[Slava]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Yep. It's funny seeing people blame things like TVs, cars, eating out, traveling, etc. The fact remains, people spend a lower proportion of their income on discretionary spending now than they they did in the '70s and '80s.

Based on US data, in 1973 the average family spent 39.6% of their income on housing, transportation, health care, and education; in 2016 they spent 52.8% of their income on those same things. Meanwhile spending on entertainment, alcohol, and tobacco was nearly 50% higher as a proportion of income in 1973 compared to today.

That’s the issue though; people are spending that amount now and using credit to maximize it. So now they have less cash in the door and as long as they keep that credit rotating it works out...until it doesn’t!