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This is called the myth of overconsumption. It creates a simple fairy tale that financial success or failure rests solely on the individual. It allows people

This is called the myth of overconsumption. It creates a simple fairy tale that financial success or failure rests solely on the individual. It allows people to ignore wage stagnation, inflation, rising costs of critical goods and services, rising inequality, and fundament structural inequities with society. Here's a more in-depth academic paper that provides data beyond unsourced colloquialisms if you're interested. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol82/iss4/8/ https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol82/iss4/8...

newfriend 5y ago
And this is the myth of "The Man is keeping me down". It allows people to ignore that their choices are by far the biggest factor in what happens in their lives, and instead allows them blame society and take no responsibility.
- ranma4703 5y ago
  Your unsourced colloquialisms is a pretty tone deaf response to this comment, but I guess you're demonstrating their point, good job
- nickthemagicman 5y ago
  I think your claim is partially true. People can make good/bad choices but the amount and types of choices a person even has available to them, is very dependent on pre-existing family success/wealth. Jeff Bezo's kids will have more choices/opportunities than a middle class kid who will have more choices/opportunities than a poor kid. Starving Syrian Refugess have very minimal choices or opportunities. So your average middle class or poor person has some choices but is much more at the mercy of their ENVIRONMENT than Jeff Bezo's kids who can bend the environment to their will with money. Your heels seem pretty dug into your belief's so there's a good chance I'm wasting my time by talking to you but whatever.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- YrAz3EGttt 5y ago
  There's a spectrum between the extremes of "over consumption" and "the man is keeping me down". And in the middle there's also "simply playing the hand you're dealt". Looking at the comments here, it seems like people cherry pick anecdotes or statistics to support their beliefs about the distribution.
caseysoftware 5y ago
Here's some sourced data for my claims to look at the "myth" if you're interested: "65% of Americans are still paying for cable TV." "According to cable cord-cutting subscribers statistics for 2018, the average viewer in the US can save up to $104 per month by taking the plunge." Ref: https://techjury.net/blog/cable-tv-subscribers-statistics/ https://techjury.net/blog/cable-tv-subscribers-statistics/ "According to Zagat, if you are like the average American, you go out for lunch and dinner 4.9 times each week." Ref: https://us1035.iheart.com/featured/sarah/content/2018-01-09-how-many-times-a-week-does-the-average-american-dine-out/ https://us1035.iheart.com/featured/sarah/content/2018-01-09-... Average credit card debt in 2020: $5315 Ref: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/consumer-credit-review/ https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/consumer-credit-...
- YrAz3EGttt 5y ago
  Even if we assume these websites to be accurate, The data and conclusions are wildly speculative and ask more questions than answer. This isn't remotely evidence for your claim. What are the demographics by age, geography for the people paying for cable tv, going out for dinners 5 times a week and that have $5k of credit card debt. You seem to be assuming they are all the same people, and you are assuming that correlation is causation. Besides, even I indulge - The link you shared about cord cutting statistics, if you read through the link, its making the point that cutting the cord was on the rise and in 2018 increased by 32.8% compared to 2017. In 2018 alone 33M people canceled their TV subscription. Seems like your data suggests people are increasingly doing what you want them to do, cutting the cord and saving money. The link about people going out for lunch and dinner, it actually doesn't have any data in it. It appears to be a blog by a private citizen. The link you shared about credit card debt, well that actually says that average credit card debt reduced by 14% from 2019 to 2020, while the avg fico across all generations increased. Seems like another trend that you wanted people to do. Surprisingly it also says that while avg credit card debt reduced from 2019 to 2020, student loan debt increased the highest of any debt category, by 9%. Should I be concluding that people have been cutting the cord and saving money on cable tv, reducing credit card debt and investing in education? Or are we just cherry picking statistics to support a belief without really looking at the data.
- 5y ago

newfriend 5y ago

And this is the myth of "The Man is keeping me down". It allows people to ignore that their choices are by far the biggest factor in what happens in their lives, and instead allows them blame society and take no responsibility.

ranma4703 5y ago
Your unsourced colloquialisms is a pretty tone deaf response to this comment, but I guess you're demonstrating their point, good job
nickthemagicman 5y ago
I think your claim is partially true. People can make good/bad choices but the amount and types of choices a person even has available to them, is very dependent on pre-existing family success/wealth. Jeff Bezo's kids will have more choices/opportunities than a middle class kid who will have more choices/opportunities than a poor kid. Starving Syrian Refugess have very minimal choices or opportunities. So your average middle class or poor person has some choices but is much more at the mercy of their ENVIRONMENT than Jeff Bezo's kids who can bend the environment to their will with money. Your heels seem pretty dug into your belief's so there's a good chance I'm wasting my time by talking to you but whatever.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
YrAz3EGttt 5y ago
There's a spectrum between the extremes of "over consumption" and "the man is keeping me down". And in the middle there's also "simply playing the hand you're dealt". Looking at the comments here, it seems like people cherry pick anecdotes or statistics to support their beliefs about the distribution.

caseysoftware 5y ago

Here's some sourced data for my claims to look at the "myth" if you're interested: "65% of Americans are still paying for cable TV." "According to cable cord-cutting subscribers statistics for 2018, the average viewer in the US can save up to $104 per month by taking the plunge." Ref: https://techjury.net/blog/cable-tv-subscribers-statistics/ https://techjury.net/blog/cable-tv-subscribers-statistics/ "According to Zagat, if you are like the average American, you go out for lunch and dinner 4.9 times each week." Ref: https://us1035.iheart.com/featured/sarah/content/2018-01-09-how-many-times-a-week-does-the-average-american-dine-out/ https://us1035.iheart.com/featured/sarah/content/2018-01-09-... Average credit card debt in 2020: $5315 Ref: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/consumer-credit-review/ https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/consumer-credit-...

YrAz3EGttt 5y ago
Even if we assume these websites to be accurate, The data and conclusions are wildly speculative and ask more questions than answer. This isn't remotely evidence for your claim. What are the demographics by age, geography for the people paying for cable tv, going out for dinners 5 times a week and that have $5k of credit card debt. You seem to be assuming they are all the same people, and you are assuming that correlation is causation. Besides, even I indulge - The link you shared about cord cutting statistics, if you read through the link, its making the point that cutting the cord was on the rise and in 2018 increased by 32.8% compared to 2017. In 2018 alone 33M people canceled their TV subscription. Seems like your data suggests people are increasingly doing what you want them to do, cutting the cord and saving money. The link about people going out for lunch and dinner, it actually doesn't have any data in it. It appears to be a blog by a private citizen. The link you shared about credit card debt, well that actually says that average credit card debt reduced by 14% from 2019 to 2020, while the avg fico across all generations increased. Seems like another trend that you wanted people to do. Surprisingly it also says that while avg credit card debt reduced from 2019 to 2020, student loan debt increased the highest of any debt category, by 9%. Should I be concluding that people have been cutting the cord and saving money on cable tv, reducing credit card debt and investing in education? Or are we just cherry picking statistics to support a belief without really looking at the data.
5y ago