We are told that the only way we can come out of the recession is for Americans to spend the greater part of their salaries on goods and services, even go into debt. Especially on Black Friday, retailers count on the greatest spending spree by Americans of the entire year. If accounts don’t reach into the black on that day, retailers foresee trouble.

Most Americans reached a level of affluence, a luxury level compared to past generations, by the 1960’s or so. Yet we continued to build larger houses for smaller families while we deserted the six ounce soft drink for the jumbo sizes.

“How much Is enough?” asks the title of a book by Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky, How Much Is Enough? Money and the Good Life. This book and another, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, by Michael Sandel, were reviewed  by The Economist in their July 12, 2012 issue.

“Even if . . .the West could do with more . . , the pursuit of wealth for its own sake is folly,” states the reviewer of the two books. Perhaps these books should find a place under our Christmas trees this season.