> you've got to flaunt your wealth even if you don't gotta it.
I've noticed this trend with folks who came from an emerging economy. In my case, growing up in an immigrant rich area, it was hard not to notice all of the Korean kids with the designer clothes, and parents picking them up in new BMW, Benz and Lexus cars -- most of whom worked their tails off to get into the choicest colleges. Inquiring about their first generation immigrant parents almost always revealed they worked their asses off in low-end jobs like grocery stores, cleaning services or dry cleaners and often as not lived in crummy apartments in a sketchy part of town. The need to project a "wealthy" image was so great that they often were in deep debt to buy all that stuff. It seemed crazy to me till years later I started to understand better the social pressures that caused this phenomenon.
I've noticed this trend with folks who came from an emerging economy. In my case, growing up in an immigrant rich area, it was hard not to notice all of the Korean kids with the designer clothes, and parents picking them up in new BMW, Benz and Lexus cars -- most of whom worked their tails off to get into the choicest colleges. Inquiring about their first generation immigrant parents almost always revealed they worked their asses off in low-end jobs like grocery stores, cleaning services or dry cleaners and often as not lived in crummy apartments in a sketchy part of town. The need to project a "wealthy" image was so great that they often were in deep debt to buy all that stuff. It seemed crazy to me till years later I started to understand better the social pressures that caused this phenomenon.
Thought this was a great analysis over the issues of the Chinese real estate and why so many people are putting their money into it. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/18/pm...