“Discretionary goods—things people don’t need, paid for with money people don’t have”

“Discretionary goods—things that people don’t really need and are paid for with money people really don’t have” was written by Jon Marksman on MarketWatch on June 23, 2010. The blog The End of Civilization added the line to its “Amateur economist dictionary update.”
   
A similar, much older line is, “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned for things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”
   
 
MarketWatch
June 23, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Profiting from disaster
Commentary: Retail recession is just the start of an economic slide
By Jon Markman
(...)
Ever since then, fellow retailers of discretionary goods—things that people don’t really need and are paid for with money people really don’t have—have also begun to turn pale.
 
The End of Civilization
Amateur economist dictionary update
Posted: June 27, 2010 by hpx83 in Humour
Discretionary goods = Things that people don’t really need and are paid for with money people really don’t have.
(MarketWatch)