[dogscoff]

the rest of the world seems as enamored with the US lifestyle as the US is.

This has certainly been true for a while- since 1945, more or less. However, I think it's going to change. As the US becomes less popular for its policies and the rest of the world starts to catch up (and overtake) economically, people will look elsewhere for their cultural influences- either inwardly, reviving some of the culture that has been assimilated and homogenised into the Great Consumerism Collective, or they will find a replacement: The EU is one possibility, as european nationals start to rediscover one another in the light their new shared currency and start a wave of euro-trendiness. Various eastern cultures provide another (more probable) alternative, since their traditional cultures are even more fundamentally different.

Personally I really hope we start to see less emphasis on mindless consumption and blind obsession for "economic growth", which is by definition unsustainable on our finite planet. Now that we are starting to see technologies that can increase co-operation and efficiency and put more power into the hands of individuals, I think an alternative model of some kind should be viable.

BTW I don't blame the US for creating today's rampant consumerism, but it has championed it for the best part of a century and now it's time for a change.