

Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn - crocus
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/733/luxury-necessity-recession-era-reevaluations

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frossie
Given how correlated these trends are, I am not sure what is changing is the
desire for any particular item, but the actual interpretation of the word
"necessity". I suspect what is happening is that when financial security is
low, necessity is applied as a term close to its actual definition, whereas in
times of financial plenty it starts wandering up the scale towards "want".

That said, I boggle at the clothes dryer rank.

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asciilifeform
> I boggle at the clothes dryer rank

Some American towns actually forbid residents from hanging clotheslines.

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ams6110
True, but it's usually a neighborhood association rule, not something that
applies to a whole town.

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Femur
Slightly off topic, but related none-the-less: something that has always
bothered me about "necessities" is that 99% of US households have a TV [1] but
at the same time, ~12% are in poverty. [2] How do "necessities" like this tie
into poverty?

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_in_the_United_States> [2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States>

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Xichekolas
In America, you are poor if you only have one TV.

(The statistic you point out has bothered me for a long time, but it's hard to
control people's spending priorities, and it's not like these people are
buying new flatscreens with welfare checks. You can drive around any college
town during May or August and pick up a working TV for free off the curb.)

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Femur
>it's not like these people are buying new flatscreens with welfare checks

this is a very good point. I wonder if there is data around that examines how
welfare checks are spent.

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krschultz
What do you mean by "welfare". Food stamps are accepted at certain locations
for certain items. Unemployment insurance is a general check - but that isn't
exactly welfare.

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Femur
I meant welfare to mean cash payments to the poor as provided for in the
Welfare Reform act of 1996. [1]

You brought up a good point to differentiate this from food stamps and
unemployment.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_Reform_Act_of_1996>

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tdavis
The fact that 50% of people still believe things like a TV, Microwave, and
central A/C are "necessities" means we have a very long way to go. I guess I
can be happy it dropped from 60%.

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schwanksta
Have you ever lived in the south? A/C is very much a necessity.

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Femur
Yet people did it. My parents grew up in St. Louis without air conditioning.
It gets uncomfortable but is not unlivable.

People live in the tropics without it. It is not a necessity.

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nihilocrat
I'm really confused how people got along before A/C. If the A/C is broken or
otherwise off, your windows are down and fans are running everywhere, and you
are completely naked, it still feels like you are sitting inside a very hot
wet oven.

I can hardly do anything but think of ways to get away from the heat (cold
shower, going into the shade outside, going someplace with A/C) and falling
asleep usually takes about four more hours than it should as I wallow around
like a pig. Every 6-month 100-degree summer reminds me why I need to move out
of the South.

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Femur
I asked my dad the same thing and here was his trick to fall asleep at night:

He had a ceiling fan but no AC. So he would wrap himself in a blanket until he
was soaked with sweat. Then he took the blanket off and laid on his sheet and
let the fan blow on him thereby evaporating the sweat. This would cool him
down and allow him to sleep.

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Xichekolas
I'm rather blown away that 49% of 18-29 year-olds consider a land line phone
to be a necessity.

I think the last time I had a land line was a decade ago, when I was 17. And I
live in the decidedly non-cutting-edge midwest. Even my parents haven't had a
land line in years.

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randrews
When I was laid off a little over a month ago, I was looking for things to get
rid of. Even though I have a cellphone, I kept the landline: I knew I was
going to be doing a lot of interviews over the phone, and I knew that my
cellphone drops a lot of calls and generally sounds crappy inside the house.

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kiba
The average middle class citizen have access to luxuries unheard of even for
kings and queen ages ago.

What is luxury very often become the masses' necessity through free maket
process.

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krschultz
What about the internet? I don't have a TV but I wouldn't give up the internet
because my work depends on it - but for others it would be a luxury.

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access_denied
In your case internet connection is not household item but office equipment.

