You want to know why you probably donât have to keep up with the Jonesâ? Because you are the Jonesâ.
I have mentioned this and other things like this on ET a little. When I suggested that somebody who works 40+ hours a week should be able to afford a decent standard of living, I was called a Socialist. When I mention how the cost of living keeps going up, and wages are continually stagnant I am usually called a lazy complainer who thinks theyâre entitled to a middle class lifestyle. When I mention that perhaps the baby boomers had it much easier than my generation, Iâm usually told that I have a victim mentality and to just go work harder. Letâs just say all of the nameâs were true? Does that make what I say any less true?
On another ET thread, I offered the idea that perhaps people keep going into debt because the cost of living keeps going up and up and wages keep staying flat or dopping. I was heavily critisized and told to work harder and get a better job. Presumably I and others are supposed to get better jobs by spending thousands on college which inevitably means taking out more loans since itâs so expensive. So the solution to paying off your debt, is to take on more of it?
But what is the cost of living and what is a decent lving? I know some people working those crappy jobs but living just fine becuase their expectations are aligned.The american left seems to want to say it means a middle class existence for everyone. That was never possible, and it should not have been promoted in the first place. This is the fault of the political left for convincing a segment of our population that they are entitled to material items. Poor people in the US have cell phones, cars, cable TVs, and pump out kids as if the kid fairy will take care of them. As soon as you make material items like health care and a standard of living a right, then starts the path downward. -"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. " Benjamin Franklin
I think saving, at least in my case, was taught by my family that it was just something that was done first, first 10% went into bank, whether it was paper route money when I was 11 to whatever job I had as I aged. How many parents these days teach their kids to save?
How would you feel if you worked all your life lived within your means? Saved a lot of money then lost it all in a failed bank, a bad fund manager. Yes you are insured for 250k but what if you had 2 million in savings. WELL WAKE UP! THATâS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENING.
Well I definitely think that you raise some very good points. Thank you for pointing out specific topics rather than the typical barage of useless comments I seem to get around here. I think you have some valid points. I donât think that we really need to focus on politics here. The left may have instilled somewhat of an entitlement philosophy, but the right has done absolutely nothing to help out the little guy. Whatâs their solution to everything, more tax cuts and bomb more countries. I believe the bottom 50% only pay 5% of the income taxes. So how would lower taxes help them? Anybody who thinks cutting capital gains or corporate taxes will encourage businesses to create more jobs, is seriously mistaken. I do think unions and the left perhaps have kept the rich and corporations in check by this mentality. Otherwise the free market that the right seems to love so much, would simply turn into survival of the fittest and well connected. All I can say to answer most of what you said is to point out some of my situations. No company Iâve worked for offered health insurance, so my personal policy has gone up 50% in 5 years. My credit card that I used to start a business went from 8-24% even though I have perfect credit history. I deliver pizza and donât really need to say much about what gas prices have done. Anytime I go to the mechanic I have to shell out at least $500. A one bedroom apartment where I live is still over $1000 a month. Sure maybe I could get a roomate, but we all know how unreliable people are nowadays, Iâll end up stuck with the whole bill. Everything else except my car insurance costs more than 5 years ago, yet the job prospects have all gotten significantly worse. Right now, I make less than I did back then. My sister, brother, me, and pretty much every other young person I know all work at restaurants. Why? Because there is literally no other decent paying jobs out there. Nobody is going to give us decent pay, so we have to find jobs where we get a little bit from 10-20 people a day. Most of us still live with our parents. I work so hard but just canât seem to get ahead. In the meantime everything keeps going up and up and I just canât seem to even maintain my current level of income. So you wonder why people canât save. I think you may be confusing the irresponsible poor with those that really just canât get ahead. I certainly agree that they have too many kids. Nobody I know has ever bought a new car, mine is a 1992 Camry. We have lived in a small townhouse my whole life. I indulge once every 2 years and get a decent cell phone, which I need for my job anyways. Ben Franklin is right. But if people made more money and saw more opportunity, they wouldnât vote for more entitlements because they know they would be paying for. People who are working so hard, but canât get ahead, donât seem to know why. So I contend the rich will bring about socialism, not the poor. Yes the poor voted for them, but rich peopleâs greed caused a lot of the sentiment. I voted for Bush. I was so discusted with the Republicans that I went third party this time. If I donât see some serious changes in the party, Iâll just vote Obama in 4 years.
Little bit of all above. One dominant trait in US is the instant gratification. Whole generations were molded and programmed by marketing machine to forget about tomorrow and buy it now. Everything was available on credit. Another trait is the selfimportance and sense of entitlement like " I deserve this " so let's go shopping. It will be very hard to teach kids about importance of saving when they see their parents and grandparents savings wiped out by recent market crash. I hope that things will get better for you in Romania. A
I guess youâre getting at a bigger point, but everybody knows accounts are only insured up to 100k and now I guess itâs 250. You should divide all the money between several banks. I think the odds are much greater that your savings is eroded through inflation, rather than a bank failure. That is the true crime today.