The GDP per capita of the US is 85,373 USD
The median income is 37,585 USD.
The price of a ps5 is 499.99 USD
37,585/12 = 3132.08 USD
A ps5 costs 15.9% of the Median Americans monthly income and is a once in 7 years purchase.
The iphone 15 pro max costs 1,199 USD
That's 38.28% of an American's median monthly income. An Iphone's lifespan is 4 years.
The average home price in the US is 495,100 USD
That's 13.17 times more than the median income of the average American today. The average American can obviously not afford to buy a home today.
The average hospital stay in the US costs 13,262 USD.
That is high enough to take away from a large chunk of the years savings for the average American.
The average food cost for an American is 779 USD. He can obviously afford the food.
The average rental cost is 1,518 per month. Again affordable.
It appears pretty clear that the average American can afford everything except for being able to buy a house and getting medical care.
So are things really as bad in the US as the average American complains?
Because it seems like the only two things actually worth complaining when it comes to pricing are a house to own and a good hospital stay.
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Zoomers are doing the best financially of any generation at this point in their life according to the Science
https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2024/01/24/young-people-have-a-lot-more-wealth-than-we-thought/
The powers that be release a Survey of Consumer Finances that you can look at
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm
Always remember that 90% of posts come from 10% of people on social media and those that perceive themselves to be downwardly mobile will be part of that 10% on financial posts.
Zoomers are less likely to own a home, in America it's customary to move out at 18 which is uncommon now, and owning a home or getting an apartment is the most important metric of wealth in the US. Young people in the US have college debt which makes them more likely to see themselves as downwardly mobile and in dire financial straits when most of them will pay that debt back and make bank with the increased earnings from a college degree.
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That sounds fascinating. Thank you! This is the kind of answer I was looking for!
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The internet also made it where Zoomers and Millennials compare their lifestyle to an amalgamation of a ton of people who worked for decades to get what they got and a few people who got supremely lucky whereas earlier generations pretty much only had their family, neighbors and peers to compare to. It seems like the additional noise makes them way less likely to consider any nuance or mitigating factors and you get this fricked situation where they often think they should be entitled to the benefits of every lifestyle they see rather than creating a budget and finding a lifestyle they can afford and enjoy.
Like they'll see some dude party hard every weekend and want that, they'll see some chick go on crazy vacations and want that, they'll see some dude with a car they like and want that, and they'll see some retired woman with a lovely home with beautiful landscaping and decorations and want that too. They don't even consider that Dave the alcoholic has literally never had a vacation in his entire adult life because he needs his time off for hangover days and lives in a trailer. They don't think about how Emily lives with her parents and works 10 months of the year at shitty dead end retail jobs to be able to afford her two month longs South America month long excursions. They don't care that Jim's Audi payment is like a quarter of his income and his monthly discretionary spending/entertainment/eating out budget is just like $100 and unexpected spending would begin spiraling him into debt. And they never factor in the decades and decades of work that the retired woman and her husband put into acquiring everything in their home and the likely hundreds if not thousands of hours they spent over those decades to make the landscape what it is.
They legit want to have the lifestyle of wealthy retired boomers right after they get their first paycheck and they're incensed that they don't get it.
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Look at this guy who doesn't know the difference between equity and equality
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Ma'am we've been over this before. You need to stop.
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