This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
The Triumph Of Materialism: The Average American Will Spend 830 Dollars On Christmas In 2015
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
Has there ever been a major holiday more focused on materialism than the modern American Christmas? This year, Americans are planning to spend an average of 830 dollars on Christmas gifts, which represents a jump of 110 dollars over the average of 720 dollars last year. But have our incomes gone up accordingly? Of course not.
In fact, real median household income in the United States has been experiencing a steady long-term decline. So in order to fund all of our Christmas spending, we have got to go into even more debt.
We love to pull out our credit cards and spend money that we do not have on lots of cheap, useless stuff made on the other side of the world by workers making slave labor wages. We do the same thing year after year, and most of us have grown accustomed to the endless cycle of growing debt.
In fact, one Pew survey found that approximately 70 percent of all Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”. But then we have to work our fingers to the bone to try to make the payments on all of that debt, not realizing that debt systematically impoverishes us. It may be hard to believe, but if you have a single dollar in your pocket and no debt, you have a greater net worth than 25 percent of all Americans. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true.
Overall, when you add up all forms of debt (consumer, business, local government, state government and federal government), Americans are more than 60 trillion dollars in debt.
Let that sink in for a bit.
40 years ago, that number was sitting at about 3 trillion dollars.
We have been on the greatest debt binge in the history of the world. Even though we were “the wealthiest, most prosperous nation on the entire planet”, we always had to have more. We just kept on borrowing and borrowing and borrowing from the future until we completely destroyed it.
And we still haven’t learned anything. Instead, this Christmas season we will be partying like it’s 2007…
Americans are planning on celebrating Christmas like it’s 2007.
A November survey by Gallup found that US adults are planning on spending about $830 on average on Christmas gifts this year.
That’s a huge jump from last year’s $720 average.
Notably, American consumers haven’t suggested a number that high since November 2007, when they were planning on spending $866 on average.
Sadly, our incomes simply do not justify this kind of extravagance. As Zero Hedge has pointed out, household incomes “actually peaked at least 15 years ago in 81% of U.S. counties.”
So why can’t we adjust our lifestyles to match?
Why must we always have more?
Here are more details on our declining incomes from the Visual Capitalist…
- Income peaked one year ago for many of the counties that are a part of the shale boom. This includes much of North and South Dakota, as well as parts of Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Income in Washington, D.C. and neighboring Arlington County also peaked then.
- In 1999, a total of 1,623 counties had their households reach peak income. The majority of these counties are in the Midwest and Southeast.
- The most southern part of California and parts of New England both peaked around 25 years ago.
- Many states along the Rocky Mountains such as Wyoming and Montana had counties that peaked roughly 35 years ago.
- Household income peaked in upstate New York, the northern tip of California, and southern Nevada at the same time that humans were first landing on the moon in 1969.
But you won’t hear this reported on the mainstream news, will you?
They want us to think that happy days are here again.
The following chart comes from the Federal Reserve, and it shows that real median household income in the United States has been trending down since 1999…
Americans should be having smaller Christmases instead of bigger ones, but that doesn’t fit the image of who we still think that we are.
Recently, I published an article entitled “Goodbye Middle Class: 51 Percent Of All American Workers Make Less Than 30,000 Dollars A Year” that was shared more than 44,000 times on Facebook. In that article, I included brand new figures that were just released by the Social Security Administration. As you can see, the quality of our jobs is not great…
-38 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000 last year.
-51 percent of all American workers made less than $30,000 last year.
-62 percent of all American workers made less than $40,000 last year.
-71 percent of all American workers made less than $50,000 last year.
Without a doubt, most American families should not be spending hundreds of dollars a year on Christmas gifts.
At these income levels, most American families are just barely surviving.
But once again this year, millions upon millions of Americans will flock to the malls and big box stores in a desperate attempt to make themselves happy.
Sadly, those efforts will be in vain. In fact, in a previous article I highlighted the fact that Christmas is the unhappiest season of the year. The suicide rate spikes to the highest level of the year during “the holidays”, and 45 percent of all Americans report that they dread the Christmas season. The following is an excerpt from a Psychology Today article…
We are told that Christmas, for Christians, should be the happiest time of year, an opportunity to be joyful and grateful with family, friends and colleagues. Yet, according to the National Institute of Health, Christmas is the time of year that people experience the highest incidence of depression. Hospitals and police forces report the highest incidences of suicide and attempted suicide. Psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals report a significant increase in patients complaining about depression. One North American survey reported that 45% of respondents dreaded the festive season.
In recent years, an increasing number of Americans have given up the tradition of Christmas gifts entirely, and many of them that I know seem quite happy to have done so.
Of course most people are still quite satisfied with the status quo, and there are many that will get very angry with you if you dare to suggest that the way that Americans celebrate Christmas has gotten way out of hand.
But shouldn’t it alarm us that for most Americans the biggest holiday of the year is all about the “stuff” they are going to buy, the “stuff” they are going to give and the “stuff” they are going to get?
As a society, we are obsessed with things, but those things are never going to make us happy.
»
- 2633 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
I told my wife to give me a year without seeing her mother. I think it will be the best gift I have ever received.
My mother in law died 4 years ago; we miss her.
Want mine? I will even pay for the shipping and a year of feed.
They must be including EBT card purchases and even then 830 sounds optimistic. I'm not going to buy shit until February just to spite them.
I think the expendable income, if that still exists, was spent on health care premiums.
Actually ebt is down a couple million. Not because things are better but cutbacks.
Longer this depression goes on, the less people are counted.
This service based American just spent $600.00 updating his irrevocable trust. ha... bitchez
I am spending ZERO on this christmas commercialism + materialism cult, as I have for 50+ years, and will continue to do so as long as I live.
Just keep in mind, that's not going to add up to much.
The best gift you can give anyone is your undivided time and attention.
Wait wait wait... this article is comparing MEDIAN income to AVERAGE Christmas spend? Why not use the same measure of central tendency, rather than two different ones?
they should redditize the comments here
This American won't be spending $830.00 for Christmas that's for certain!
I wonder which banker gave you a negative?
You get a positive for the laugh...thanks.
How can this be? Another ZH article said retail will suck this year.
You can't believe what you read anymore, anywhere....
A graph of what was actually spent versus the planned spending would be more enlightening.
Furthermore pollsters are PAID to manipulate the results.
"if the Joneses are spending $830 then I had better or I will ve seen like a tightwad."
See how that manipulation worls?
Read below and watch your monitor. Fuck off cunt. NIRP will be worse for you. Not us.
How Fed Rate Hikes Could Affect Retirement Planning - ThinkAdvisor
There is only one retirement plan
That is to survive that long.
If you're lucky, you may have some coin without having to work. Otherwise it is the same as the rest of life, work.
Just closed out two accounts today. No more negative Goldman Sachs or bond portfolio. Let them bleed.
Will reinvest without 20% IRS collection fee. In case you missed, great video.
Still Report #458 - Why Hungary Builds a Fence - YouTube
Good on ya, Atomizer.
My best to you, and your significant other.
When are you coming to Marco Island? Throwing out that bitch in Fort Myers December 1. We are doing well.
It's cold in Charleston, SC. Just kidding, I miss 84f, not 50f. It's been 53f in the global climate change; 43f this morning, Cold. Cannot wait to leave for Florida again.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and family. ;)
Thanks for thinking of me. ;-)
You and many Zerohedge folks are grandfathered. We always think about the ZH pioneers.
Whether right or wrong, we are a great think tank.
"This year, Americans are planning to spend an average of 830 dollars on Christmas gifts."
BULLSHIT! This is the .001% spending it and then dividing it amoungst 300 million of which 95 million are sitting on their asses unemployed. At least, the American's I know are fucked broke.
Must be them 4th dimensional lizard Americans I cannot see spending it.
As a Brit I think the GBP equivalent of £549 per person is probably accurate for parents, though most probably spend more. I can hardly believe how spoilt <18 year olds are in this country.
I've spent about £300 GBP ($453) on myself but that's because I've been working more than 50 hours per week and I have the cash to burn. Nought percent on savings is no incentive to save very much, I also have zero debts. I must be friggin rich!!
Happy Christmas to all.... whoops,it's too presumptious and too early for that ;O)
'The point is, ladies and gentleman, that debt, for lack of a better word, is good. Debt is right, debt works. debt clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Debt, in all of its forms; debt for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of the 0.000001%. And debt, you mark my words, will not only extend the life of the Federal Reserve Bank, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.'
Janet Shalom Bernanke
"0.000001%"
Finally, somebody did the math.
It's time to stop consuming. If we stop shopping, we will send a powerful message that we intend to take back control of our lives and our country. Spread the word -- STOP SHOPPING -- see what happens.
You do realise that if city folks stop shopping they will die, right? Won't bother me a bit, but it is something to think about...
I call bullshit.
They must include toilet paper and everything in those costs.
Layway, sucka!
if you have a single dollar in your pocket and no debt, you have a greater net worth than 25 percent of all Americans.
Take away mark to fantasy and you would also have a greater net worth than the top ten banks in the world put together.
Right. Like the folks who have nothing to spend on Christmas are gonna tell that to the jerk on the phone? Not bloody likely. This is just more faux statistical bullshit.
Are you free to buy anything you want, or free not to buy anything at all?
Depends on your level and definition of freedom.
No me! I havent celebrated the ,"Merry Shopping Spree" for years. Besides, most people dont deserve a gift anyway.
I find they get over it pretty quick since the normal american attention span is about 30 seconds anyway.
Oh! and, No fake thanksgiving, new years, easter, valentines day, st patrics day, etc. etc. etc. either.
They are all fake holidays just to get everyone out there spending money for wal$street during the winter months while things are slow in the markets.
Not me
I met a very rich chick in 2000. Her parents didn't ever call her on her birthday or at christmas but they did have a new porsche delivered. Very touching. Imagine what the .01 percenters are buying their kids these days and you can see why the "average" sum of christmas spending is going up.
F'ed up rich kids. Love reading the police reports from the Hamptons, the Monday after a weekend...many rolled over overpriced SUVs.
I'll be enjoying quiet time with good food, good beer, good pot.
So, pretty much like most weekends, but with a couple of extra days added on.
Any families that do have $830 to spend at christmas will be spending that cash on power bills, health coverage and inflated food costs.
For me it will be about $75. Fuck You Bernanke and Yellen, you've stolen my income
Spending $3K to pay the ObamaCareLess deductibles - Merry Christmas Obummer.
....Ya ok $800 on gold, all set with the throw away Chinese crap.
Judging by the ads on TV, my guess is that most of that planned 820 dollars is supposed to be spent on yourself, not on others. I particularly like the evil materialistic "Thanksgetting" campaign.
Our culture will ensure our destruction.
Christmas is at our throats again!
The author uses Gallup as a source?
I'm looking at the same chart.
If people are serious about spending that much on Christmas, they won't be spending any more than they did in 1999 even in nominal terms.
The reason spending on Christmas per person has been flat since 1999, of course, is because the average working American hasn't had a wage rise in at least that long.
wife and I aren't spending shit so some poor sap is spending $1,660 or $3,320 per couple.
That's generous! I'm sending re-cycled underware, and a bill for my anual "hangar fees".
Just ordered a hog today. It will put 200lbs of meat in the freezer. Well actually 100lbs for my wife and I and a 100lbs for our son's family.
$830.00... good luck with that...not happening unless Obozo the assClown brings it to my house in cash (and be careful with that Obunghole...would hate to see the local constabulary mistake you for 'riff-Raff-of-color' and do an asset seizure)
Hate to disappoint, but Ill be surprised if I spend $8.30 on Christmas...If I am going to generate CC debt, it will be to eat. Since I am not an illegal immigrant or a single white mother, I don't get to latch on to the gubmint teat for any 'help', and since my last job was 1,139 days ago, I have other priorities.
Great job, Ocornhole. Seven years ago you inherited admittedly a mess, but as you know, instead of turning it around, you made it worse than anyone might have imagined possible. Your 'legacy' will be that of the *worst president ever*. Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season, and try not to play too much golf...
The earlier article on Zero Hedge today said retailers were stocking up less in anticipation of less Christmas spending. One of them must be wrong.
There is less and have been less inventories for a long time now (fewer choices); don't you shop? Perhaps not noticed?
When the wall street cabal spends 60 million on Christmas; that skews the numbers; we will not nor cannot be spending that much nor get into debt. I'm not sure why we even bother; who made this crap up? Satan-Claus.
My gf needs hundreds of $$ worth of presents. I might have to sell some silver to deliver. Damn consumerism.
:(
Dating modern American women will do that to your PM supply.
Well, there are low maintenance women out there. You just have to choose not to settle for less than what you think you need, unless you like selling your PMs to buy more useless shit to get laid.
So they say they will spend more, but shipments, inventories, and store traffic are down.
Everyone must be spending it on illegal drugs or booze.
Bought a freeze dryer for food storage for the future - but I do not feel bad as I will be able to tell the importers of questionable foods from other countries to go to you know where. Also the machine was built in the USA. My garden and animals are making it possible for me to spend less every year - I prep to escape this consumer economy. If I can't grow it or make in my shop I try to do without. Even got a bidet to reduce T-paper by more than 90%. They say stop spending, I say spend smart and local if you can.
Pro tip. Take a shit in the morning before you shower. If your are a one a day man like me that is.
Yes - shit, shower, and a shave is good hygiene but I my point was to look at all of your lifestyle and make adjustments that can get you off the consumer treadmill.
Well written piece. It's interesting that as debt has increased due to Madison Avenues' success in creating the illusion of material needs to improve image, and the structure of the Financial, Real Estate, and Insurance Industry over the last 40-50 years; everything is designed to steal from the future in order to profit in the present. It actually goes one step further, and in so doing, creates a spread or actuarial inscentive to charge the masses an interest rate or insurance premium in order to profit of them. Debt used to be used to create productive assets, now it is used to create the illusion of a prosperous society in acquring stuff and things, or charging premiums on things they do not need. The whole game profits those who can charge the premium / spread and confiscate and enslave the masses.
$800 is about what I'll spend, but it will be all cash gifts for broke relatives and relatives with kids (which means they are nearly broke). No-one is getting anything more three-dimesional than a check, and they haven't in many years. Even my dumbest relatives know how to buy their own crap if that is what suits them rather than spending it on heating oil.
I have a large family, I have 5 brothers, and 5 sisters, I'm 64, I have 3 children 10 grand-children, 3-4 dozen nieces, and nephews, and grand nieces, and nephews, and usually another 2dozen close friends we buy lesser gifts for.
it took 1 hr. for my wife on the internet to get agreement from all, no gifts given this year, except for your own immediate, living at home family.
so the bankers are going have to spend a little more to hold up my average spending up, "and I'm sure they will".
I think their going to get a big surprise on their $680.00 estimate.
Perhaps Walmart or Target can compete on used kotex rags. Can you imagine the Television coverage? The riots will begin on Black Friday ripping up a free used Kotex for $.030 for a 50 piece wholesale discount for fuel rewards.
/sarc
This is how fucked up the cronyism consumers have gotten.
Hammer and Sickle government collapse. Janet Yellen, chime at any time.
I'll be spending a couple of dimes, at least. I don't mind spreading the wealth around. It goes, it comes.
$0 on gifts.
Exchanging shit that nobody wants at Christmas is so retarded.
I believe the Gallup poll is screwed up - rather than believe that Christmas spending is going up 15%!
Averages are useless.
This article contrasts with the earlier article on ZH "Kiss Christmas Goodbye" - where retailers predict poor Christmas sales.
'Everything shows people are spending less, but we project they're about to spend way more'....yea sure whatever.
We bought ourselves a box of Belgian chocolates and 20 pounds of Brazilian coffee beans. That's it for the season!
Dance to your own tune at Christmas, and always.
Sad. America the exceptional country?
Classic George Carlin breaks down all the "stuff" America "needs".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_QkGPCL18
My advice to my children and family, take that $860 and go buy yourself some gold instead.
That's a 40hr. week @ $20/hr.
Or an 8hr. day @ $100/hr.
Or a 50 minute hour @ $16/min.
Merry Axemess.
Spending $0 here.
Why doesn't DeBeer's run this commercial for Xmas? The true meaning of love and gift giving...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpcW-4RbD7Y
Very little will be spent on Christmas. The rest will be spent on gratuitous shit.
We give gifts only to little kids. As a family we pool our Christmas budget and help either a family in need or a cause.
I can't stand Christmas, and December 26 is one of my favorite days of the year. That's the day I no longer have to endure awful Christmas music everywhere I go for another 10 1/2 months.
I had a girlfriend who not long after I met her said to me "I fucking hate Christmas." I fell in love, married her and we've lived happily together ever since. True story.
Sweet ;O)
freed from digital envy ,i walk the world of wonder, and marvel at the gift of exsistance, to be, is enough ,and is all we ever have. enjoy the holidays with joy and happiness - the monster we call society has gone insane, that is all you need to know.
Digital envy? Do you have less than 10 fingers?
fred, lol, well yes only have 8. but that is an old joke for this old man.
I bought my wife some very nice second hand jewelry this year. Its amazing how well gold and diamonds hold up over time. She's happy and I am happy not to purchase a plastic throw away from China.
Well, since 830 dollars represents half a month's pay, I'm not spending it on Christmas. I'm in the 38 percent, but I was on the lower rungs of that for so long that 23000 a year feels rich. And no, I'm not robbing the stash I've been putting aside either.
I'm a single parent. I've worked my way off food stamps. So far.
I'm very thankful.
This poll is propaganda. Forgive me for pointing out the obvious.
Boycott Christmas