Time spent to acquire those things isn't real? To be fair I don't know what theil is on about, but in general we face serious economic issues. To say, there won't be a cataclysmic crash may be a reasonable conclusion, I don't know, but it misses that every day is an economic cataclysm for most Americans whether they realize it or not. These metrics fail to capture simple realities like, I am in the top ~15% of household incomes in the US and I can't afford to eat out; the idea of furnishing my home and getting the landscaping done is a total fantasy.