However ugly, there is a class system. There is the poor, the middle class, and the affluent. Of course there are varying levels in each class, but none the less, it appears to me that there is a keeping up with the *Jones* that has evolved. There is even a meme..if I use that term correctly..*Jonesing* for something.
The class lines have been blurred with availability to what everyone else has, and getting it has never been easier. No one wants to spend years saving up for something. They want it now...there is that damned *I deserve* mentality. Yours truly is just as guilty.
This has infiltrated every aspect of our existence with the dubious aid of TV..internet..books...magazines, etc. This is all well and good...and I am an advocate of consumerism. Hell, I will be the first to admit it is fun to spend money. It has gotten out of control, obviously.

I have noticed recently that people are being more cautious. It is gonna take more than that. It is going to take years for ourselves to deprogram our proclivities of want vs. need. It is a cycle. We will overcome. I, for one have learned my lesson..fast...and hard. Shame on me for taking so long. My gluttony took on a life of its own. My children do not know what saving up for means...hell how can they? I didn't. I started out that way. I saved 2,000 for central heat and air of our new to us house back in '79.
I saved 4,000 of my babysitting money for wood floors. I did it! I am squirreling away 20 bucks a week now. For what? eh...doesn't matter. But the fact is it felt good to wait. It feels good to save up for. What the hell happened?