Quote:
Originally Posted by Good Old Neon
It’s this sort of perverted logic that drives me batty. At one time, if a person couldn’t afford something, and money was tight, they’d save up until they had enough to purchase whatever it was they wanted. You cannot justify taking something just because your purse might be a little light..
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Don't be silly. You're from the country with the highest per capita debt in the world, both when looking at personal and when looking at government debt.
The irrational need to have whatever you desire - which really is just another manifestation of the once-in-vogue this-is-what-makes-america-great consumerism - is utterly ingrained in the way you are raised, and what you are taught through watching TV, "success stories" in the papers or in book form, etc. "Keeping up with the joneses", getting mortgages for houses that are oodles above what you can comfortably pay for, but which doesn't matter because mortgages aren't personal debt, so you can just turn in the key and move on once you run out of cash, needing new cars every year or two years, all of it are just different sides of the same die.
Being a consumer and the need for instant gratification of desires is a large part of what the USA is about (note: I'm talking about the cultural myths that you share and are so taught, and not so much about specific people), and your saying that you don't like some of the behavior that follows from being that way probably won't really fix that, unless your "opinion" somehow becomes the norm.
If you don't like this fact, hey, I agree.. But I'm not sure it's very productive to
blame others for believing in a cultural myth that is so wide-spread, and one that you statistically also believe(d) in, at least until recently.