I don’t know if it is that high in other countries. We could Google some different countries and see what we come up with. I doubt any country is as high as the US.

I believe the upcoming crash / recession is seriously going to shake things up. I know many people that are so showy with their “wealth” (real or imagined). While I do not wish them harm, I actually believe a little “grounding” will be good for them and our culture. Free money is not all it’s cracked up to be. Criminals get “free money”, how happy are the criminals you know? (I’m not saying you know any).

I think my values are different for a few reasons:

– My parents were upper middle class but never showed it. They drove crappy cars, didn’t spend a lot on much of anything except those things that were really important to them. We never had money troubles or stress; we could do what we wanted because we lived within our means.

– I started working at a very young age and paid for many things myself. I had friends that were quite ostentatious; they got mugged in Hollywood even though they didn’t have a penny in their pockets! I would walk around with hundreds of dollars (as a teenager), but no one bothered me because I didn’t show it.

– I learned early on that possessions do not bring happiness. The greatest happiness in my life has come from accomplishing my goals; money or possessions have had little to do with it.

– Through my travels I have been able to see many cultures that are not possession-oriented. As you wrote, family values, education, conservation, environment, caring for the elderly are priorities. I hope a little of that rubbed off on me.

And you?

I also have another question: If another culture or country had a similar situation as we have had (I’ll call it free money), do you think the people would have acted similarly or differently compared to what we’ve seen here?