Yep Pathos I saw a recent study of relative happiness in different countries presented teevee style. they interviewed a group from the "happiest" country, Denmark. they have a 50% tax. But everything is taken care of. While you go to school? payed. health problems? Payed. They still wanted to suceed, but at more enlightened tasks. Like the rejected spouse in the MSN piece. All this status seeking in our fear based culture is aimed at what? Feathering the nest, it's a healthy natural response. Necessary to survival. Healthcare has to come out of a fat paycheck these days in the USA. as well as everything else a family needs, that kids need, freedom from the fear of uncertainty these outsourced jobs impell. Kids need freedom from the subtle psychological pressure of developing under sudden financial disaster. We are all of us, uinsured or under insured or tenuously insured through tyranical employers, one accident or tumor away from destitution. The horror for a child of watching dad die because he can't afford insurance? It's just too much. So can anyone blame her for wanting a financially successful spouse? Nope. But why don't we all get together and blame the healthcare system, or lack thereof? In Denmark they seemed much less pressured on this front. I think the pressures of a corporatist mess of a culture makes us all pawns, preying on each other eventually. We want a fellow agent of chaos to fight the tyranny with, not a nagging spouse. This status seeking behaviour seems like betrayal somehow. more later....