Life is harder now, some experts say

Generation gap: After paying the bills, middle-class pockets are emptier

By Bob Sullivan

Technology correspondent

MSNBC

Updated: 7:12 a.m. ET Oct 16, 2007

Shopping malls are packed every weekend. Restaurants can't open fast enough. Everyone seems to be wearing designer shoes, jackets and jeans and sipping $4 lattes. Credit card commercials constantly advocate splurging and, it seems, U.S. consumers are all too ready to comply.

So what's the problem? Why do so many middle class Americans with so much stuff say they feel so squeezed? If they are dogged by debt, isn’t it their own fault?