Bob, you certainly may be right about UCI and 2016. But that's a totally separate issue from why every manufacturer has one: they want to convince rich people with money to part with to buy something they don't really need, for the most part. The U.S. manufacturers are driving the trend, as much as anybody, and no matter how much it gets us into trouble, in the U.S., our economy is based on what we "want," not what we "need."

But as the only major economy in the world where 2/3 of the GDP comes from consumer spending, getting people to buy stuff they don't need is the only way we stay out of recessions.