Affluence

In the US today, more people have three cars (19 percent) than own no cars (11 percent). Today 96 percent of American homes have a microwave, 20 percent have a home security system. And 55 percent own a home computer - twice the number of home PC's as in 1993. At the same time, some 1.4 million individuals and businesses declared bankruptcy in 1999; that's double the number as in 1990.

(The American Enterprise, June 2002, pp. 44-45.)