# Why don't many Americans like to spend money? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703 "2012-09-24T20:03:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/21 "2012-09-24T21:55:37Z")
I work damn hard for my money, and I am not going to piss it away on frivolous crap. If I had car payments, or willfully paid full retail for clothes, i would not be able to afford to go on cruises. People choose where they spend, and not everyone cares to be conspicuous about it. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/22 "2012-09-24T22:12:07Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Sounds to me that the OP is really asking “Why is the accumulation of wealth such a big deal to many Americans?” But I could be wrong and he’s asking why we’re [deleveraging as fast as possible for the past four years](http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-the-state-of-global-deleveraging-2012-5), especially in comparison to the Eurozone, excepting Germany. I think you’re aiming way, way too high. The OP (who is allegedly female) might, after observing two green Volkswagens in a single day, start a thread to ask why Americans always drive green Volkswagens. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/23 "2012-09-25T00:44:00Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I’m talking about people who have a lot of money and won’t spend it. The lawyer who drives an old jalopy. The CEO who buys his shoes from Marshall’s. The family who lives in the mansion on the hill who want give the pizza guy a $20 tip. A close friend of our family who was also a well known person in our community was a very well-to-do, retired bank president. He lived in a modest house he’d built in the 1940s. Drove a Toyota. Picked up twine off the beach to use to tie up the plants in his garden. Recycled his bathtub water to water his plants. Wore forty year old suits. When he and his wife went out to eat, it was where they could get the senior lunch specials. I used to joke with him about how frugal he was. I once bought him a spool of green twine (from a discount warehouse) so he would stop using tied together lengths of blue and fluorescent orange nylon rope to stake up his garden phlox. He died ten years ago and did not owe anyone a dime. He was 81 years old. His wife is still alive today. She’s 91. She’s still able to live in the modest house. Until recently she was still driving the last Toyota they’d bought. (She might still be, but I’m not sure if she’s still driving.) She also doesn’t owe a dime. Also, there is a severely mentally handicapped daughter who has been institutionalized for as long as I can remember. Her father set up a trust to pay for her care for the rest of her life. I don’t think he ever ate a $20 pizza, let alone tip $20 to a delivery person for one. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/24 "2012-09-25T01:21:31Z")
[Hettie Green](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hettie_Green) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/25 "2012-09-25T01:41:17Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > Besides on houses. I’m not talking about the poor. I’m talking about people who have a lot of money and won’t spend it. The lawyer who drives an old jalopy. The CEO who buys his shoes from Marshall’s. **The family who lives in the mansion on the hill who want give the pizza guy a $20 tip.** (Bolding added by me.) I think the OP said recently that she delivers pizza for a living, so my guess is that it’s that last item that bothers her the most. But I wonder what the food cost was that she thought a twenty-dollar tip was reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/26 "2012-09-25T01:41:22Z")
I am not in support of the OP, but I think he must have meant $2, not $20. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/27 "2012-09-25T01:48:41Z")
Diamonds, are you just having a big laugh at us for taking your questions seriously? Many folks, American or not, spend way\* too much\* money. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/28 "2012-09-25T02:32:12Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > The family who lives in the mansion on the hill who want give the pizza guy a $20 tip. How is giving the pizza guy $20 helping me benefit from the fruit I produced? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/29 "2012-09-25T02:58:49Z")
In America the wealthiest 10% do [50%](http://www.billshrink.com/blog/11617/america%E2%80%99s-wealthy-ready-to-return-to-spending/) of consumer spending, the other 90% do the other 50%. [This](http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=b0d657c5-6599-48ee-a8e6-e4090bdd94e7) claims the top 5% do 37% of consumer spending, that is probably near what the bottom 80% spend. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/30 "2012-09-25T04:54:53Z")
> [@](#): > > The family who lives in the mansion on the hill who want give the pizza guy a $20 tip. What has the pizza guy done to earn a $20 tip? That’s two hours’ wages for an unskilled job. Why should the pizza guy get two hours’ wages for maybe 15 minutes of work? Around here, a house cleaner earns less than $20 an hour, and works pretty hard. Back when I ordered delivery pizza, I’d tip more if the weather was bad. I don’t think that I ever tipped more than $10 for a couple of pizzas, though. I did refuse to tip a couple of times, when I’d waited for over an hour and a half for my pizza, which was stone cold when it got to me. The driver said that I could warm it up in my oven in about 15 minutes, which did not invoke my sympathies. A lot of pizza places have delivery charges, too, and to a lot of people, this delivery charge is an excuse not to tip the driver. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/31 "2012-09-25T05:25:36Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > How is giving the pizza guy $20 helping me benefit from the fruit I produced? I swear to God, Giving Tree, it’s like I don’t even _know_ you anymore… ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/32 "2012-09-25T05:41:28Z")
Come to Trinidad, spending money is a \ for both rich and poor. Burger King here recently introduced a nearly $10 USD burger (just for the burger!) at the same time they removed all the cheap specials. I’ve been inside and seen people order several at a time 😮 It is shocking to me honestly, I mean spending that much money buying fashion fast food?! I don’t think I can communicate just exactly how conspicuously people consume here, it is INSANE. I only buy certain items in the grocery when they are on clearance with a sticker on them, the cashiers have commented on this saying they would not be caught dead buying such items. The only other person I have ever seen buying clearance stuff…was a woman with a US accent. 😃 People buy overpriced shit they don’t even like, just so they can show they can. I was showing people a no brand cheapo android tablet, first question they all ask is “what brand?” when I say none they are uninterested. Peope believe white foreigners are being sneaky by wearing old clothes and ratty shoes, they think they are trying to trick people into believing they are poor. Such a person if they weren’t foreign would be considered very strange. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/33 "2012-09-25T05:47:46Z")
Heh get this my wife mentioned to one of her friends I buy produce at street vendors on Charlotte Street instead of the grocery because it is more than double price there, her friend said humph \ don’t shop at or even walk on Charlotte Street. She builds her identity on what street she sets foot on, she only walks on a higher class of street! People would rather pay more than double than be caught dead on a certain street, classicism run amuck! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/34 "2012-09-25T14:34:12Z")
> [@grude](#): > > People buy overpriced shit they don’t even like, just so they can show they can. I was showing people a no brand cheapo android tablet, first question they all ask is “what brand?” when I say none they are uninterested. I can’t speak for Trinidad but most “no name” tablets here in the States are garbage. Flaky batteries, resistive touchscreens, no access to Amazon or Google Play catalogs, antiquated versions of Android, tiny storage, etc. The difference between a $200 Nexus 7 and an $89 drugstore model is night and day. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/35 "2012-09-26T00:01:46Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > $20 isn’t enough for a pizza tip? I never order pizza for delivery (thank you, Papa Murphy), but I certainly wouldn’t think to tip as much as the pizza cost. Delivery drivers in my area seem to think about $5 is reasonable (I do bump that a bit for bad weather or unusually bad traffic conditions). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/36 "2012-09-26T00:22:25Z")
By and large, Americans still spend too much. But some frugal people see their frugality as a path to economic freedom. Everything you don’t buy (that you don’t need) puts you that much closer to the time when you can tell everyone else to fuck off, you have enough to do what you want. Making money is more unpleasant for some of us than the pleasure we receive by buying doodads. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/37 "2012-09-26T03:59:26Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I can’t speak for Trinidad but most “no name” tablets here in the States are garbage. Flaky batteries, resistive touchscreens, no access to Amazon or Google Play catalogs, antiquated versions of Android, tiny storage, etc. The difference between a $200 Nexus 7 and an $89 drugstore model is night and day. I wasn’t trying to sell it to them. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/38 "2012-09-26T14:35:40Z")
You have to choose from the following: 1. Income equal to expenses - Stay the same, no progress 2. Income less than expenses - Go broke 3. Income more than expenses - Accumulate wealth, build a nest egg Obviously scenario 3 is most desirable. Then the only debate is how much wealth do you want to accumulate. Most of us want to retire, and most of us have children we would like to pass at least some wealth onto. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/39 "2012-09-26T16:25:11Z")
From Charles Dickens, David Copperfield: “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703/40 "2012-09-26T16:31:20Z")
Honestly, **Diamond02** , you don’t know what’s going on with these people and their personal finances, any more than they know what’s going on with yours. You are making a whole lot of assumptions because you see some sign of wealth, you assume everything they do should involve obvious displays of wealth. And your OP suggests you suffer from the age old po’ person mentality of, “you gots money, gimme some!” To which, I’m fairly certain if someone said that to you, you would say to them something along the lines of, “yeah, right!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-many-americans-like-to-spend-money/635703.md?page=3)