[vertbhrtn]

Your countertops or your landlord's countertops? Because all the rest - all those iphones & vacations - is cheap fluff, really.

[abnry]

That's the point. The cheap fluff today was expensive stuff yesteryear, if it existed at all.

[tstrimple]

Seems like the ol' "poor people aren't really poor because they almost all have refrigerators and not even kings had refrigerators two hundred years ago!" argument.

[gpapilion]

I’m not sure how cheap that is overall. For example an extra $400 a month is $100k in mortgage loan right now. It all adds up, and is easier to do if you avoid the wasteful spending.