Well quite. But that doesn't change the fact that enforcing poorer lifestyles will inevitably affect the incentive to work hard. This website is in no small part about startups and getting rich, isn't it?

Personally, I'm forced to compete because I live in a stupidly overpriced part of the world in terms of housing (SE UK) but apart from a nice house I need very little to support my ego apart from my dog and family, so I think I'd cope with the poorer lifestyle far better than many people I see around me, seeming to have built their self-worth around posessions and silly crazes.