is for fast food in America. Globally the fast food industry made $15 billion in 1978 and in 2004 it made $229.4 billion. Other figures are on any given day in America 1/4 of the adult population visits a fast food outlet, are it just me or are that just crazy?  Once again I hate to pick on America but they are the capital of fast food, the fast food industry made $148.6 billion in 2004 that is 64% of the total if I’m not mistaken. Just to show how quickly it has grown in 1968 McDonalds had 1000 outlets in the US today they have 31967 worldwide; anyone in business will know that is an insane amount. In fact they are the number 1 buyer of beef pork and potatoes worldwide, if I’m not mistaken.  The number 2 buyer of chicken, only KFC buys more than them, another fast food outlet, They are the number one owner of retail properties, the number one distributers of toys, in other words they try to bribe children into joining the 'fast food' lifestyle. The even have the largest group of minimum wage workers.  These figures just show our need for 'convenience'. But what I want to know is this what we want? To live the idealized dream of 'fast food and Fast cars'? Or do we lose something in this hyperconsumption? Is it something you are whiling to lose? We work longer for things that will make our lives easier but in between the working for the 'convenience' and the hyperconsumption do we have time to enjoy it all?

P.S. not 100% sure of all of those statistics