> Americans seem to think about these things A LOT. In my experience that's because Americans only talk about personal wealth/income by proxy. They won't talk

> Americans seem to think about these things A LOT. In my experience that's because Americans only talk about personal wealth/income by proxy. They won't talk about how much they earn, but they will talk about how much they pay for rent, or talk about taxes, etc. It's a way to gauge how much the people you know are making in a system where the concept of pay grade doesn't exist across companies.