I thought this was great. I particularly believe that people who like to think of themselves as smart (most of whom are smart, but the two are distinct) are prone to this, because finding a shortcut is a smart person thing to do.

In my opinion, the other temptation of shortcuts is that even middle-class life really is a grind otherwise. Especially if you have kids and you suddenly want a big house (so they and you still have some privacy) in a good school district. Resigning yourself to 30 years of high-stress work to pay for that mortgage doesn't feel good.