Americans throw away 1% of everything we buy within 6 months of purchase.

"Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate." Economist Victor Lebow, sometime shortly after WWII, according to the film "The Story of Stuff" which you should check out. It's kind of cheesy, but a nice recap of pretty much The Whole Problem With Everything, and you can watch it for free, and it's only 20 minutes long!