Luxury or necessity? Pew Research Poll

[Muttocracy]

Just heard story on NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103420588

Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1199/more-items-seen-as-luxury-not-necessity

by Rich Morin and Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center
April 23, 2009

From the kitchen to the laundry room to the home entertainment center, Americans are paring down the list of familiar household appliances they say they can't live without, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.

No longer do substantial majorities of the public say a microwave oven, a television set or even home air conditioning is a necessity. Instead, nearly half or more now see each of these items as a luxury. Similarly, the proportion that considers a dishwasher or a clothes dryer to be essential has dropped sharply since 2006.

...

several graphs with historical survey data at the link

[sammytko]

1. don't need anything on the list except AC! nt

[azmouse]

2. AC can be as necessary in some parts of the country as heat is in others.

[Muttocracy]

4. yeah, they should have broken down that by region. I only "need" AC a few days out of the year. nt

[damntexdem]

5. Yeah, here in Texas, AC is a necessity.

Although without AC, there would be no need for microwaves, or any other ovens, in the summer. ;-)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Hell or Texas? You decide.

"If I owned Hell and Texas, I'd live in Hell and rent out Texas".

---William C. Brann, the sage of Waco, publisher of The Iconoclast newspaper.

[damntexdem]

6. North Hell or South Hell?

At least I live in North Texas.