"We need to think small....I remember a "subsistence economy" in my youth, we were financially poor, but rich in many other ways.
"poverty" had its compensations."

Indeed. Retrospectively, I realise that being raised poor in a rich culture, was a blessing. It taught me how to value small things: what you could imagine for yourself, what you could make for yourself, what you could do for yourself.

In line with current cultural values of "own more, be better" most kids today are being taught the exact opposite. It's the quiet equivalent of severing hands and feet.