[nickpinkston]

Yea, the strength and excess of the US consumer is both blessing and curse.

It to a certain extent increases our standard of living and makes stimulus really move through the economy, unlike a lot of more frugal countries / cultures that just save it all, but of course it makes us more precarious.

However, it's also a systemic regulatory issue where companies are able to essentially scam customers, offer deals that are too good to be true, etc. which further extracts money from our working class.

There's an unhappy medium between European-style consumer protections and many countries where the lack of regulation makes everyone very savvy to how everyone from big companies to street merchants are likely trying to scam them.