Despite the rosy numbers, today the typical American family pays for groceries with a Visa card, utilities with a home equity loan, has a six-year loan on their SUV, has no savings, and has both parents working just to keep the family one-step ahead of its creditors. With all this supposed non-inflationary economic growth, why do Americans borrow to pay for everyday necessities which used to be easily financed from incomes, and why has a nation of savers been transformed into one of debtors?
We are an overindulged society that feels entitled to have everything and have it NOW. We have such huuuge salaries compared to the rest of the world, that if we were to drive smallish cars, live in houses of under 1650 sf, and not buy every stupid NEW gadget under the sun, we would be able to save enough to retire in our 40s. We are just spoiled, we want to comsume, and then consume some more. And what’s all this junk we consume? 4000 sf MacMansions? Humongous SUVs, PlayStations?, Designer clothes? It’s all junk. By calling them “necessities” we only fool ourselves and fall deeper into debt.
