I am not in favor of the prosperity gospel and I have met or heard from more critics of it than I can count. But critics of the equally invalid idea that God expects Christians to be poverty-stricken doormats? I can count those on one hand. It makes me doubt the credibility of those who are only attacking in one direction. Also damaging to their credibility is the fact that they can't seem to see the difference between "God doesn't mind if you have a nice car" and "God wants to give you gabs of cash after you send some to me!"
I agree with you, but then again, I am essentially a Puritan in my beliefs. Puritans always believed that we should work hard in order to honor God, and not spend our time acting frivolously. The fact is, that is likely to mean you are going to do better than someone who just sits around. But it also means you have more responsibility to give back to God. I give an increasing portion of my income away every year to my church and other ministries. I could be spending that money on a Jaguar, but I am content with keeping my lifestyle pretty modest and driving a Honda Civic.
But I am really troubled by the ministers that teach you that God guarantees you wealth and prosperity. The best racket is that if you just send money to the television shyster, God *must* multiply it ten-fold. Talk about a corruption of the concept of a tithe.