Wages versus prices aside, the standard of living and quality of life has been in decline since the mid-1970s but there is almost no discussion or acknowledgement of that. Americans are made to feel guilty about being low wage.
All of which fuels the demand for revolving credit (credit cards and pay day loans). On this chart, the birth of revolving credit happens right at the point the OP article cites: 1974. And here we are 39 years later with a trillion dollars on cards that charge 12 to 28%
They have gotten better at goosing the demand for credit and getting people in deep. Every November there is a big mailing of card offers, promos. limit raises, etc designed to make sure people come out of Christmas with as much revolving debt as possible.
Another side of this equation is real ownership. With the introduction of EULAs, disposable personal electronics and licensing agreements, consumer own less and less of what they use. It is a treadmill of consumerism where durable products like, for example, all metal scissors are replaced by plastic handled scissors because a consumer would only need to buy the durable ones once but the "cheaper" ones lead to a lifetime of demand.
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read