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277 points cebert | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.443s | source
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PostOnce ◴[] No.44361768[source]
Theoretically, credit should be used for one thing: to make more money. (not less)

However, instead of using it to buy or construct a machine to triple what you can produce in an hour, the average person is using it to delay having to work that hour at all, in exchange for having to work an hour and six minutes sometime later.

At some point, you run out of hours available and the house of cards collapses.

i.e., credit can buy time in the nearly literal sense, you can do an hour's work in half an hour because the money facilitates it, meaning you can now make more money. If instead of investing in work you're spending on play, then you end up with a time deficit.

or, e.g. you can buy 3 franchises in 3 months instead of 3 years (i.e. income from the 1 franchise), trading credit for time to make more money, instead of burning it. It'd have been nice had they taught me this in school.

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lm28469 ◴[] No.44364104[source]
> the average person is using

The "average person" is told from birth to consume as many things and experiences as possible as it if was the only thing that could give their life a meaning. The entire system is based on growth and consumption, I have a hard time blaming "the average person"

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darth_avocado ◴[] No.44368689[source]
> The "average person" is told from birth to consume as many things and experiences as possible as it if was the only thing that could give their life a meaning.

The “average person” doesn’t make enough money to pay rent or afford groceries. You’re blaming the poor based on your idea of what an “average person” looks like, which is a representation of middle and upper middle class. The average person doesn’t have the luxury to consume as many things and experiences as possible.

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1. joshuahedlund ◴[] No.44368775[source]
Doesn't "average" = "middle class" by definition?

US median individual income in 2022 was $48k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...

> The “average person” doesn’t make enough money to pay rent or afford groceries

<1% of the US population is homeless, and ~10% receive food stamps. The average person makes enough money to pay rent and buy groceries.

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2. darth_avocado ◴[] No.44368953[source]
Just because people aren’t homeless and don’t qualify for food stamps doesn’t mean they can afford things.

You need to make less than $33k for a family of 3 to even qualify for food stamps and then get disqualified if your total assets are above $4.5K. If you’re an adult without children, your food stamps eligibility is capped at 3 months every 3 years. A lot of people who need food stamps, do not qualify for them.

Credit card debt is $1.2T, out of which 10% is delinquent for more than 90 days. https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2025/may/broad-con...

Student loan debt is at $1.7T.

People are going into debt to buy groceries. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/05/20/americans-are-going-into...

The average American life is way worse than what people generally make it out to be.