Perhaps I wasn't clear.

I put it to you that a nation wanting the same amount of stuff is not the same as wanting more stuff

If you have less than you use to, but want to have the same as you used to, that means you want to have more than you currently do.

I think you're trying to appeal to some emotional notion of fairness, but its really irrelavent here. The world is unfair, and the consequences to actions don't care whether or not it seems "fair".