What would happen to the 1% if Americans say FU to spending like drunken sailors?

[Hugo Drax]

Lets say one day Americans wake up and decide to go back to old school budgeting.

No more weekend shopertainment. No more perpetual auto loans/leases and going back to 6-8 years or more auto purchasing, more modest auto purchases as well. ie no more trying to impress the joneses.

cutting down on phone to the basic cell programs.

cutting down cable etc..

going back to saving and paying cash for a purchase.

What do you think would happen?

 

[JSt0rm]

are you drunk?

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

They'd "downsize" the companies they own and keep on one-percentin'.

 

[Hugo Drax]

They'd "downsize" the companies they own and keep on one-percentin'.

How much more downsizing can they do. So much shit is already made in Asia/south america.

 

[TheSlamma]

They would be able to get out of debt, pay off their mortgages and no longer be indentured servants to their employers.

But fuck that.. it's paaaaarty tyyyyyyyymmme!!!!!!

If an "economy" requires it's people to spend money they don't even have yet (credit cards and 72 month car loans) then that economy is really unhealthy.

 

[JSt0rm]

life is by definition party time.

 

[TheSlamma]

life is by definition party time.

 

[JSt0rm]

Probably partied too much.

You cant stop people from making poor life choices.

 

[DigDog]

the answer is implied in your question. the modern rich depend on the existence of the poor.

 

[postmortemIA]

rich through the history used poor, what's new?
New is that interest rates are lower than ever.

 

[Svnla]

For more Americans, it's debt till they die = http://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-more-americans-its-debt-till-they-die/

Spend baby spend. YOLO.

Just look at the government, trillion and trillion in debt and is growing fast, plus state and local and then the unfunded mandates/entilement programs. Good time.

Stay tuned.

 

[IronWing]

The man's got flair!

 

[mrjminer]

They would move.

 

[IronWing]

Lets say one day Americans wake up and decide to go back to old school budgeting.

No more weekend shopertainment. No more perpetual auto loans/leases and going back to 6-8 years or more auto purchasing, more modest auto purchases as well. ie no more trying to impress the joneses.

cutting down on phone to the basic cell programs.

cutting down cable etc..

going back to saving and paying cash for a purchase.

What do you think would happen?

This is how I live my life. Never really cared how it might impact the 1%.

 

[Darwin333]

The government would see the hit long before the 1% did.

 

[bozack]

the damage this would do would extend far beyond the 1%, if anything they would be the most resilient in a situation such as this.

Prices for goods would skyrocket, housing loan fees would go through the roof...it would be mass chaos.

our whole technology driven economy is based off buying essentially "needless" stuff immediately...can you fathom what would happen to the retail landscape if folks started keeping TVs and Phones for more than a year or two?

And I thought 8 year car loans were the new norm these days.

 

[Sonikku]

Lets say one day Americans wake up and decide to go back to old school budgeting.

No more weekend shopertainment. No more perpetual auto loans/leases and going back to 6-8 years or more auto purchasing, more modest auto purchases as well. ie no more trying to impress the joneses.

cutting down on phone to the basic cell programs.

cutting down cable etc..

going back to saving and paying cash for a purchase.

What do you think would happen?

To the 1%? nothing. If the rich don't get their due off the backs of Americans directly they'll just get it indirectly through the government in the form of lucrative subsidies for big business (see big oil) or a tax payer backed safety net for the risk takers (wallstreet). This country will crash and burn before those gambling with the nations wealth feel the consequences. At which point, they would move on to another country or two to pillage. They hold no loyalty to America.

 

[senseamp]

They'd jack up the prices on necessities. Look at what they are doing to medicine.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

The way humans overall are wired there will always be a 1%. It generally comes with the mammalian territory. The question you should ask yourself is - When have things been the best over a decent period of time under the everlasting 1% rule?

With a historical perspective current times often don't seem so dire.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Lets say one day Americans wake up and decide to go back to old school budgeting.

No more weekend shopertainment. No more perpetual auto loans/leases and going back to 6-8 years or more auto purchasing, more modest auto purchases as well. ie no more trying to impress the joneses.

cutting down on phone to the basic cell programs.

cutting down cable etc..

going back to saving and paying cash for a purchase.

What do you think would happen?

Consumer spending makes up ~70% of our economy. Yes, we would be fucked if they learned a thing or two about economics...

But they are mentally retarded... They buy at Walmart every week, which is the shit of the shit quality, in yet they keep telling themselves that it's low prices... but it's anything but.

Overall, consumers are just way too stupid to know the type of power they behold. They will give speeches about spending less, all the while having an iPhone and Beats headphones in their pockets.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Rioting.

 

[bozack]

Consumer spending makes up ~70% of our economy. Yes, we would be fucked if they learned a thing or two about economics...

But they are mentally retarded... They buy at Walmart every week, which is the shit of the shit quality, in yet they keep telling themselves that it's low prices... but it's anything but.

Overall, consumers are just way too stupid to know the type of power they behold. They will give speeches about spending less, all the while having an iPhone and Beats headphones in their pockets.

iPhone, Beats, Macbook, Apple Watch, Apple TV, premium cable channels, two loaded cars with long term finance payments, jet skis....and I can go on.

The economy thrives on people buying stuff they don't really need whenever they want it, and companies are working to make that even easier for them (look at luxury auto lease terms, the new way companies such as Apple are approaching phone upgrades, and the mountain of stuff folks can buy on credit)

We are all to some degree guilty of feeding into this as well.

And it doesn't matter what you do either to try and teach proper values...growing up my parents really never bought anything, we had one car, one TV, no cable, and the only thing my father bought were tools occasionally....remember they finally caved and bought us a video game console after over a decade of us bitching....now though I find while I weigh purchase decisions I don't want to hold off as much as they did if I don't feel I have to.

 

[senseamp]

Improving living standards for middle and poor classes are not the problem. It's the leeches and parasites at the top who are draining the economy of its life. Look at health care, costs twice as much as other developed countries for worse care. Someone is taking the difference as unearned reward for gaming the system. Same with the bloated financial sector. Electronics, cars and most consumer goods are actually delivering great value for the money to the consumer. Absolutely fantastic value.

 

[MagickMan]

Lets say one day Americans wake up and decide to go back to old school budgeting.

No more weekend shopertainment. No more perpetual auto loans/leases and going back to 6-8 years or more auto purchasing, more modest auto purchases as well. ie no more trying to impress the joneses.

cutting down on phone to the basic cell programs.

cutting down cable etc..

going back to saving and paying cash for a purchase.

What do you think would happen?

It's all about credit purchases. It's no mistake that the wealthiest are gaining wealth at the same rate as the working poor are borrowing. (ie. 20% APR credit cards, 15% auto loans, and 12% mortgages, while all the while the discount rate is pegged at 0.75%.)

 

[Blackjack200]

Improving living standards for middle and poor classes are not the problem. It's the leeches and parasites at the top who are draining the economy of its life. Look at health care, costs twice as much as other developed countries for worse care. Someone is taking the difference as unearned reward for gaming the system. Same with the bloated financial sector. Electronics, cars and most consumer goods are actually delivering great value for the money to the consumer. Absolutely fantastic value.

It's worth pointing out that the financial industry actually functions pretty well compared to the rest of the world. Consumers pay lower banking fees (at least since the debit card overdraft bullshit was reformed) pay lower mortgage rates, and pay lower management and brokerage fees for investments.

The biggest problem is the unbanked and people at the fringes.