There are a lot of reasons, and that's why I specified my theory that Moore's Law played, "at least a small role."
I see a good number of folks in the Millenial age range lining up for the latest iPad, smart phone, Wiis, X-boxes, etc. They pay well above MSRP just to have the latest, and within a year (often less), are standing in line again.
While a small portion of these folks may actually need to stay on the cutting edge to remain competitive in their respective lines of work, I suspect most of them do so for some type of weird generational status thing or simply for entertainment, and in doing so, invest in things that are certain to rapidly lose value.
Yup, that's exactly right. And "easy money" available on Credit Cards makes that possible. That, and the natural disconnect between just swiping a piece of plastic (payable later) and actually counting out $300 (How long did I work to make this much???) makes the process a whole lot more simple. "I want it, and I can get it, therefore I *will* have it", seems to be the mindset amongst some (most?) of the younger generation.
'Keeping up with the Joneses' isn't a new concept. However, giving darn near anyone the ability to do just that, is - at least for the last generation or so.