Wealth is what you don't spend
This is really disingenuous because inflation is not telling the full story of why people spend more. Living <i>costs</i> more. Healthcare has outpaced inflation blisteringly, and employers provide for it less. IIRC a typical child birth can cost $10,000 in medical bills. How long does that take to save up on $60k&#x2F;year with a mortgage and a car payment?<p>Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel like I’m having a hard time in life at all. I feel like I am compensated fairly and I am able to save money while having fun. But while I am living well now, I grew up in a family where nothing was guaranteed. We’d been homeless at a time. That was with dual income.<p>A household income of $60k just does not budget well today. Period. Comparing this to obesity is, again, imo pretty disingenuous because the <i>reality</i> of obesity is that the exercise helps very little <i>at all</i>. Exercise without diet does almost absolutely nothing. Diet without exercise however can work just fine.<p>At the end of the day every analogy has limits but I think this doesn’t pass the smell test.