I would say that what drives your eloquently described Ponzi scheme is a consumer society, one which has been raised to believe that happiness is in the next gadget, bigger house, nicer car. It's a hamster wheel, with happiness and success always being just ahead. The corollary is that unhappiness is the same gadgets, house, car.

In that sort of economy being poor becomes a moral issue, the worth of self being equated with ones wealth or lack thereof. Oh, there's lip service for the nobility of the servant class, what fine characters they were and had, exactly analogous to the lip service paid to the nobility of the military and for the same reasons.

The result is a society which is chronically unhappy though not aware of it, pursuing the next round of "stuff", one which is not resilient in the face of economic contraction, and dependent upon an economic model which relies upon smoke and mirrors to maintain an image of stability.

And since it's always been this way it seems normal. Just as a chicken raised in a wire cage thinks that's normal.

An example of this is the government official who said that mopeds and McDonalds in third-world countries are a sign of progress. They are really a sign of the disintegration of traditional cultures, societies which could focus upon interpersonal relationships rather than getting a TV. They're the start of a consumer society, one in which the worth of an individual is based upon his or her value as a consuming unit.

I'm not saying a modern, materialistic society is all bad. I am saying it's not an unmitigated blessing. And to keep it going, as you said, requires legerdermain.

Arf