There have always been spoiled kids, but times have changed a little and also I think that it's a regional thing(?). I was a little shocked when I moved to L.A. after college and saw so many kids with brand new cars that were obviously given to them, even if they were Rabbit convertibles or the like. Lots of BMW 320i's as well.
I grew up in Mpls. and almost no one drove an expensive car in HS. There was one guy who was already working full-time as a baker early in the AM before school who had a new 442 but he was making payments on it. Most kids drove their parent's cars or had cheap used cars. This was not a poor area, pretty upper-middle class. There was a girl I knew whose BF had a brand-new Camaro and people assumed that he was a drug dealer. They were right.
