Not entirely. It's true that we have shifted from a saving society to a debt society. But now pay later. Credit cards are your friend. Keep up with the Joneses.

It's not having the washing machine that is the problem. It's buying one on credit instead of saving up for one and then buying it.

It's not having a car or a TV that is the problem, it's having to have a Bentley instead of a Chevrolet Trax. It's having to have a TV in every room, bought on credit, instead of one the family shares in the living room.

The few people who still do these things are considered to be living in poverty by their peers, but if you look at their net worth on their balance sheets, they're fiscally better off.

They'll also likely have a lower credit score, all other things being equal because they're not using the credit system and are punished accordingly because your credit score is supposed to be the report card for your life, a measure of how trustworthy you are. (Give me a break!! 🙄)

I could really go off on a tangent about the credit reporting system, but I'll spare you. Anyways, in that regard, he's absolutely right. We, as in society, have been propagandized to view money and debt in ways that are not good for us. As a result, we are being nickel and dimed to death across the board. We are financially undisciplined too.

Overall, this phenomenon is the middle class selling themselves into "serfitude".

He's wrong in his view that it's the only or biggest thing wrong with the middle class. It's one of many.