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The poor spend a higher percentage of their income on imports than the rich do.
by bryanlarsen 2y ago
The poor spend a higher percentage of their income on imports than the rich do.
- Rinzler89 2y agoImports that are actually necessary or frivolities? Also, how were poor people surviving without cheap offshore imports before those became a thing?
- mrguyorama 2y agoWell you see that thing used to be made with higher cost American labor, and those workers were paid more, so they could afford the things they were making. When the jobs were shipped overseas, those workers were not able to get higher paying jobs, so they were stuck with less purchasing power, such that even though "stuff" is way cheaper now, all the things that couldn't be built overseas now cost an insanely higher percentage of that worker's take home pay. Sure, you used to have to save up to buy your one pair of shoes per decade, but they mostly lasted a decade. Now you can buy three pairs for the same price, but all together they only last 5 years. You are poorer even though you can "afford" more.
- mecha_ghidorah 2y agoThe poor definitionally spend a higher percentage of their income on just about everything because their income is significantly smaller
- bryanlarsen 2y agoTrue, that is the primary effect. But it holds even if we calculate as a percentage of expenditures rather than as a percentage of income. The poor tend to spend more of their money on hard goods and the rich a higher percentage on services. And of course goods are a lot easier to import than services.