• sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    Ok, not an exact answer, but… In 2008, John Oliver had a bit that I thought captured the US culture of consumerism. He basically said that many countries could invent or even build an inflatable BBQ - but only Americans would actually buy an inflatable BBQ. Anywho, spending money, independent of whether a person has it, seems to be a cultural phenomenon in the US.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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      29 days ago

      Country Last Previous Unit Norway 210 206 % Luxembourg 187 182 % Netherlands 181 184 % Canada 171 173 % New Zealand 169 168 % Denmark 169 174 % Sweden 151 156 % Finland 108 112 % Cyprus 97.14 105 % Belgium 95.93 102 % France 95.35 102 % Euro Area 93.09 96.79 %

      https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/households-debt-to-income

      Can’t find US on there but I am know it ain’t first.

      Debt is the westoid material condition… The quality of life people enjoy requires it.

      • sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        Yeah, I was wondering about the US too. Also, I was expecting to see debt:income more like 30%. Am I reading this list wrong?

        • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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          29 days ago

          It is measured to income here in %.

          So I think it reads avg people carry for the year v income for that year.

          It is a a very distorted metric tho… Like GDP just give you the measure of what the avg individual would contribute…

          You would have to adjust for age etc to really understand what is going on. Also norway is rich it kinda reflects and rest of the well developed countries do too.