Makes sense. Here in America, we spend a lot of our income just "keeping up with the Joneses". If next-door neighbor Mr. Jones has a nice HD flatscreen, I abs

Makes sense. Here in America, we spend a lot of our income just "keeping up with the Joneses". If next-door neighbor Mr. Jones has a nice HD flatscreen, I absolutely have to get one, if not a better one, or else I look relatively less successful[1]. It was this mentality that drove a lot of people into debt over the last decade or two. Everyone's income was basically flat, but they saw neighbors improving their standard of living and buying stuff, and so, afraid to admit weakness, they bought stuff too, using credit beyond their means, which of course caused the neighbors to do the same thing. Ditto for the housing bubble - people took out mortgages they couldn't afford because they looked around and saw their peers doing the same thing and didn't want to be left behind. [1] - "I" here stands for the prototypical American, not just me specifically.