Nothing wrong with awareness. I didn't care for the feeling of being led, or the opinions they mixed in with statistics. It's too close to what advertizers of products and services do. "Lets manipulate people so they become more aware of being manipulated by OTHER PEOPLE." I may not be as cynical as is appropriate, but I sure am suspicious enough!

Fact is, not having money is a good way to become less of a consumer. When I was in the Air Force, I complained about how little money I made. Now, I make about half. At some point, I realized just how much I was spending on stupid stuff. Don't need that much clothing, don't need $6 tubes of lipstick, 9 'premium' cable channels re-running the same old movies I can rent once for a whole lot less or expensive jewelry when the cheap stuff is often prettier. The whole idea of dumping something because it's no longer 'fashionable' is just idiotic.

I'm refinancing my mortgage. I got off the phone with the loan guy a little while ago. He told me I could skip a payment, and I went all effusive. He asked if I was being sarcastic. (He had reason to believe this - the last message I left him was "TAG, you're it!") I told him "no." I said "You have absolutely NO idea how much that amount of money means to me!" When you don't spend much, you don't need much, and even a small amount matters a LOT. I could get a better paying full-time-all-year job. I'm just happy the way things are.