Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unions!

And yes, people should reject consumerism. It’s stupid. But unions are a way to fix lots of problems.

How would unions improve the savings rates?

They might improve salaries, maybe, but that has nothing to do with savings.

Of course it does. When you make more money it’s easier to save.

So your theory is that wages for everything should be higher but the cost of everything will remain the same?

Or is it that now that once people have more money they won’t change their consumption habits? Won’t buy a nicer home/car/clothes/vacation etc?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unions!

And yes, people should reject consumerism. It’s stupid. But unions are a way to fix lots of problems.

How would unions improve the savings rates?

They might improve salaries, maybe, but that has nothing to do with savings.

Of course it does. When you make more money it’s easier to save.

Anonymous wrote:Unions!

And yes, people should reject consumerism. It’s stupid. But unions are a way to fix lots of problems.

How would unions improve the savings rates?

They might improve salaries, maybe, but that has nothing to do with savings.

There are millions of MC and UMC people who simply have no savings discipline. Money burns a hole in their pockets and easy credit is.....easy.

Anonymous wrote:Companies and culture have an incentive to shout their message over and over "buy this!" (translation: give me your money!).

No entity is out there shouting the message "SAVE MORE!"

So many people are trying to fill up their boredom or insecurities with purchases.

+1

Stop complaining. Life is good. We live much better than past generations.
Consumerism is what keeps the economy growing. We work more, produce more and we consume more.
The moment we work less, produce less and consume less, our society will crumble and we will become a 3rd world country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sad commentary on late-stage capitalism anyway. Back when we had strong unions and high taxes on upper tax brackets, working Americans weren't living so close to the edge.

This isn't true in any way. People just didn't feel as entitled to as many things so savings rates were higher. There was less access to credit so there was a lower level of personal debt. People saved for what they needed and prioritized.

+1 Yes, it is a behavioral change, not attributable to politics.

Anonymous wrote:Sad commentary on late-stage capitalism anyway. Back when we had strong unions and high taxes on upper tax brackets, working Americans weren't living so close to the edge.

This isn't true in any way. People just didn't feel as entitled to as many things so savings rates were higher. There was less access to credit so there was a lower level of personal debt. People saved for what they needed and prioritized.

Why do you think people are buying? We hardly buy anything other than food and with monthly bills in addition to student debt, we have no spending power to speak of. What is worse is that people think my dh and I are wealthy because of our jobs.

I work at a tech company, so most people here are fairly well paid.

Had a coworker who just came back from a trip abroad complain that she would have to pay back her credit cards for the next 6 months or so.

Then a few weeks later she told me she just got a $3,000 living room set. "You can't just have nothing in your living room!!!"

I grew up poor and my parents were living paycheck to paycheck because they made very little money, so I understand the poverty cycle rather too well. It's insulting when you see people with well paying jobs willingly subject themselves to that life.

Companies and culture have an incentive to shout their message over and over "buy this!" (translation: give me your money!).

No entity is out there shouting the message "SAVE MORE!"

So many people are trying to fill up their boredom or insecurities with purchases.

Unions!

And yes, people should reject consumerism. It’s stupid. But unions are a way to fix lots of problems.

Sad commentary on late-stage capitalism anyway. Back when we had strong unions and high taxes on upper tax brackets, working Americans weren't living so close to the edge.

Well that sounds like 2007 all over again. And yet somehow holiday retail sales were record high?? I just don’t get what people are thinking.

Only 48 percent of respondents told LendingTree in a recent survey that they could cover a $1,000 emergency using either cash or bank account savings, despite the fact that these types of expenses occur quite frequently.

https://start.att.net/news/read/article/fox_news-only_this_many_americans_can_cover_a_1000_emergenc-rfoxnews/category/finance