In this interesting article a poll indicates that Americans are redefining "luxury" and including things such as microwaves in that definition. More people are dropping microwaves, air conditioners, dishwashers, dryers, TVs, and other appliances from their classification of "necessary" items. This is kind of funny because my dishwasher broke fatally some time ago and I haven't bothered to replace it, in part due to the economy. (The other part is due to the fact that the tile floor was installed after the dishwasher, it's going to be hard to get out and even harder to get another dishwasher back in.)
This reminds me of the different definition of "poor" people have. I look at people in countries such as Haiti (I only pick them out because Food For The Poor is always telling me about conditions there) and compare them with the people in our country with cars, TVs, microwaves, air conditioners, washers and dryers, entertainment systems, cell phones, cable subscriptions, Internet, computers, and so forth and wonder if there isn't something wrong when I am made to feel guilty that I am not doing more to help them. The poor in this country are rich compared to those overseas, who often lack running water, toilets, clean water, adequate shelter, non-dirt floors, and so forth. If you go to this site, you can rank your income worldwide. Let's say you are a single person at the 2009 U.S. poverty level ($10,830). You are in the top 13% of incomes in the world. Pretty interesting, eh?
I know someone who is, by U.S. standards, poor and definitely in a difficult financial situation. He told me recently that he signed up for a $100/mo cell phone plan. (This was on top of a land line, AFAIK.) I couldn't believe it. I just didn't see this as good stewardship of his funds.
So I'm glad to see people shedding what they own.
