As Squabble points out, some have already figured out how to abolish economic pain, at least for themselves. Even so, I think there is merit to MTU's economic pain theory. For example, my county went from rural to suburban almost overnight. We are (or were) among the most affluent counties in the country. For many years, we had little economic pain, so we went on a binge, building enormous, ridiculous houses on big lots. Those big ol' pieces of crap are now sitting on the market because people have figured out how idiotic they are. Maybe our current economic pain will make us smarter in the future.