Unreasonable?

I recently watched a segment on Good Morning America about the economy and how all the indicators are positive (ie., the stock market is up, unemployment rates are low, gas prices have come down, inflation is low, etc.), but yet many Americans are still feeling strapped. I've wondered about that and come to the conclusion the problem isn't that Americans don't make enough money, it's that the standard of living we expect is so high it's almost unreasonable. It used to be that the average American family had one car. Now everyone "needs" two or MORE cars. A dishwasher, washer & dryer, and microwave used to be considered luxuries. Now they are necessities. Most families used to have one TV that received two or three channels. Now most families have multiple television sets, each connected to cable or satellite with DVR receivers. Children used to ask for dolls or train sets for Christmas. Now six year olds are asking for their own i-Pods, cell phones, and laptop computers! We eat out more, take more lavish vacations, and have more "stuff." More seems to be the catchword of our day. We live lives of greater comfort and ease than most of history's royalty. I've figured that it would take an income of at least a quarter million dollars a year for an average size family to sustain the lifestyle most Americans expect. Is that unreasonable, and for most of us unrealistic? I think it is . We (I!) would be wise to learn that the way ot get everything we want is to simply want less!