too much stuff

Stuff, other people's, mine, yours. My life seems to revolve around stuff. good stuff, junk, old stuff, valuable stuff, trash, collectible stuff, stores full of stuff, land fills full of stuff, dead peoples stuff, george carlin's stuff.
I'm currently rebuilding my house from other people's thrown away stuff. Recycled, up cycled, scavenged, used stuff. I stop people on the way to the landfill, pick through garbage and answer ads on Craig's list. sometimes it's free sometimes i purchase it from thrift stores and once in while followed by a rush of guilt, i buy from a box store. I store it all in giant piles in my yard. I'm lucky to live in a part of the country where I can do that. I recently heard on the local public radio station that helicopters would be patrolling a local counties backyards for piles of "junk". Who decides what's junk or perfectly good stuff to be reused? Do they give a class on that, can you be certified? That might make a good career choice for someone like myself if it was trash, maybe I could bring some to my house and store it where the helicopters haven't patrolled yet.
I've tried over the years to sell stuff. mostly stuff that pleases my eye and a few others,too. I've made large sums of money reselling stuff but I've never been able to control when or where i get the money. it never seems to come when i need it and when i take a good look at my merchandise, all i seem to have is a pile of eye pleasing stuff.
I recently become obsessed with the nuclear accident in Japan and it makes me wonder what will happen to their stuff. Friends told me the weekend after  9/11 the 26th st flea market  in Manhattan did record sales. is this an example of the bumper sticker, who ever dies with the most toys wins? Or were the survivors so elated to survive, they had to reward themselves with more stuff? Can stuff really make your live happier, more satisfying? Will we be well dressed victims of radiation poisoning?