The provided charts inform the comparison of expenditure in seven classifications by American people in 1966 and 1996. In general, the figures showed that the citizens spent amount of money on food and cars in both years. Nevertheless, there were significant changes in American society’s expenses from 1966 to 1996.
In the year 1966, food and cars were two goods that American people mostly used their budget to purchase, at about 44% and 23% respectively. On the other hand, people are less likely to spend on four categories, including 9 percent on petrol, 7 percent on restaurants, 10 percent on furniture and only 6 percent on books. Likewise, computers were the least expensed items by exactly 1 percent in that year.
As regards in 1996, the percentage of car expenditure increased by twofold at 45 percent compared to that in 1966. In contrast, the consumption of food decreased dramatically to 14 percent and was equal to that of restaurants, which jumped double since 1966. Furthermore, the demand for petrol and furniture remained constant, accounted for 8 percent for both. Another visible trend was that the budget allocated to computers rocketed to 10 percent, while that of books dropped to 1 percent.