I must agree with CAR that much of your perception comes from your living in an upper-middle class suburb with busy families anxious to put their kids on the fast track. That is just not a demographic you can connect with. San Diego has lots of other, generally older, neighborhoods where you’d feel more at home.
A bit about France, now vs. those good old days you pine for…the French economy is barely growing, taxes are driving the high achievers in your age group to live in London, social and racial problems abound, and there is little prospect for improvement. Your memories are from the years when Europe was booming and everybody was happier.
Much as I credit our market capitalism for delivering our high standard of living, its downside is how it bombards us with advertising that relentlessly urges us to consume. As a result our values are shaped into being materialistic and equating money with happiness. We work more hours than people in most other countries as a result of this. We can’t defer gratification and we go into debt instead of saving up for our purchases. Being in debt is depressing in the long run, but it makes the marketers happy. The French, like most Europeans, are far better at taming their appetites and living within their means. Your dissatisfaction with our frantic lifestyle is a healthy and understandable impulse.
