waves hands wooooo big business is programming yooooouuu it's the source of all your problems wooooo No it's not. You are the reason for your problems. Your lack of self-discipline is the reason you buy expensive coffees. Your lack of self-discipline is the reason you don't exercise when you get home from work. The author's premise is so shaky I can't believe it's taken seriously. The premise is essentially, "work sucks and that makes you buy shit because you're depressed." Well, yes, that's true, if you're a person who is placated by mindless consumerism, but that's not big business. That's YOU. This article engages in the same illogical, lazy thinking that drives conspiracy theories. It accepts a hypothesis that is easy to digest to explain complex phenomena without analyzing any other explanations.
Just my two cents, I think part of the problem he's addressing is that modern living is set up so it's easy to "buy shit because you're depressed" instead of having some sort of meaningful experience. So yes, it's your choice to buy a bunch of new clothes instead of going on a kayaking trip, but you make that choice because those opportunities aren't given equal weight.