So much emphasis on millenials not buying things and so little emphasis on millenials being paid fairly so that they can buy things.

People are being denied the possibility of having money. Therefore a lot of luxuries (or perceived luxuries) are disappearing. Businesses should stop feigning surprise about it, and start handing out money to their workers.

Millenials also have the benefit of being in a world where information is more available, so it's more difficult to scam them or trick them into consuming things with nasty side effects.

Let's see what's in the list proposed by the article:

1) Casual dining: perceived luxury. Homemade food is cheaper (probably healthier as well).

2) Beer: harmful to health. People are now more likely to be aware of this, so a reduction in consumption is to be expected.

3) Napkins: probably, perceived luxury. There are better, cheaper alternatives.

4) Breastaurants: preceived luxury. Another factor here is that the younger generations are likelier to find these demeaning to women. I know I wouldn't ever go to one of these.

5) Cereal: this is an interesting case. My money is on two causes: one is that they are probably perceived to be harmful to health (most are more sugary than it seems at first glance), another one is that people are changing their breakfast habits because of time restrictions. Because yes, millenials aren't just money-poor; employed millenials are time-poor too.

6) Golf: obviously a luxury.

7) Motorcycles: possibly a luxury too. If you run the numbers (as I have, but your results will depend on your location) you will probably found that public transport+Uber or equivalent is cheaper than having your own vehicle. In the case of Harley-Davidson mentioned in the article, they are definitely a luxury.

8) Homeownership: definitely a luxury; rent, shared homes or simply staying with your parents is just cheaper. Also, homeownership ties you into a given locations, yet the job market is likely to requiere people to move. Therefore homeownership is not a smart move for a lot of people.

9) Yogurt: not sure about this, probably it's being perceived as harmful. However not every yogurt is packed with sugar; I wonder if healthier brands are faring better than not so healthy ones.

10) Bars of soap: probably perceived as a luxury as well. The article mentions health concerns, whicih might be valid.

11) Diamonds: this is not even a luxury. It's, and always has been, a racket based on very effective propaganda. Congratulations to millenials for finally starting to end the farce.

12) Fabric softener: luxury.

13) Banks: well, you need to have money to use them, so don't expect millenials to use banks all the time. Also some usual banking practices are really shady and millenials want to avoid them.

14) Department stores: probably perceived as a luxury.

15) Designed handbags: obvious luxury.

16) Gyms: this is another interesting one; I would have bet that people are consuming it more than 20 years ago. I guess that memberships are just too expensive and people just go for a jog in the park. So, another luxury.

17) Home-improvement stores: well, millenials don't usually own their houses and they are not going to spend their already meagers pool of time and money into improving another person's house.

18) Football: I can't say much about this, because I'm not from the US. The article mentions a decrease in cable TV, which is obviously a luxury. I suspect that there is a greater cultural trend here and people are just less interested in sport because there are so many more options to spend free time, and so much less of that free time.

19) Oil: this is a matter of political conscientiousness, so it falls under the "perceived harmful" category.

After this wall of text, my conclusion is: yep, millenials are doing what they are incentivized for. No real surprise here.