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| Home Front Economy |
| It's about the Behavior Stupid! |
| 2008-01-16 |
| (Edited because of length - check out the whole thing at the link & especially the associated videos w/the links if you truly want to laugh) Middle-class reality check: The 'essential' indulgences It's not food and rent that are busting our budgets, say experts. It's those little luxuries -- the lattes, the pedicures, the flat-screen TVs -- that we now consider basic needs. It's a familiar complaint of the middle class: We can't afford our lives. (I'm in the middle class hopefully getting more upward mobile w/in the next couple years - I can't afford the life I want, *BUT*, I do more then afford the life I have & all I need for me and my family. At 34 I've already eclipsed my parents at the same age, not saying that to be snarky but to make a point that I have executed the principles they learned through trial and error & have been enriched by it. I.E. - completing college before my military career and pursuing more during, leading a clean life style, embracing fiscal self-discipline, being competent in my profession, spirit, self-reliance and more than a bit of stoicism) Rising housing and health-care costs and tricky tax burdens have put the squeeze on us, making it harder than ever to imagine a golden retirement. But experts say otherwise. Rather, it's that our standard of living has changed so much in the last decades that our "essentials" are no longer that -- so when times get tight, it's hard to find a way to cut back. My mother would raise an eyebrow at my bimonthly $200 hair highlighting, my $28-per-week coffee fix and my new dependency on $10 organic, grapefruit-scented hand wipes. And, yes, they fall outside the category of true essentials -- a place to live, food to eat, clothes to keep out the chill. My Grandfather, God rest his soul, a WWII Vet and a close observer of the opression would turn in his grave to see all these "poor people" that cannot afford health care on their cell phones, watching flat screens, and turning on the A.C. in their new car.But the reality is that, to me, they're bare necessities. "Our standards have just skyrocketed," says Dennis Gilbert, sociology department chairman at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. "If you look in newspapers, the images we see to tell us what's normal are very upper-class images. "Twelve hundred square feet used to be considered a standard-size house for a family," he adds. "Not anymore. The expectations and standards have changed." A rising standard of living shouldn't be cause for concern -- and when we can afford these little luxuries, no problem. But the truth is that many in the middle class spend when they should save -- on iPhones, on designer sunglasses, on flat-screen TVs -- and in many cases buy beyond their means. Bottom line: We're just not saving enough. Spending diary: Where does the money go? The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that, as of the summer of 2007, our personal savings rate was just 0.5%, compared with 9% 25 years ago. That is one of many signs Americans are living too close to the edge. The Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group, reports that more than 5% of all mortgage loans were delinquent in the second quarter of 2007, while consumer spending remained fairly steady. Choices, Choices, Choices. Needs vs. Wants |
| Posted by:Broadhead6 |
| #1 The new poverty line is determined as living with only a basic cable package. |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2008-01-16 19:59 |