I agree that people tend to over-extend themselves financially, but is that a symptom or a cause? My take is this: There's no clear path to home ownership, so

I agree that people tend to over-extend themselves financially, but is that a symptom or a cause? My take is this: There's no clear path to home ownership, so you put off having a family. Because you put off having a family you don't get married and you continue in a prolonged adolescence through your twenties. Because you're not bothering with a family you're also not worried about saving for the future, so you focus material pleasures and the present. You eat out, you get a nice car, you use the charge card for stuff that you happen to want. You're comfortable and you're not concerned about what happens to you financially because the consequences don't extend beyond your own sort of vapid existence, that isn't really that fulfilling anyway except for the creature comforts that you're spending your paycheck on. You date but it's all casual because love and marriage is for suckers. Additionally any attempt to save money is inherently risky. You would give up the few comforts you do have, that are keeping you from having a life (that you believe to be) devoid of pleasure. You're genuinely trapped on the hedonic treadmill. Any emergency would wipe out your savings anyway, or if you die you wouldn't have been able to spend it, which is now the point of your life. So i agree with you, the lifestyle is a problem. But I also disagree with you that it is the cause. The cause is an inherent despair that are lot of us are going through. If anything we're the "Why Bother?" generation. We know the things that our parents had are impractical for us the afford, so we ignore lofty goals that involve saving and budgeting, and most of all planning, and you find ourselvs stuck in an instant-gratification lifestyle.