4 ms·

I think you're half right, but missing a big piece of the puzzle. I agree with you that people's spending habits don't make sense. I see young people complaini

I think you're half right, but missing a big piece of the puzzle. I agree with you that people's spending habits don't make sense. I see young people complaining about having to live with their parents when near their 30s who still think a two week vacation with a nice rental and eating out ever night is a basic human right. I'm constantly horrified how many people simply cannot cook their own food. The wouldn't know how to make a good rice and beans dish if they had to. But the part you're missing is that our current system cannot survive without this spending. That FAANG job that paid you so well, where do you think all that cash came from? My friends making money for insta are basically making that money selling avocado toast. If people started living like their great depression era relatives they wouldn't be able to afford houses because our entire economic system would break down.

TuringTest 4y ago
That piece of the puzzle is systemic, but it has a personal side as well, overlooked by people who claim things like the avocado toast guy is right. Humans need an escape valve to relieve stress without going crazy. In today's society, these escape valves cost money; so people do need to spend some money on a little affordable luxury, whether it's going to the movies, playing video games or indulging in a tasty food. Perhaps in the past the destitute poor could find some free escape valves to this end, but modern urban society limits access to the social interactions and natural resources that made them possible. It is a fallacy to suppose that living a monastic life would save enough money to get out of this extreme situation. Even discounting the mental imbalance it would cause, if your income is so limited, the meager savings of suppressing these small luxuries would not radically change your financial situation.
- sw104 4y ago
  It depends how much flow the escape valve controls. Anecdotally, I used to have neighbours who would order food delivery religiously, multiple times per day, every day. It must have costed a small fortune. Not enough for buying a home, but enough to do something better with.
jay_kyburz 4y ago
I think the idea that the economy needs "momentum" to work is a really interesting topic. Wealth and value is generated as a result of people spending money on things they don't strictly need. That if everybody were to buy exactly only what they need and nothing else, the whole economy grinds to a halt, and we have mass unemployment, and suddenly you can't even buy those few needs that everybody has.

TuringTest 4y ago

That piece of the puzzle is systemic, but it has a personal side as well, overlooked by people who claim things like the avocado toast guy is right. Humans need an escape valve to relieve stress without going crazy. In today's society, these escape valves cost money; so people do need to spend some money on a little affordable luxury, whether it's going to the movies, playing video games or indulging in a tasty food. Perhaps in the past the destitute poor could find some free escape valves to this end, but modern urban society limits access to the social interactions and natural resources that made them possible. It is a fallacy to suppose that living a monastic life would save enough money to get out of this extreme situation. Even discounting the mental imbalance it would cause, if your income is so limited, the meager savings of suppressing these small luxuries would not radically change your financial situation.

sw104 4y ago
It depends how much flow the escape valve controls. Anecdotally, I used to have neighbours who would order food delivery religiously, multiple times per day, every day. It must have costed a small fortune. Not enough for buying a home, but enough to do something better with.

jay_kyburz 4y ago

I think the idea that the economy needs "momentum" to work is a really interesting topic. Wealth and value is generated as a result of people spending money on things they don't strictly need. That if everybody were to buy exactly only what they need and nothing else, the whole economy grinds to a halt, and we have mass unemployment, and suddenly you can't even buy those few needs that everybody has.