
A new survey shows how many families are on the edge financially - uptown
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/one-third-of-american-households-cant-afford-food-shelter-or-medical-care-2017-09-27
======
jbob2000
One-third of Americans probably also have full mobile phone and digital cable
packages, the latest iPhone, eat out twice a week, and drive a brand new Ford.

Every time I visit the states, I am shocked by the consumerism that pervades
every aspect of their lives. Visiting friends and relatives down there, I am
shocked at how full their houses are with _junk_ ; toys litter the floors, TVs
in every room (bathroom too), drawers and closets full of yesterday's
electronics and toys, etc.

It's no wonder 1/3 people are on edge financially, it seems like you aren't
"American" unless you're buying the latest crap you see on TV. The American
identity is heavily tied to consumerism.

~~~
onion2k
There's no evidence that the third of Americans in this survey are the same
third you claim spend unwisely. That's just your prejudice talking. You
presumably don't want to face the fact almost half of the citizens of the
richest country in the world aren't doing very well. It's easy to blame them.
It doesn't help though.

Also, even if there was evidence that it was their own fault for spending
badly, the idea that poor people should be able to ignore the psychological
pressure of social status, peer envy, and plain old marketing is ridiculous.
Google, Facebook, etc make _billions_ of dollars facilitating advertising to
people - they wouldn't be able to do that if it didn't work. It seems
decidedly unfair and unreasonable to say poor people should be ignoring what
advertisers put in front of them when no one else is judged for buying stuff.

------
igravious
This gets posted on the same day as the news that median pay at FaceBook tops
$240,000
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16854885](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16854885)
and at Alphabet is nearing $200,000
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16957855](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16957855)

Make of that what you will.

