The bad news is that we've created a new generation of people suffering from "depression baby syndrome". folks learned that they could do without a lot of luxuries like vacations, new cars, new homes, restaurant meals, ect. That has hindered our service economy, since we have become so productive that fewer than 1 in 10 of us produce the essential stuff that folks still need to purchase to survive in bad times. For that matter, even the Chinese have suffered, since few of them are employed in the task of providing us with essentials.