this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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it's true that americans have higher wages and lower taxes compared to the cost of living, but to be honest looking from the outside the main issue for the personal finance of americans that i see is the absurd amount of debt they often take and pay out. for "boosting consumer spending" the government has incentivized a massive industry of credit and usury, and americans (already living paycheck to paycheck) rather than accepting to take a hit to their living standards during a recession, pawn or loan hoping to make the payments later.
the interest americans are paying is ridiculous, genuinely baffling to someone like me who hasn't grown up in that environment but to people who need to borrow to improve their credit score and are used to budgeting monthly as opposed to calculating the total price of something, it sorta makes sense. i think all of us are more optimistic about our future than is warranted, it's just that americans are getting uniquely taken advantage of.
personally i wasn't financially able to buy any dairy or meat products in the last two months. if i was more hopeful about my future and had the same mentality, i probably would've decided to take a loan and ride it out, living like this sucks.
The assumption in your view is that Americans have a choice about the debt they take on. Most Americans use their credit cards to buy things they need because they can't afford it otherwise. Paying it back in monthly installments is cheaper in the short term when living paycheck to paycheck. Long term, of course they're paying more because of the interest rate.
Pretty much nothing is subsidized for the normal American and everything is at exploitation levels of cost.
What are the "needs" here? A pickup truck or crossover or SUV for every adult? Meat for 2 or 3 meals daily? 800 square feet of housing and 0.1 acres of lawn grass per person? A new wardrobe, car, set of furniture, and set of electronics every 2 years?
America is a "3rd-world country with a Gucci belt". If the median American worker (~45k/yr.) did not try to keep up with the Joneses, they would have plenty to live on.
The civilization is unstable, yet the masses continue to buy in.
at the risk of sounding like an asshole, "things they need" can be extremely malleable, and americans are far from scraping the bottom of the barrel. US has always had a major extreme poverty problem compared to other countries due to no adequate social safety net, but that is certainly not most americans.