Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don't want..to impress people that they don't like.

The line criticizes conspicuous consumption: people work to earn money, then divert it into purchases driven by status anxiety rather than genuine need or desire. The final clause—trying to impress people they don’t even like—sharpens the satire by exposing how social comparison can override personal values and relationships. Read this way, the quote functions as a moral and economic warning: when identity is built through display, spending becomes performative, debt-prone, and emotionally hollow. Whether or not Rogers coined it, the sentiment fits a long tradition of American humorists and social critics who mocked keeping up appearances and urged simpler, more self-directed living.