These are not trips to Vegas with hookers and blow, but rather core human experiences My wife and I had a Vegas wedding. Without any hookers or blow. A total o

These are not trips to Vegas with hookers and blow, but rather core human experiences My wife and I had a Vegas wedding. Without any hookers or blow. A total of four other people at our wedding; they paid their own way there. My wife and I used the money we saved on our wedding to help fund the purchase of a house (and all the crazy additional expenses that involves). We're still married 20 years later, Contrast that with one gal who had a very elaborate wedding, at an expensive venue, with many guests, and who subsequently divorced within a year. What of the "core human experiences" of all the people who attended that misbegotten wedding? Life comes down to choices. Few people are rich enough to be able to afford everything they may feel entitled to as part of the "middle class". systemic problem of real incomes declining significantly, with major life costs (housing, education, medical, taxation) increasing dramatically All that is very true. But it doesn't excuse foolish financial decisions about the events that people do have total control over. the decline in real wages in the face of rising major life costs is a major contributor to the increasingly precarious position of many middle class families. Yeah, that and the fact that many people can't grasp the simple concept of saving for a rainy day.