People think americans have no money for anything. This might be true for tens of millions of americans! But there are hundreds of millions of them... and a lot of them have 1k to throw around like it's nothing.

It's just not much money for most of us. Just check our grocery bills, electricity bills, mortgages... a one time 1k is just not much. Especially true for urban areas with millions of inhabitants where rents start around 2k a month and go much, much higher.