Economy Why are Americans so terrible with money?

Richmma80

Richmma80

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A lot of people I know are 1 paycheck away from getting evicted but they spend GORILLIONS of dollars on useless shit and vacations.


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They're just following the lead of their government.

It doesn't matter how much money you make, if you spend more than you make, you will build debt.

And it doesn't matter how little money you make, if you spend less than you make, you will build savings.

Most people would rather appear to be doing well than actually do well. Actually doing well takes hard work and sacrifice.
 
It's an entitlement thing. Everyone believes they "deserve" things even when they can't afford it. Look at college debt. Look at everyone driving new cars. Where are the junkers we grew up with? Look at cruise ships filled with people on food stamps.
 
Some of it is "fuck it" spending. For example gen Z feels, and not without cause, that they'll never be able to afford big purchases like a house. In the US it's a little more possible, but in Canada the housing market is completely fucked. Since they figure they'll be in apartments forever, they might as well buy the Hermès handbag or w/e.
 
I think the hyper-consumerism and the "fake til you make it" culture have some impact on it. To much value given to "brands"... hell, some poor fools consider themselves brands (social media doesnt help).
On average how often a person buy a new smartphone? And it gotta be the latest iphone release, otherwise "you look poor" as some people like to joke around here.

For reference, I only buy a new smartphone when the old one breaks down and even so I'll try cheaper ways to keep it working lol. It's not because I can't buy a new one, it's because it has no added value to me. I'm from a poor country though, so that's why I think about the culture.
I also think the cold war had an impact too, the biggest weapon USA had against URSS was to show to the world what an average person could buy and have in his daily life while some poor soviet could only change his broken TV once a decade. That time is long gone, but the idea of getting new shinny stuff constantly became really attached to the idea of personal freedom because in a sense it's true. The individual has the personal freedom to make a really dumb choice of buying a gucci bag with his money while getting his electricity cut off because he's defaulting the payments for lack of money. It's dumb, but it's his right to do so.
 
I Am Legion said:
It's an entitlement thing. Everyone believes they "deserve" things even when they can't afford it. Look at college debt. Look at everyone driving new cars. Where are the junkers we grew up with? Look at cruise ships filled with people on food stamps.
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I have family like this. They make dogshit for money but they go to more concerts, more vacations and more cruises than I do. They also love casinos. When they get questioned on their spending habits they just say something like what do you think I should just stay at home and not do anything because I don't make as much money as you?
 
Media, especially social media really drives people towards this. I'd imagine the Cold War concept of the American Dream didn't help either. Like if you don't have a big ass house and car to fit your ten kids then the communists win. This is all an extension of that.
 
They should only wear grey rags and eat gruel made from bags of oats for horses, and water (no sugar or milk). They should use 30-year-old phones with cracked screens from charity shops, and buy their shoes at Dollar Tree. A trip to the state capital once a year on a chartered coach, with a bottle of beer and a hamburger at the lakeside and they'd be damn lucky to have it.

Who do these serfs think they are, that they are entitled to enjoy life and have fun and nice things?

Actually I think all the air should be sucked into giant tanks, and you should have to insert coins into vending machines to fill up your personal tank, and you should be forced to upload a thank-you video lasting at least five minutes to Youtube every month, thanking the Capitalists who own everything and extract the great majority of the life time and energy of the population, in the form of money, while contributing nothing, for the privilege of doing so.
 
Household debt to gdp or income suggests Americans aren't that bad.

That being said, poor people are just dumb in general.
 
We live in a consumer culture, which I guess congratulations to us because you have to reach a high level of prosperity before you can become a consumer culture. but it does come with the side effect of creating a society of envy and entitlement. People spend every dime they have on luxuries, and quite a few dimes they don't have, and are still angry at anybody who has more, which is why everyone who demands higher taxes only want the higher taxes to kick in for people making more than them and never themselves, and do so from an expensive laptop or smart phone on a $60k/year college campus.
 
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