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This week I had two interesting experiences, that really illustrate the problem of our current low wage economy.
I went to the coffee shop, and overheard the barristas talking about the process of getting food stamps. These people were in their 20s. This cafe is staffed by art students and the like (all the stereotypes you have about coffeeshop workers and hipsters are true of this place). And they talked about getting food stands to make ends meet, and how to strategize on how to make your food stamps last the whole month.
Not I don't know anything about these people, they might have kids, but I don't think they do. They were able bodied white young people who were clearly employed. But their jobs didn't provide them with enough money to live, so much so they decided to get food stamps.
And then when I was listening to a "lifestyle" radio show, one of the hosts (who lives in a different region, that is much lower cost than mine), discussed how he and his spouse were downgrading for the summer. They worked in education (operations staff I believe, not that I pay all that much attention to the personal life banter on the show), and in order to save some money, they plan 2 camp for 2 months of the summer and put their stuff in storage. Apparently they like camping.
So here we have it. Able-bodied people with jobs, are making sacrifices and using government programs to make ends meet. Whatever happened to jobs with a living wage?
Isn't the point of working to become financially self-sufficient? Shouldn't employers pay enough so that happens, instead of passing those costs off to government social services? What gives?
It was never the case to begin with. Plus today's workers are more productive and get paid less, perhaps because employers realized that people are not necessarily going to work harder because they're getting paid more, and also because of employers greed, to keep more money in their own pockets.
But working was never the point of being self-sufficient. It was just something to put money in your pocket. A career was the point of being self-sufficient, but pursuing a career is increasingly difficult to do in this day and age.
Yup. Houses twice as large as 60 years ago, most families have two or three much better cars than 50 years ago. Life expectation and more importantly health in old age are much higher than 50 years ago. Tons of technological advances which to many much more enjoyable (cell phones, huge variety of entertainment, internet).
Being on the lower end of middle-class, life's pretty good. Of course, my house is far below the average 2,400 of new homes, my car is an inexpensive economy car that's 7 years old with 130k miles on it. I can afford luxuries like an expensive cable TV package so I can watch baseball games, HBO, Showtime, etc. I have enough discretionary income to have two motorcycles that are essentially toys very infrequently used for anything practical but more just to take off on a weekend, waste gas, eat out, maybe even get a hotel room for the night for no reason other than my enjoyment.
Now, the car's an old economy car. I would like to replace it with a newer, nicer car. Perhaps the new Accord hybrid or even more Audi A6 TDI. My motorcycles are older. I certainly would like newer shinier ones. I don't spend a whole lot on clothes. Usually buy a pair of Levi's every year or two, my professional wardrobe is pretty much built. I think the only thing I've bought is a dress shirt and a pack of socks in the last year. No 70" 4k TV, although that'd be nice.
The only way life in the American middle-class sucks today is if you want everything. The new BMW in the driveway, the new 4k HDTVs in every room in your house, newest iGadets. None of that stuff is really necessary or will even improve your life that significantly. Don't worry so much about the Joneses. And while yes, it really sucks that Obamacare increased my medical insurance premiums by 60-70%, it's really still not the end of the day.
Ah. So African societies are not civilized? Racism!
You know, they live a simpler, happier life.
You guys are watching too many of those save the children commercials. Google the online TV series,man African life to get a broader perspective. Many people live in urban areas just like us americans. *smh*
Yup. Houses twice as large as 60 years ago, most families have two or three much better cars than 50 years ago. Life expectation and more importantly health in old age are much higher than 50 years ago. Tons of technological advances which to many much more enjoyable (cell phones, huge variety of entertainment, internet).
Being on the lower end of middle-class, life's pretty good. Of course, my house is far below the average 2,400 of new homes, my car is an inexpensive economy car that's 7 years old with 130k miles on it. I can afford luxuries like an expensive cable TV package so I can watch baseball games, HBO, Showtime, etc. I have enough discretionary income to have two motorcycles that are essentially toys very infrequently used for anything practical but more just to take off on a weekend, waste gas, eat out, maybe even get a hotel room for the night for no reason other than my enjoyment.
Now, the car's an old economy car. I would like to replace it with a newer, nicer car. Perhaps the new Accord hybrid or even more Audi A6 TDI. My motorcycles are older. I certainly would like newer shinier ones. I don't spend a whole lot on clothes. Usually buy a pair of Levi's every year or two, my professional wardrobe is pretty much built. I think the only thing I've bought is a dress shirt and a pack of socks in the last year. No 70" 4k TV, although that'd be nice.
The only way life in the American middle-class sucks today is if you want everything. The new BMW in the driveway, the new 4k HDTVs in every room in your house, newest iGadets. None of that stuff is really necessary or will even improve your life that significantly. Don't worry so much about the Joneses. And while yes, it really sucks that Obamacare increased my medical insurance premiums by 60-70%, it's really still not the end of the day.
I agree, I have coworkers that talk about houses and they tell me their house is 2600 sq ft and my response is "that's a large house, especially for just two people" (no kids). And they reply with "all my friends say it's tiny", and I just laugh. I live in a 800 sq ft condo and sometimes it's too big for me, as I do not fill up the space. I really like the way the Japanese live, smaller homes, etc. Now I wouldn't want to be as crammed as they are in Tokyo. To me the only reason people want big houses is so they can fill it with useless stuff that they never use. Case in point...the once a decade used dinning room with expensive china and Amish furniture. To me bigger is not better and more is not better either.
Being poor is so stigmatized these days that people will spend "irresponsibly" as far as basic needs go to avoid appearing poor.
So will the middle- and upper-class. It's not really being poor that's stigmatized. That behavior doesn't go away just because one ceases to be poor. It's being poorer relative to your peer group. If Bob in accountant got a new BMW 5-series and you're still driving a late model 3-series, you have to rush out and upgrade to something.
But did barista jobs aren't exactly working very hard and don't afford the middle-class American lifestyle. If you want a middle-class lifestyle, you need to work to get a middle-class job which generally comes with longer hours, higher barriers to entry, and more stress than pulling espressos from the automatic machine. If I was compensated at $10/hour to do my job, I wouldn't put up with it. I'd go pull espressos since that's way easier and less stressful, doesn't involve lots of regional travel which gets old pretty quickly, doesn't require years of education or passing state boards with a 30-40% pass rate.
It's 7 A.M., and you are staring down a line 15 deep that orders a panoply of permutable coffee creations. No matter how fast you process orders, the line doesn't seem to shrink. If you or your colleagues screw up an order, prepare to face the wrath of a caffeine starved Escalade-driving soccer mom. This rush repeats itself throughout the day as people fuel-up mid-morning, lunchtime, and mid-afternoon. For some urban locations, there is no down time.
Disclaimer: I've never worked in a coffee shop, but it's not rocket science to observe.
Ah, gotta love when people look for a comparison elsewhere, as if Americans should aim to decreasing their living standards instead of upholding what they worked for.
"You think you got it rough? Look at how Africans live."
"The poor in America still have sneakers and phones."
As if we in America, Europe, and Australia should entertain ourselves and pacify the current crumby situation by taking solace in the fact that people live in mud huts and wear loin cloths elsewhere. That's exactly what our people should compare with and ignore all the civilized, adequately fed societies for which our people strived for.
Most Americans 100 years ago lived in what we would call "third world conditions".
I agree, I have coworkers that talk about houses and they tell me their house is 2600 sq ft and my response is "that's a large house, especially for just two people" (no kids). And they reply with "all my friends say it's tiny", and I just laugh. I live in a 800 sq ft condo and sometimes it's too big for me, as I do not fill up the space. I really like the way the Japanese live, smaller homes, etc. Now I wouldn't want to be as crammed as they are in Tokyo. To me the only reason people want big houses is so they can fill it with useless stuff that they never use. Case in point...the once a decade used dinning room with expensive china and Amish furniture. To me bigger is not better and more is not better either.
Again, gets to that poorer than your peer group. It's actually pretty tough to find something less than 3,000 square feet in parts of Sacramento's 'burbs. Not my peer group, but if you're in it, 2600 can absolutely be "tiny." Note the added derision added to inflection of voice that doesn't come across in writing.
I'm in a ~1,300 square foot house, which is really too large. It's what was available. I wanted a garage (two-car is a nice plus but not necessary) and backyard for the dogs. Again, those are wants. I by no means actually need either of them. I would have to get rid of the dogs, which wouldn't be an easy decision to make. Apartment life with my highly irregular work schedule would not work with dogs. In comparison, keeping an older economy car is a very easy choice, so I spend my extra money on rent which is still less that a car payment would be. It is, however, an area I could save $200-300/month if I absolutely had to. Fortunately, I don't.
Again, gets to that poorer than your peer group. It's actually pretty tough to find something less than 3,000 square feet in parts of Sacramento's 'burbs. Not my peer group, but if you're in it, 2600 can absolutely be "tiny." Note the added derision added to inflection of voice that doesn't come across in writing.
I'm in a ~1,300 square foot house, which is really too large. It's what was available. I wanted a garage (two-car is a nice plus but not necessary) and backyard for the dogs. Again, those are wants. I by no means actually need either of them. I would have to get rid of the dogs, which wouldn't be an easy decision to make. Apartment life with my highly irregular work schedule would not work with dogs. In comparison, keeping an older economy car is a very easy choice, so I spend my extra money on rent which is still less that a car payment would be. It is, however, an area I could save $200-300/month if I absolutely had to. Fortunately, I don't.
Good point, there is a large movement for the tiny house push. There are also new ways/materials people are building, shipping container anyone?
I think people rode the consumerism bus because it was readily available, there was no worry of that bus stopping anytime soon, then all of a sudden that bus came to a halt. Now people are realizing the waste and excessive consumerism was just unnecessary. As people start to adjust I think the overall housing landscape and model will change as well (hopefully). There are people building 800 sq ft homes in awesome locations, there are people living in cabins etc., not because they are poor, but because they choose to. 800 sq ft might be on the small size for a family, some people are doing it and doing it well. I'm not a follower, that is why I laugh at the way people live these days. People follow heel to toe, it's just the easy thing to do I guess. Seems like the creativity stems from people that could careless what others think, say or do. Unfortunately, it is not the status quo these days. The status quo is to follow, not lead or create.
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