Selling Luxury With Lust-- The Source of America's Credit Crunch

Although I am not an advocate of Taoist philosophies of societal control, I think Lao Tzu may have been on to something. According to this school of thought, the "aristocracy" should keep the "common people" ignorant of the "aristocracy's" wealth and luxury. In this country, there is a cable television channel devoted entirely to glorifying the "lifestyles of the rich and the famous." This kind of media only tantalizes the common people with the kind of eccentric luxury and sex they will never have or experience. Now what does this have to do with debt? You may ask. As most savvy business people and financial managers will say, one should only owe money on an investment. When one goes into debt to afford a luxury that will only depreciate in value, i.e. luxury vehicles, expensive meals, and vacations, they are only paying extra to pretend to afford a luxury that is beyond their means. This frivolous use of credit is expanding the money supply to dangerous levels, that could possibly result in a recession. As a citizen of this country it is our responsibility control our lust for things we cannot have. Our collective irresponsibility is slowly but surely destroying the economy we have worked so hard to create.