I'm with Debbie & Steve on that, I think the problem is mostly wanting to live over your means. Middle class people now expect many luxuries as natural, and standards of living have risen. So much that the "real rich" now shy away from Gucci purses and stuff because too many soccer mom have them. Adding to that is the younger workforce who was raised in middle class families where parents after many years scrimping & saving could afford life luxuries: nice vacations, McMansions (2nd or 3rd home), designer clothes, ..., and now expect those thing at the start of their career. Sure then, they can't afford to save for retirement, because of they have to pay for the jet ski, the week-end cottage, the European vacation, the private school, ...
I see this around me a lot, but usually refrain from commenting on it because my own situation gets thrown back at me. Sure we are 30 year old with good salaries and have no kids yet, but it always irks me to hear: "Wait till you have kids, ...". Not everyone around me have 2 great incomes like us, often the wife/girlfriend has a lower paying job, but still, they have a bigger/newer house than mine (because the kids "need" it), fancier clothes, 2 cars, cell phones, ... We are lucky in some things: degrees in high-paying jobs, family help to buy first home when market was low, working in the same neighbourhood for the car thing, ..., but we also see eye-to-eye on the reasonable spending/saving things (well, I like to save more, but my boyfriend gently indulge me!). We made choices to obtain that quality of life, those vacations, and many complainers could make the same choices up to a certain extend.
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