It's very difficult to keep up with that. And that's really the problem. The Joneses, with their Jaguars and four-sided brick estates, set a tough standard for their neighbors with Toyota Corollas and vinyl siding. But the neighbors keep trying. People can spend money all the time and never buy enough, he says.
People can also work all the time and never earn enough.
A healthy economy, spawning millionaires overnight, does not benefit everyone. It favors some and spits out others. Stanley says it's easy to tell the two types apart. He says members of the latter group are seldom prepared for the disappointment that their spending brings. By late 1996, Wadsworth had about paid off his debt.