People who still have their jobs are watching their buying power shrink as well; the “non-existent” inflation gets them, too. They’re also often having some of the workloads of their laid-off co-workers dumped on them as well; articles have been written about the effects of surviving layoffs in this economy.
Few people can ignore this, even if they wanted to.
I remember the Oil Bust in Houston late 80’s. It was really difficult for the unemployed. The employed never missed a beat, they went to work and never looked up. Still today many have no thoughts on state of the economy. As long as the checks arrived it was business as usual. I am reminded of the expression....Its only a depression when you lose your job.
That sums it up for me. I haven't had to change my lifestyle drastically, but have tweaked it downward. Hopefully, I won't need any more downward tweaks..