The things we buy!

In the online business section of the NY Times I became interested in a story/study on what/how much countries spend on different things. The article said, "People in Greece spend almost 13 times more money on clothing as they do on electronics. People living in Japan spend more on recreation than they do on clothing, electronics and household goods combined. Americans spend a lot of money on everything." It then showed graphics of the comparison of spending. What people buy is so interesting to me. I had a professor tell me today that if you make at least $40,000/year then you're in the top 1% of the world for wealth! That was so crazy to me. It doesn't seem like you'd be that high up, but considering the rest of the world and the money they have. The US has become a consumer society: we work and make money simply to buy things! Check out the study, it was  interesting  

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/04/business/20080907-metrics-graphic.html