After the 30's depression, our parents who where children at the time saved, grew vegetables, canned and bottled and darned socks rather than throwing the holey ones away. By dint of hard work they gave us, their children a priveledged life style but often forgot to impart the lessons of their past. Besides who could believe in only having butter or peanut butter or jam on their bread when so much was available. We all had all three. In the mean time America exploited the whole world for her pleasure much as Britian did in an earlier age and put us in danger of an ecological meltdown of the whole world. What we lack as a species is effective long term memory.