I think you are just not cognizant of the concentration of wealth the U.S. economy - and many but not all - capitalist countries in the world have experienced in the past 2 or 3 decades.
When you literally could not spend all your money on a daily basis fast enough to exhaust it if your life depended on it, then such conspicuous and gratutitous consumption becomes simply a pleasant way to pass some of the time. Nothing to get too excited about...