Most consumption doesn't involve big houses and TVs. Those exist as signal items mainly because they're paid for with debt, which increases the amount of money

Most consumption doesn't involve big houses and TVs. Those exist as signal items mainly because they're paid for with debt, which increases the amount of money in circulation. Education is now a good that also increases debt, with mixed results. Throwing money at it does not change the predictive value of the standardized tests used to "ration" education. Without increases in the money supply, there simply won't be growth. There's only so much the central banks and government can do; at some point, people either spend or they don't. The one thing that can be done is to try to adjust inflation upwards, which increases the risk of lazy investments.