Be fair, back then, there wasn’t as much “stuff” that you needed, outside of food, shelter and clothing. Most people still didn’t have cars, and maybe outside of the family radio, there weren’t any electric devices.
It would never happen, but imagine America in which people didn’t feel the need for so much “stuff”.
Sure, it would impact the economy because people would no longer need to manufacture the stuff that people weren’t buying. But if you only wanted simple clothing, food, housing, and a community of friends with whom to enjoy leisure time, how much income would you need? How much would you have to work?
We could probably live comfortably and work only 20 hrs a week. We wouldn’t have fancy toys, but we could slow down and live like humans. But I don’t think people want that.
Bunk beds, hand me down clothing, sewing clothing when it got holes in it. When was the last time anyone darned socks? Left-overs for dinner. People could afford to have more children if they wanted to. People just don’t want to do without their stuff.