As we all know, China has the largest population in the world, with 1.4 billion people, while the total population of the United States is only 330 million. But what is strange is that although the number of Americans is less than a quarter of ours, the consumption power of Americans is quite amazing. As of 2019, my country’s total social consumption amount is 41 trillion yuan, while the US has reached 43 trillion yuan, 2 trillion yuan more than my country’s consumption. Consumption of American citizens contributes 70% of GDP, while my country’s consumption accounted for only 53% of GDP. The United States is still the world’s largest consumer country, and we can only rank second.
Regarding that the consumption capacity of China’s 1.4 billion people is not as good as that of the US’s 330 million people, glass king Cao Dewang said that among China’s 1.4 billion people, only 200 million people really have the consumption capacity. In other words, there is a certain gap between the rich and the poor in China. If 1.4 billion people have the ability to consume, then the US’s position as the largest consumer country will be given to China. In fact, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Americans is also relatively large. The poor population in the United States accounts for 13.4% of the total population. Of course, there are not a few families in the United States with spending power.
Some people may be curious. There are only 330 million Americans, but their spending power surpasses ours. Where are they spending their money? We have summarized the following reasons: First, Americans are much more wasteful than us. We Chinese advocate CD-ROM action after every meal, and Americans have very high requirements for food. They often have to throw away the leftover dishes, and the dishes that are not cooked must be cleaned out before the expiration date. Throw away your food.
Statistics show that the United States wastes more than 60 million tons of food every year, and the value of these foods is as high as 160 billion US dollars. Americans consume more food. In 2019, food consumption reached 770 billion US dollars, of which nearly 20% of consumption was wasted. In addition, whether they are at home or in the office, Americans have constant temperature air conditioners, suits and leather shoes, regardless of the seasons, and this expenditure is also very large.
Second, it is very common for Americans to make advance purchases. Everyone has three credit cards regardless of whether they are men, women or children. What is popular among Americans is to “spend tomorrow’s money to realize today’s dream.” In China, young people born in the 1990s are also popular in advanced consumption, but after all, there are not many people, and the debt is only 127,000 yuan per capita. Most people in China still have the idea of ”spending yesterday’s money and saving for tomorrow”. Americans took credit card overdraft money, mainly for leisure and vacation travel. Some people like videography, some people like music, and the expenditure on personal hobbies is relatively large.
Third, China’s housing prices are relatively expensive, and people’s spending power is used to pay for high housing prices, and they don’t have much capacity to spend. The average salary of Americans is between US$4-5000/month. As long as it is not a mega-city, the house price is only US$300,000/unit, and even in a super-large city, it is at most US$400,000/unit. The ratio of house prices to income is only 1:6 or 1:8, so Americans are not under pressure to repay their loans. Moreover, relevant laws stipulate that housing loan expenditures must not exceed one-third of their wage income, and the excess can be exempted. Under such circumstances, it is basically impossible for Americans’ spending power to be dragged down by housing prices. The Chinese people, no matter how much you earn, you will eventually spend a lot of money on the house, and this situation will continue for decades, and the Chinese people’s spending power has been severely weakened.
The United States has a population of only 330 million people, and its spending power is stronger than that in China. The main reason is that the United States’ economic growth mode is driven by private consumption. Americans like to spend money lavishly instead of saving money. In China, there are many hundreds of people who like to save money, and save money in case of emergency. Therefore, with the outbreak in the United States, many people live in poverty because they have no savings, and rely on government relief funds. Therefore, the advantages of the Chinese people’s high-savings model are gradually manifested. Using tomorrow’s money to bring strong consumption power will result in heavy debts. In the future, as China’s economy develops and residents’ income increases, it will not be long for China to become the largest consumer country.