Distraction aside, one of the BIGGEST problems with the economy is the trend towards the ATOMIC family. In the past, it was not uncommon for several generations of family to stay on the same ancestral land. Men would go out and work together, while the women and older girls would tend the younger children and do domestic chores.
I have four brothers and one sister. We all live in different parts of this Metropolitan area. Each of our family units has a house, two to three automobiles, lawn equipment, power equipment, tools of all kinds. If we all lived near one another, we could get by sharing about three to four automobiles among all of us. We could get by with one or two lawn mowers, one set of tools to work on cars, one set of other equipment, including power tools. Look at all the REDUNDANT purchases we had to make because we're living apart from one another. I have a lawn mower, and I use it about 10 hours per week ... and it sits there idle for the remaining 158 hours. I don't often use my drill or my chainsaw or my line trimmer or most of my tools. What if all these things were consolidated? Also, meals could be prepared in larger portions, using ingredients purchased in bulk. Each family unit could have a smaller house, and then there could be a larger common area that everyone could share and help in maintaining. If someone has a big problem, everyone can get together to help out.
I've proposed getting together with my brothers and my sister in such an arrangement, purchasing some adjacent plots of land and building it out like this ... but they're JUST NOT INTERESTED. It's a crying shame. When we've had family gatherings, the cousins played together endlessly ... and in a wholesome way, since they're all Traditional Catholics. I point this out to them that life could be so much better, but I get apathetic responses. It's because everyone has been conditioned and brainwashed by the social engineers to think that you only prove yourself if you can do it independently of everyone else.