How not to make things

[Toolmaker51]

Re;

My dad went to a tractor pull...<snip>.......The guy driving the Johnny towed him slowly around the arena three times for everyone to get a good look, with him sitting on the hood looking really dejected.

Per the standard farm tractor, I'd do the same thing. Decorations cost money, better spent on genuine performance. If you hang a license plate frame saying "But I'm Ahead of You!", it's good to have ponies to back it up. Anything else is a trailer queen; all show and no go.

My very oldest mentor always said, commenting on flash and trinkets "Not only they don't work hard enough to earn that money, they waste it." She and her twin sister campaigned in Arabian dressage [horses], like in Santa Barbara and Scottsdale. Their trophies and ribbons line every inch of a room dedicated for display. Tight budget? No multi-million dollar equine ranch, sponsors or inheritance, won many when they were young, working at fast food.

[Frank S]

I sometimes say bling is not zing. all the glitz you can add to something will never make it preform any better without paying attention to the actual workings of it.
As far as the younger generation of today not understanding or caring about the cost or value of something is hardly any different that the few of generations before them. When I was a teenager I worked and saved to buy a motorcycle it was a more than few years old but still in reasonably good condition. I bought it to have transportation to work and to school, but rarely rode it to school since I could just ride the buss and not have to buy the gasoline to ride it. However one day I did ride my Triumph to school. I had spent all day Sunday cleaning it and polishing it up to ride it to school the first time. One of the older guys a townie said I can have a better bike than that if I want one. Good for you how are you going to come up with the money to buy it since as far as I can recall you don't work and were even too lazy to mow yards throughout the summer. My dad will buy me anything I want, all I have to do is tell him I want it.
I didn't quite understand what he meant by telling his father he wanted something I would never even dare to come out and tell my father I wanted something in a demanding way. Had I done so I'm sure that there would have been heck to pay.
Anyway a few days later or maybe a couple of weeks when I got off the buss this kid was rip roaring around the parking lot on a brand new Triumph trident 750 they had just came out. This kid was doing the usual act a fool stuff and as with most times when someone is acting a fool Karma catches up to them. He "T" boned the vice principals car flew head first over the hood of the car and landed in a thorn hedge. Pretty much totally trashed both the car and the bike. This might not have been so bad except the vice principal had come out of his office to see what all the commotion was about. HE walked over to see if the guy was all right then lit into him as only a Vice principal can do. Both barrels blazing. The kid kept saying hay man no problem my dad will buy you a new car what's the big deal
The guy who destroyed the pickup in the video reminds me of the kid in school. no sense of responsibility and no concept of value.