The New Thrift

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NYT has a new poll out. I’ll let you read for yourself what it says about the state of politics. (Americans still love Obama.) What intrigued me was this little juxtaposition down in the story:

The poll found that 70 percent of respondents are very or somewhat concerned that someone in their household will be out of work and looking for a job over the next 12 months; 40 percent said they had cut back spending on luxuries…

So what’s with the 30% who think someone in their house could be out of work soon, but who aren’t cutting down on their luxury spending?

UPDATE: Commenter realityexists notes that the poll data itself makes a little more sense:

Not to be the killjoy here, but the actual question was: In the past year, have you made cutbacks in your day-to-day spending on luxury items ***OR*** necessities.

Responses:
40% — yes, luxury items
10% — yes, necessities
31% — yes, both
19% — no, neither

So it isn’t that only 40% are cutting back on luxuries… it’s actually 71%…. (those who said yes to luxuries and those who said yes to both).