So implicit in this is that the poor should have no luxuries at all. Water + a crust of bread. When not working for their betters, can sit in the darkness inside their hovels so as to not be seen.
The median USA income is $40k. Most (not all) people are fully capable of living within their means. They can balance housing+food+medical and even some non essential luxuries. However, they have little slack. A shock to the system (loss of job, car failure, medical problem, or 20% increase in consumer goods within a few months) can force them to make tough choices. Which is where we are now. Basics have gone up, so whatever slack that might have existed has been cut short and people are stressed about how to adapt.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”
