Down to EarthEllyn Schoen sees obscene displays of wealth every day as founder of Baby J Catering, a New York City catering company that serves wealthy clients in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Greenwich, Connecticut.

In Manhattan, she sees corporate jets and personal drivers as two coveted status symbols, and she detects an intense social-climbing phenomenon underway among the city's twenty- and thirtysomethings. It's a topic Schoen, 45, discusses regularly with friends and colleagues. "Now it's like everybody has money. Where does it come from? And they're [getting] younger and younger," she says.