If fact, this is one of the issues with Atheism. To the Atheist mentality, there is no after life and thus all concerns are only about what he wants for now - temporary short lived "stuff". This mentality is great for the US economy because the people don't try to save anything up and thus spend, waste, and work to buy more only to end up with nothing.

There is a part of Judaism that appreciates people who think like that. The Christian is encouraging people to try to make later generations happier than they were (or they are supposed to be anyway). Those future generations are a part of the Christian in Christian theology. The Atheist theology leaves him not really watching out for later generations or tomorrow and thus allowing political powers to creep in with greater ease. To the politically minded, the Atheist is the easy to manipulate sucker.

So in short, by assuming that your death will bring some fixed result regardless of what you do, you merely make it harder for your children and easier for political entrapment and dictatorship.