This is true. The problem is that middle-class Americans don't _really_ want to save. You can always live in a tiny, crappy house, drive around in an old beat-u

This is true. The problem is that middle-class Americans don't _really_ want to save. You can always live in a tiny, crappy house, drive around in an old beat-up car and never go on a holiday that requires you to fly. But if you do this, you will look like a freak to your peers. So practically all middle-class Americans do, in fact, live just within their means. The entire culture is just different in India. I live in Norway and currently save about 20% of what I earn. I get away with this since I just finished studying and still living the student lifestyle doesn't look so weird. But if I was 32 instead of 25, this might start questions from friends and family about how I'm not doing something with my life. Of course, even with this approach there is the question of how to invest your money in a way that it doesn't fall in value. Actually, it is going to be interesting to see how this plays out these days when most of the Western world seems to be in a huge debt crisis. This is a more complex question than you can probably solve with armchair economics, because saving money at a rate of interest higher than inflation requires that someone is willing to borrow your money. In the end, you might have to end up buying stocks.