Human wants seem endless, When a starving man gets a meal, he begins to think about an overcoat: when a man gets a new sports car, visions lf country clubs and pleasure boatsfsnvr into view.
The many wants of mankind might be regarded as making up several levels.When there is money enough to satisfy one level of wants,another level appears.
The first and most basic level of wants involves(包括)food. Once this want is satisfied, a second level of wants appears: clothing and some sort of shelter. By the end of World War II these wants were satisfied for a great majority of Americans.Then a third level appeared. It included such items as cars and new houses.
By 1957 or 1958 this third level of wants was fairly well satisfied. Then,in the late 1950s a fourth level of wants appeared:the “life-enriching” level. While the other levels involve physical satisfaction—the feeding,comfort, safety, and transportation of the human body—this level stress mental needs for recognition, achievement, and happiness, It includes a bariety of goods and services, many of which could be called”luxury” items. Among them are vacation trips, the best medical and dental care, and entertainment. Also included here are fancy foods and the latest styles in clothing.
On the fourth level, a greater percentage of customers spending goes to services, while on the first three levels more is spent on goods. Will customers raise their sights to a fifth level of wants as their income increases, or will they continue to demand luxuries and persomal services on the fourth level?
A fifth level probably would involve wants that can be achieved best by community action. Customers may be spending more on taxes to pay for govermment action against disease, ignorance(无知),crime, and prejudice. After filling our stomachs, our clothes closets, our garages, our leeth, and our minds,we now may seek to ensure the health,safety, and leisure to enjoy more fully the good things on the first four levels.