Originally Posted by Val
I think the point is that this problem is a societal problem, not something at the level of individuals. I'm very concerned that we're creating a nation of young adults who've been taught how to climb a ladder, rather than taught how to make thoughtful decisions.

I think some of the blame lies within the credit bubble. Massive generation of credit that has no reason to exist will cause massive distortions all over the place.

You're giving out free money with no relationship to actual value, like the dot-com instant millionaires and the recent financial fraud. So, the way to the top is status climbing rather than actual work.

Of course, that ended in 2007, so it's going to take a few decades and some sort of massive inflation/default event to really reveal what was going on.