As other people have posted elsewhere in this, purchasing power and the economy is linked to the incentives that cause people to burn out. You keep pushing against the tide because you want that promotion or raise because costs go up over time. Or because you want to do something costly that you think will improve your life, such as having a child or moving somewhere or fixing an annoyance in your life.

Some people surely burn out because they're just obsessive, but many people, myself included, slide into it because "just 4 more months of this and I can afford X".