Capitalism Kills Literature (among many other things...)

Schopenhauer criticizes contemporary literature for being written for its own sake and to exploit consumers and I agree. The majority of consumer products are not based on benefiting the mind's acuity and precision by exercising its comparative, analytic, and perceptual skills, or to enhance its spirituality and ability to synthesize emotion, but to feed some insatiable desire to escape the reality of our own isolated existence. Romance novels that target sexually-deprived and/or obsessed, lonely middle aged audiences flood the shelves of supermarkets and gas stations come to mind when I read Schopenhauer's bitterly critical essay on books. The fact that someone aims at writing such books for no other reason than to reap a cheap profit from those preoccupied souls willing to pay for it is beyond me. Why waste the precious little time you have on such fruitless endeavors?