Yes, the "good old days" when people never spent money on non-essentials. Anyway, here's a comparison of 1973 and 2016 and what the average household spent their income on in various categories based on US Department of Labor stats:
1973:
Housing: 22.3%
Food: 14%
Transportation: 11.4%
Entertainment: 6.2%
Clothing: 5.7%
Healthcare: 4.6%
Alcohol and Tobacco: 2.1%
Education: 1.3%
2016:
Housing: 29.4%
Food: 11.2%
Transportation: 14.1%
Entertainment: 4.5%
Clothing: 2.8%
Healthcare: 7.2%
Alcohol and Tobacco: 1.3%
Education: 2.1%
That works out to:
Higher spending in 2016:
Housing: 32% higher
Transportation: 24% higher
Healthcare: 57% higher
Education: 62% higher
Higher spending in 1973:
Food (including eating out): 25% higher
Entertainment: 38% higher
Clothing: 104% higher
Alcohol and Tobacco: 62% higher.
So basically most of the essentials except for food got more expensive, which led to a reduction in discretionary spending. And those are 2016 numbers; things like housing and transportation have gotten even more expensive since.
|