The U.S. 'kill line' exposes the quagmire of consumerism

Editor's note: Zhu Chenge, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an assistant researcher at the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Jia Jiameizi is a PhD at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the authors' opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Nearly a century ago, American writer Will Rogers satirized the pathological obsession with overconsumption among Americans, writing: "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people that they don't like." His remark vividly captured a core paradox of American consumerism: Personal value is no longer realized solely through production, but through sustained and excessive consumption in order to construct a life that appears happy and prosperous in the eyes of others.

A century later, the situation has only worsened. The illusion carefully constructed by capital and advertising is encroaching on Americans' lives, pulling countless ordinary families into the quagmire of consumerism and undermining the American Dream for a growing number of people.

Americans' three thresholds: Mortgages, auto loans and student debt

The latest "Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit" from the Federal Reserve shows that total U.S. household debt has reached a record $18.59 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, with mortgage balances, auto loan balances and student loan balances accounting for the largest share.

Together, these forms of debt have constructed a consumption trap for American citizens. Mortgage debt alone accounts for roughly 70 percent of total household debt, making housing the single largest expense for most Americans. Yet this burden also serves as a concentrated amplifier of inequality within U.S. society. Low-income households and communities of color face significantly greater financial pressure, with African American households typically experiencing housing cost burden rates about 10 percentage points higher than those of white households.

Every year, large numbers of hard-working Americans are pushed into bankruptcy because they are unable to keep up with loan repayments. According to data from Epiq AACER, nearly 540,000 consumer bankruptcy filings were recorded in the United States in 2025, a 12 percent increase from 2024. Mortgage debt remains one of the key contributors to personal bankruptcy in the country.

Even if long-term income can be maintained, does that necessarily mean housing is affordable? Not necessarily. For many Americans, prolonged wage stagnation coupled with rising prices has pushed mortgage repayment pressure to historic highs.

Analysis based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that by December 2025, real middle-class annual income (inflation-adjusted) had fallen by 5.7 percent compared with 50 years ago. Over the past 25 years, overall inflation in the United States has risen sharply, while the prices of basic necessities such as healthcare and food have increased faster than headline inflation. For many households, income growth has failed to keep up with these essential and unavoidable expenses, quietly trapping many ordinary families into a cycle of persistent debt.

If mortgages constitute the first threshold in the consumption structure of American households, auto loans represent the second burden, which is more routine and harder to avoid. With public transportation coverage remaining limited, car ownership for most Americans is not merely a lifestyle upgrade but a necessity for maintaining everyday life.

A survey shows that more than 80 percent of Americans consider a car a basic necessity. Decades of marketing that promote a "car-centered life" have further entrenched vehicle purchases as a fixed household expense. As a result, auto loans have become tightly bound to commuting, employment and daily living, forming a critical link in the continued reliance of ordinary households on the U.S. credit system.

Auto loans are increasingly becoming an unavoidable expense for many American households. Data show that a growing number of car buyers are under pressure from high monthly payments. In 2025, about 20.3 percent of Americans purchasing new vehicles faced monthly payments of $1,000 or more, up from 18.9 percent a year earlier.

Vehicle trade-ins have introduced a new debt trap. When replacing their cars, many owners find that the value of their old vehicles is no longer sufficient to cover the remaining loan balance, forcing them to roll the shortfall into new auto loans. As a result, car purchases turn into a chain of "debt for debt," locking some households into continuously rolling auto loans and making it difficult to break free from long-term debt pressure.

Beyond housing and transportation costs, student loans have become an unavoidable long-term burden in the pursuit of social mobility for many Americans. For young people, higher education is no longer simply a pathway to skill development, but a debt obligation assumed even before entering the labor market. The $1.8 trillion student loan burden has failed to deliver a reliable route to upward mobility. Instead, it has significantly constrained graduates' career choices, pushing many to prioritize repayment capacity over personal development in the early stages of their careers.

According to data from the Congressional Research Service published in 2025, nearly 43 million Americans – roughly one-seventh of the U.S. population – hold federal student loan debt, with average balances ranging between $30,000 and $40,000. About half are in default or near default. For many, student loans imposed from the very start of their working life are no longer an "investment in the future," but a long-term risk to personal and household financial security.

As interest rates rise, some graduates find that even a decade after leaving college, they are still paying off interest rather than principal. They end up perpetually chasing their student loans, often referred to as "ghost loans."

The student loan crisis is further compounded by persistent policy volatility in the United States, leaving borrowers in a prolonged state of uncertainty. Under the Biden administration, the federal government paused the collection of delinquent federal student loan debt. However, in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the plan, ultimately bringing the student loan forgiveness program to a halt.

Since then, policy signals have continued to shift. The Trump administration had announced plans late last year to resume garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers who are in default beginning in early 2026. More recently, however, U.S. authorities reversed this decision. Such repeated policy reversals have further destabilized borrowers' repayment expectations, career planning and family decision-making.

Taken together, heavy mortgages, auto loans and student loans have placed many American households under sustained financial strain. When repayment capacity weakens, these debts can trigger cascading consequences, significantly amplifying personal and household vulnerability. Under the U.S. credit system, debt repayment performance is closely tied to individual credit scores. Defaults or prolonged delinquency can rapidly erode credit ratings, directly constraining future access to financing.

Advertising and social media: Manufacturing the illusion of consumerism

If mortgages, auto loans and student loans shape the basic spending structure of American households, advertising and marketing construct the aspirational imagery that continually reinforces this consumption model. Across advertisements and social media, the idea of a "good life" is repeatedly simplified as a set of purchasable symbols: a spacious house, a brand-new car, a relaxed family atmosphere and a successful personal image.

The message is strikingly consistent – buy the right products, and an ideal life will follow. Ubiquitous consumerist messaging tightly binds happiness and success to material goods, gradually transforming consumption from an individual choice into a normalized, pervasive way of life.

Data show that major social video platforms now play a dominant role in shaping the consumption habits of younger generations through targeted advertising. Surveys indicate that 63 percent of Generation Z and 49 percent of millennials say advertisements or product reviews on social media exert the greatest influence on their purchasing decisions. On these platforms, images of luxury vacations, curated fashion and idealized lifestyles are endlessly reproduced, powerfully suggesting that such consumption is not optional, but the standard configuration of modern life.

Meanwhile, social media influencers have increasingly emerged as new drivers of consumption. Through everyday content and product recommendations, commercial marketing is repackaged as personal experience. Data shows that the share of Gen Z consumers influenced by influencer recommendations has risen from 41 percent to 56 percent.

Such consumption is not necessarily driven by genuine need. Instead, it feeds the psychology of the "fear of missing out." As people chase trends, consumption pressure intensifies, deepening the risk of being pulled into a self-reinforcing cycle of consumerism.

Reality, however, is far less polished than what social media portrays. The gap between sluggish income growth and rising prices is increasingly hard to ignore. Recent surveys show that half of Americans worry that escalating living costs will disrupt their financial plans, while roughly 40 percent fear unexpected expenses such as medical bills. As a result, a growing number of Americans are living under sustained financial anxiety.

The debt economy and a fractured 'American Dream'

Behind those personal tragedies lies a deeper reflection of disorder and inconsistency in U.S. economic policymaking at the national level. For decades, the "American Dream" has been closely associated with economic growth, consumer confidence and rising purchasing power, yet its foundation has been an ever-expanding, debt-driven economy.

The U.S. federal debt has now surpassed $38 trillion, with $2.25 trillion added during U.S. President Donald Trump's current term alone. In recent years, the pace of borrowing has consistently outstripped overall economic growth, prompting growing doubts abroad about the country's long-term debt sustainability.

In other words, both macroeconomic growth and excessive consumption at the individual level are, to a large extent, built on continuous borrowing. This has left the U.S. economy increasingly dependent on debt expansion to sustain momentum.

From mortgages, auto loans and student loans to the omnipresence of consumer marketing, American consumerism has shaped not merely a lifestyle, but an entire operating mechanism propped up by debt: Advertising stimulates desire, desire fuels premature consumption and credit steps in as the solution of last resort.

But can such a model endure? The answer ultimately lies with the American public, especially those whose quality of life has steadily deteriorated after falling into the traps of consumerism. Some have even been pushed to the margins of society, drifting outside the boundaries of social stability. The stark contrast between the idealized life promised by consumerism and the lived reality of mediocrity or even hardship poses a profound challenge to the enduring narrative of the "American Dream."

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