From the 1920’s to today, society has drastically changed in the way that people value material goods. With access to credit cards and other means of credit that was less available during the 1920’s, people today are fueled to own material goods with a buy-it-now, pay-later attitude. Both periods in history, however, demonstrate the negative effects of materialism in America; equate success with what people have, and not what they have achieved. Material goods are the things that are not really needed to live. They might bring more pleasure and ease to everyday life, however they are not necessary. People often use their ability to buy things that they don't really need in order to display their wealth and worth. They buy jewelry, clothes, cars, and such to show how much money they have. Their worth is in what they own, not in who they really are. There are many similarities between the Roaring Twenties and now. Today seems very much like the 20’s. Bank failures, home foreclosures, people without jobs, the country at war, and government spending are some of the similarities. Then horrible weather conditions, worldwide, somewhat like the Dust Bowl days during the Depression when the whole Great Plains blew away, Hip-Hop music and dancing many think is disgusting because of the lyrics of rapping and body moves that have their counterparts in the past. A similar time occurred just after the end of a victorious World War I when the United States seemed to be the most powerful, productive, and prosperous nation in the world. It was a time when moral standards seemed to relax, the status of women began to change. Short hair, short skirts, loose morals were the order of the day. People had plenty of money, goods and services. “Let the good times roll,” was the motto. Novels such as "The Great Gatsby" leads one to understand that nobody was happy and it seems just about the same today either in spite of all the stuff we have but wan