Americans are big on appearances. Gotta seem religious. Gotta seem rich. Gotta seem happy. Gotta seem free.
Seem
crazy how people in brazil used to look up to American living standards, but it turns out americans have more inequality, violence, worse education, health system, worse food, and the list goes on
I swear the biggest lie is that America is somehow a better country because it has houses that are expensive and fast food so that it can import what essentially accounts to slave labor when they finally come over excited to work for lower wages and live in cramped housing without their social networks other than the other slave laborers.
Its probably how we make it how people not climbing financially can still feel superior. No one has to pay the debt if you can keep getting new people on a lower rung.
Do we count mortgages as debt here?
They often are, yes. I’m not sure exactly what “in debt” means to OP. But, when I use it like this I generally mean “negative net worth” not “carrying a line of credit”.
I currently have a balance on a CC, but I don’t consider myself in debt, because it’s smaller than my checking account balance, and that’s smaller than my investment account balance, and that’s smaller than my retirement account balance.
I don’t own a home, but I also didn’t really consider myself “in debt” when I purchased my current car.
Oddly enough I would say I am “in debt to” my CC company, because I do owe money to them and they do not owe money to me. The “to X” part of the phrase restricts my consideration to just two-party financial relationship, in my mind. When you leave off the “to X”, I consider all the financial relationship I have and (roughly) sum over them.
The US is big on wealth inequality, like most third-world countries. Yeah, lots of people are broke, but lots of people are also making 200k/year. Overall we’re definitely struggling, but that doesn’t mean everyone is struggling.
Lemmy also leans both older and into the tech demographic, which tend to be higher paid.
Yeah, close to 6% of the population is making unfathomable amounts of money and the crazy thing is that just 6% of the population is still 20 Million people. You could replace the entire population of Tokyo with American millionaires and still have more to spare to claim New York too.
Cries in near minimum wage UK tech work. The only upside is minimum wage is actually pretty good
Who’s pretending?
We’re all broke. Unless you’re a boomer trying to sell a $0.50 house you bought in the 50s you paid for on a gas station cashier salary. They’re ok for the moment. But even a lot of them are going broke now too. Highest demographic of newly homeless last I heard.
It’s part of our culture. It dates back to when America was new. Plantation owners wanted to pretend we had a rich and powerful economy and history and culture. They made everything pristine and gaudy and exp wove looking but there was no substance. Look at the architectural decisions made in plantation houses and how the elements are still used in homes today.
We pretend we are better than we really are.
I’m guessing not admitting your finances are shit is pretty universal, no need to pick on 'Murica.
There is some truth to what you’re saying but the USA are special about it. It’s like, tbey try to (badly).act as if they had more than enough money but it’s obvious they’re struggling badly. Like a functional addict thinking he’s hiding it but everyone knows and there’s a shared social discomfort in the charade
In debt doesn’t mean broke. People with a mortgage that they are easily paying off have debt. Millionaires and billionaires have millions and billions in debt. Debt itself isn’t bad. Debt can be good.
I would rather no debt, but I kinda need a house because it’s illegal to buy a field and live there in a yurt
The average American is living paycheck to paycheck with bad, high interest debt and killer monthly minimums. Many people roll their underwater car loan into a new underwater car loan. The housing market is taking a turn.
People are mostly broke.
Based on statistical average, or based on your imagination?
I get that we say this culturally, and it’s common. But it’s not that simple.
The point is that being in debt isn’t the same as being broke and living paycheque to paycheque. Rich people have note debt than broke people because banks etc are far more willing to give rich people debt since they can actually pay it back.
Just a small correction there: debt can never be good.
But debt can be necessary, but that is only because some financial institutions have made it so, because many of them make their money from peoples debt.
So they spread the myth that debt is good, despite the fact that the world would be a far better place without debt.
No, debt can be good. If you’re making more money from an asset than the interest on the loan used to buy that asset, it’s good debt.
Good for who?
Rich people always say never to use your own money to start a business.
For the person holding the debt.
Broke, poor, and in debt are three different things.
Broke just means no cash on hand. You can have tons of cash flow and assets but at the moment you are lacking liquidity to pay cash for things. You may or may not have debt. You might have just blown all your cash on a big purchase.
Poor means you have little and earn little and can do little. Debt is often a factor here but you can be poor and not in debt.
People in debt owe money. They might not be struggling at all. Sometimes rich people borrow money because it costs them less than the interest they receive on the cash they have. Or it could be the opposite, it could be crippling every aspect of their lives.
Americans carry a lot of debt on average. My only debit is my mortgage plus the last two weeks of credit card spending. I pay off my card in full every month. I only use the credit card because it offers purchase protection and I get rewards. Not all debt is bad debt, but a lot of it is.
I used to be comfortably poor with no debt. My income, expenses and living standards were low.
Now earning a little over minimum wage and fucking hell life is easy, but largely because I was poor and just got used to not having things. I continue that now.
Because we want to spend our end of days in comfort
While I have no debts, sometimes my bank account is hovering at a $200. I hate the insecurity it gives me.
That’s called Modern Monetary Theory. It’s a fun game until the underlying physics of our little civilizational project fails, that is to say the energy return on pumping oil out of the ground.
who’s pretending they aren’t broke?
Many US-americans.
Stupidity and the art of flexing.
I know that I’m broke and I’ll be working until I either go senile or die. It took me too long to start figuring things out.
And that you were never taught better was intentional.
