WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR TREASURE HUNT?
After Trading Up, I talked to a lot of people about new luxury, and consumers—mostly women—would say, "You only got half the story. You got the trade-up part, but in order for me to afford to trade up, I cut corners." They would tell me stories about particular treasures that they had found. So the book became a demonstration of the fact that the middle-class consumer is actually saving money.
BUT ACCORDING TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, THAT CONSUMER IS IN DEBT.
Here's how the numbers are wrong. Every time you spend money against your...