Kammen, the head of an energy laboratory at Berkeley, says cheap energy enables Western countries to live high on the hog.
They lived high on the hog for several years until they had no money.
The Jones family lives high on the hog .
"Maybe heart disease is God's way of telling us we're living too damn high on the hog," Ford says. "It's hard to practice moderation in this country."
Will Mr Obama's message to bosses that they have "got responsibilities not to live high on the hog" lead to restraint in executive pay more broadly?
If you say you ate high on the hog during a holiday, it means you ate very good or costly food.
