That definitely part of it. Ask yourself, how can you expect the citizens of the country to act in a financially responsible way when their government can not?
If the Chinese decide to start financing our spending orgy, for the last 30 years of so, we are done, plain and simple.
These idiots you speak, are the same ppl. that would read a book, one of my personal favorites, The Millionaire Next Door and scoff at it.
Let's not forget their 40k Expeditions they must have to haul their kids and their sports equipment to practice. I have heard many the same argument from the yuppie moms I used to live next to in OC, CA. How many actually own vs. lease.
One of my friends, whom I try to talk sense into, sold his paid off car because he had a small problem, would have cost, max $500 to fix, traded it in, got screwed on that trade in, and bought a 23k Minivan so he could haul his camera equipment around for his side biz he no longer likes after a year and wants to get rid of. Now he's back in debt, refinanced he house to pay off consumer debts and his minivan and has little equity left. Just stupid.
This is one of the reason I like foreign women, especially European. They know the value of money, they have had to work damn hard to get it and they don't waste it like the avg. American. Americans, in general, have a disposable mentality, even me, compared to someone from Eastern Europe or parts of Asia.
Mark my words, and this is nothing new, as many on ET are smart enough to figure this out, if the USD continues to decline and we as a country to rack up debt, Americans over time will suffer a noticeable decline in standard of living which will leave many, like my friend, whining that they have to mow their own lawn and clean their own house.
My comments, as noted, are generalities not absolutes. Some of us have financial sense, the rest in the US will learn at their most desperate time.
P.S. I had to laugh when most of the ppl. in line for an IPOD on Friday looked in the early teens/20's and most can't even afford an down payment on a house. Take that $600 junk and keep it.