2scents I dont know where you live, but in the frum and litvish and chassidishe communities we have a very high materialisitic standard of living. There are very few and far in between folks willing to live within their means. Many people risk losing their house re-mortgaging it to marry off kids, as they are later in their years and not knowing how they will pay it back.
Many young married ladies dress up beyond their bank account. We all can get caught up into it. Men driving vehicles they cannot justify having, but “everyone has one”. Renovations to the home are part and parcel to the look of one’s home, $$$ keeping up with the Rosenbergs etc. ANONANO has a point. We’ve become like the non Jews, a part of the Americans. We are following in their footsteps. And its no good. Look at the spot we the U.S has gotten ourselves into. 23 Trillion Dollars in DEBT or something like that. That means when it comes and hits home, its going to hurt.. And the commerce experts are not hiding it.
ANANO is in fact making a good point. How can we continue to have such high standards of living when a) most of these boys cannot even write their name in English and b) we discourage pursuits in business.