The Overspent American

Saving less money and watching more TV?

Mentally downplaying your credit card debts?

Always wanting to buy something, no matter what you already have?

Spending more when you associate with people richer than you?

Buying your children more presents instead of spending more time with them?

Feeling you need all of your income to cover basic expenses, whatever your income happens to be?

Wanting more, the more educate and successful you become?

Fantasizing about getting out of an insidious cycle of "work and spend"?

If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, take heart--you're not alone. Millions of middle-class Americans want or need more from their lifestyles as they join the ranks of the new consumer, the "overspent American."

More than a quarter of all families making more than $100,000 a year say they cannot afford to buy everything they need. Overall, half the population of the richest country in the world claims not to be able to afford the basics. And it's not just the poorer half.

"The Overspent American" explores why so many of us feel materially dissatisfied, why we work staggeringly long hours and yet walk around with ever-present mental "wish lists" of things to buy or get, and why Americans save less than virtually anyone in the world. Unlike many experts, Harvard economist Juliet B. Schor does not blame consumers' lack of self-discipline. Nor does she blame advertisers. Instead she analyzes the crisis of the American consumer in a culture where spending has become the ultimate social art.

Juliet Schor presents original research showing how keeping up with the Joneses has evolved from keeping pace with one'sneighbors and others in a similar social set to keeping up with a referent group tat may include co-workers who earn five times one's own salary or television "friends" whose lifestyle is unattainable for the average person. The book also describes the growing backlash of people who are "downshifting" by working less, earning less, and finding balance by getting their lifestyles in sync with their values.