The Ratchet Effect: Easy to Spend More, Spending Less Triggers Collapse

What's required is not just a revised spreadsheet but an entirely new culture and value system.

I've been referencing The Ratchet Effect since 2010 as it explains why shrinking bloat is so much harder than expanding bloat.

A common example is household income and spending. When the couple were just starting out, they lived like students with barebones expenses. Then as their income rises, so do their expenses, and so by the time they're making $300…