What I'm seeing that has changed in this country. (And it's for the worse as far as I'm concerned). Is 50 years ago people were somewhat embarrassed to tell someone they financed a car. Because it basically showed spending beyond your means, in order to purchase a depreciating asset.
Back then that wasn't considered a very smart move financially. Today, they brag about it, and try to justify it by announcing some type of "good deal" they think they got on the interest rate.
Along with a lot of math manipulation trying to make it look better than it is. When you're paying someone else interest on an asset, that is worth 25% less by the time you get it home and into your garage, the only "good deal" that was made, was by the guy who sold it to you.
50 years ago people knew that. Hence the embarrassment. Today they don't... Or else they do and just don't care. Either way it's not an admirable position from a financial standpoint.
The end result is you have almost half the people in this country running around with all of their earned income spent before they even earn it.
Well, the other side of that is that the price of everything has risen considerably relative to then.
Even as recent as the 80's, sticker price for a Mustang GT was $12 grand:
Adjusted for inflation, $26K.
That car now is $40K:
It's the same deal with trucks. Despite inflation driving things up, the costs of goods has increased considerably, while wages haven't kept pace.
Take housing as another example.
Both my parents were teachers, my dad a University prof, my mom a public school teacher. They made good money. They were able to buy a 3,500 sq ft three story brick house on a nice lot back in the late '80's (the house I grew up in) for like $60K. Adjusted for inflation, that house should be $127K. That house is worth $800K.
I paid $180K for my place in the early 2000's. It's now worth ~$650K according to the last real estate appraisal. I make good money, but my income did not increase proportionate to the value of my residence during that time period.
Rent is the same way.
So, because of how the costs of things have changed, the perception of financing things has also changed. A bit of saving and my parents could have bought their 80's house outright, no mortgage. Makes it quite easy to pay cash for a car. A pair of teachers right now can't do that with current housing prices, they end up with massive mortgages for modest homes and subsequently financing their vehicles.
I'm not bothered by the fact that the people around me are financing their vehicles. I am however bothered by the fact that I see new vehicles being driven by people living in subsidized housing that I know my tax dollars are footing the bill for. This is while the opioid crisis rages in our streets, thefts are at an all-time high and the police feel their work is futile because the courts just keep letting the perps right back out to offend again. All stuff my tax dollars also pay for. The homeless crisis is also in part fuelled by the above affordability concerns I've raised. People living in their cars because they can't afford rent.
Things have changed considerably in the last 50 years. Just like it's typically silly to judge historical characters by today's social standards (but we see it done regularly, and statues being torn down as a result), it's silly to universally cast judgement on people leveraging debt for housing and transportation. That doesn't mean there aren't valid judgements to be made about certain historical figures, just like it doesn't mean that debt isn't overly leveraged or abused by a chunk of the population, but things are different; things have changed and this must be considered for an informed discussion to take place.
