Money from Nothing (and Chicks are not free)

Do you ever wonder sometimes how it is that so many people seem to have the financial means to be able to shop and shop even though unemployment has been consistently around 9% (its really closer to 18%), home prices are dropping and in spite of Obama's speech to Congress next week, no genuine hope on the horizon for improvement?

Obviously some people are very wealthy, and there's always going to be those who keep living off credit cards, but still.. how is it so many people have so much discretionary money to spend on non-essentials?

"The July Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. shows that foreclosure timelines continue their steady upward trend, as a payment has not been made on the average loan in foreclosure in a record 599 days. Of the nearly 1.9 million loans that are 90 or more days delinquent but not yet in foreclosure, 42 percent have not made a payment in more than a year with an average delinquency of 397 days" -- CalculatedRisk.com

Ahh.. that would explain it.