While women make up 52.1 percent of the U.S. population, they control two-thirds of the nation's disposable income.
MRA, I don't dispute that data at all. That's sure true in my experience. But it doesn't follow that women are making more of the purchasing decisions because we're stealing our men's money. Most men I know (with a couple of exceptions) would rather not spend a day shopping if they didn't have to.
I am not following what you are saying here because I think you are confused. Most men I know would rather not spend a day shopping if they didn't have to, either, because most men I know consider "shopping" a waste of time, effort, and--most importantly--money. Yes, that is correct. Most men realize that the easiest way to piss away your hard-earned money is to not save it or invest it but to, guess what, go "shopping" (as conceptualized by most American women). I explained earlier that my definition of "shopping" and your definition of "shopping" were two different things. Let me clarify and expand: A man, when on his own in singlehood, will generally go to a store to purchase specific items that he requires. That is what a man calls "going to the store." I realize this is a foreign concept to most American women. Because, generally, when an American woman announces she is going "shopping", this means that she is going to do exactly what you described earlier: that is, this is recreational time for her with her friends, during which she will forage among numerous stores making a variety of purchases of items she and her family may or may not really "need". Because, generally, at this point in the game, "need" is not the goal. As you admitted earlier. "Recreation" is the goal. "Unwinding" is the goal. "Relationship" is the goal with her and her friends. When our typical American woman finally returns home with bags full of items from said stores, she announces happily to her husband: "Look at all the money I saved." And the man is thinking to himself: "WTF?!" This, generally, is woman's "logic". And why does the American husband "allow" this to go on and continue? Because in his core he talks himself into believing that this is just "the way it is", there is no other way, his kind, loving wife really must know what's best, afterall, because that is the meme (yes, look that word up in the dictionary) he's been force fed from society, and culture, and media, from his childhood. Something must be wrong with him! That, in his core, is the bottom line response. As the man, it's his job to "be the man", to not complain, to "take it like a man". You ask earlier why would a woman spend money she doesn't have? And in your experience most women don't do this sort of thing, or aren't "stealing" their husband's money? My response to that is: then you need more experience. Look around. Read books and articles. Educate yourself on this topic (and others). Open your eyes to what is all around you. For you to state some of the things you state is evidence that your mind is closed to the facts, the reality.
I've belabored my point with this little vignette, and also it's a bit of a red herring in this discussion because I've opened myself up for some solitary woman to say, "But that's not me!" or "That's not how it is in our house." Well, goody for you. Specifically. Exceptionally. Because that's all it is: the exception to the rule. It's not the rule. Because the larger point remains: Women control most of the money in this economy.
How you and your man specifically work things out is really of no consequence in this discussion, because in this thread what I'm interested in is the larger picture. And the larger picture remains firmly in the numbered items I listed above.