5 ms·

What is the difference between paying more for the item VS having less money to spend? Both to me seem like being unable to afford the things you need.

Workaccount2 1y ago
Americans buy a ludicrous amount of stuff they only think they need. American consumerism is unrivaled in the world. In the US the poor are the ones who suffer from obesity. From having too many calories available cheaply. Let that sink in. The US is so much further from "needs not being met" than anyone understands.
- bobthepanda 1y ago
  right, but so far the consumerism has been the only thing doing bread and circuses away from the real problems of housing and whatnot. it's interesting that many things like televisions and phones went from being multiples of rent or mortgage payments, to the reverse, so now cutting back on consumer spending to afford necessities wouldn't do a whole lot.
  - Workaccount2 1y ago
    I'm not worried about the consumer aspect at all. It will be painful and maybe pull the wool off all the trumpets eyes, reveling his idiocy. But people are not going to be starving. Maybe starving for new clothes and iPhones like they get all the time. I do worry though about embedded costs up the supply chain the depend on Chinese made things. The parts of parts that go into machines that are made domestically. I think that has potential to be the real knife in the back. Most things need all the pieces to work, and even though the machine is 90% made in USA, the last 10% that is a Chinese export is going to cause pain in all sorts o unexpected places.
- AngryData 1y ago
  The US has one of the largest agricultural sectors in the world, it should be no surprise that food is not in short supply. But we don't live in an era where people live in homes built from local gathered sticks and rocks and just need food to survive, our modern lives depend on far more than just food. Poor people are fat because we made extremely calorie dense foods the cheapest foods, poor people often shop by calorie per dollar, not because they have extra cash to throw around. Try living on the US median wage only and let me know how much ludicrous amount of stuff you can afford.
  - A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
    << Try living on the US median wage only and let me know how much ludicrous amount of stuff you can afford. The question is not what you can afford. The question is what you can get. And whatever else you want to say about US system, it made the ability to show that you have $desired_item257 relatively easy to obtain even at low income level. It is genuinely not impossible to own status luxury items with aggressive financing.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- nebula8804 1y ago
  In the US half of consumer spending is done by only the top 10% [1]: https://hive.blog/economy/@davideownzall/in-the-us-the-top-10percent-of-earners-account-for-half-of-all-consumption https://hive.blog/economy/@davideownzall/in-the-us-the-top-1... There is a lot of poverty in the US.
- jgalentine007 1y ago
  It's more expensive to buy and prepare fresh food than shelf stable ultra processed foods and requires more time. Poor people have access to 'poor' calories. I would wager that children would also inherit the eating habits of poor parents. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20720258/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20720258/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14684391/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14684391/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4254327/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4254327/
- XorNot 1y ago
  This is flat out advocating "the Maduro diet" as a good thing.
- HWR_14 1y ago
  > In the US the poor are the ones who suffer from obesity. Are there any developed countries where "can get enough calories" is a real question?
donavanm 1y ago
Long term savings, productivity increases, and infrastructure investments. Buy less today to have more tomorrow. The us individual hardly saves at all, the US gov/society has financed decades of deficit spending n the outcome of ww2, 20th century global industrialization, and the “exorbitant privilege” of financing/coordinating it. Common opinion is that china has the opposite problem, with massive productivity outputs being shipped overseas and a population base who cant/wont consume their own outputs.

Workaccount2 1y ago

Americans buy a ludicrous amount of stuff they only think they need. American consumerism is unrivaled in the world. In the US the poor are the ones who suffer from obesity. From having too many calories available cheaply. Let that sink in. The US is so much further from "needs not being met" than anyone understands.

bobthepanda 1y ago
right, but so far the consumerism has been the only thing doing bread and circuses away from the real problems of housing and whatnot. it's interesting that many things like televisions and phones went from being multiples of rent or mortgage payments, to the reverse, so now cutting back on consumer spending to afford necessities wouldn't do a whole lot.
- Workaccount2 1y ago
  I'm not worried about the consumer aspect at all. It will be painful and maybe pull the wool off all the trumpets eyes, reveling his idiocy. But people are not going to be starving. Maybe starving for new clothes and iPhones like they get all the time. I do worry though about embedded costs up the supply chain the depend on Chinese made things. The parts of parts that go into machines that are made domestically. I think that has potential to be the real knife in the back. Most things need all the pieces to work, and even though the machine is 90% made in USA, the last 10% that is a Chinese export is going to cause pain in all sorts o unexpected places.
AngryData 1y ago
The US has one of the largest agricultural sectors in the world, it should be no surprise that food is not in short supply. But we don't live in an era where people live in homes built from local gathered sticks and rocks and just need food to survive, our modern lives depend on far more than just food. Poor people are fat because we made extremely calorie dense foods the cheapest foods, poor people often shop by calorie per dollar, not because they have extra cash to throw around. Try living on the US median wage only and let me know how much ludicrous amount of stuff you can afford.
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y ago
  << Try living on the US median wage only and let me know how much ludicrous amount of stuff you can afford. The question is not what you can afford. The question is what you can get. And whatever else you want to say about US system, it made the ability to show that you have $desired_item257 relatively easy to obtain even at low income level. It is genuinely not impossible to own status luxury items with aggressive financing.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
nebula8804 1y ago
In the US half of consumer spending is done by only the top 10% [1]: https://hive.blog/economy/@davideownzall/in-the-us-the-top-10percent-of-earners-account-for-half-of-all-consumption https://hive.blog/economy/@davideownzall/in-the-us-the-top-1... There is a lot of poverty in the US.
jgalentine007 1y ago
It's more expensive to buy and prepare fresh food than shelf stable ultra processed foods and requires more time. Poor people have access to 'poor' calories. I would wager that children would also inherit the eating habits of poor parents. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20720258/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20720258/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14684391/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14684391/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4254327/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4254327/
XorNot 1y ago
This is flat out advocating "the Maduro diet" as a good thing.
HWR_14 1y ago
> In the US the poor are the ones who suffer from obesity. Are there any developed countries where "can get enough calories" is a real question?

donavanm 1y ago

Long term savings, productivity increases, and infrastructure investments. Buy less today to have more tomorrow. The us individual hardly saves at all, the US gov/society has financed decades of deficit spending n the outcome of ww2, 20th century global industrialization, and the “exorbitant privilege” of financing/coordinating it. Common opinion is that china has the opposite problem, with massive productivity outputs being shipped overseas and a population base who cant/wont consume their own outputs.