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Originally Posted by StarPaladin
"Live within your means" as a phrase and as a popular figure of speech, would seem to be self-evident and obvious, at least on the surface. Simply put, it might represent not spending what you don't have. However -- and this is a big "but" -- it can also get incredibly frustrating to have people automatically parroting this phrase, for several reasons.
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Live within your means.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
First, the "means" with which one lives has gone down, not up, over the past 30+ years,...
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So?
Burden of proof is upon you to justify your claim that you are entitled to a given specific Standard of Living.
Most of you waste money on disposable things. Living a disposable Life-Style costs a lot of money.
Live within your means.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
..... with wages not being fairly-adjusted to inflation.
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Which kind of Inflation?
Cost-push Inflation is caused by you demanding government regulation at multiple levels of government from the township/city to county to State to the national government-masquerading-as-a-federal-government.
So....let me get this straight...you demand that the prices of goods and services rise, and then you demand to be paid more to cover the cost increases that you demanded?
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Demand-pull Inflation?
When any commodity is consumed to excess, the Laws of Economics kick in and drive up the price so that consumption is reduced in order to preserve or conserve the commodity that is stressed by over-consumption.
You consume like a locust, and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...and then when prices rise, you cry and want higher wages to continue to consume like a locust,...
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
What this means on a practical level, is that with the varying levels of inflation and deflation of the dollar over the past few decades, people's standards of living have gone down, not up.
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:c rying:
There has been no Monetary Deflation or Monetary Inflation.
Quantify and Qualify your "Standard of Living" objectively in no uncertain terms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
It was much easier to "live within one's means" in 1950, 1960, and 1970, than it was was say from 1980 - present.
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That's because you were murdering and oppressing the rest of the world to steal their wealth and profits and resources.
It's a proven fact you attempted to overthrow the Syrian government (but failed) in 1958, because Syria refused to sign a military assistance agreement and purchase $100 Millions in US military equipment so that Americans could have jobs.
It's also a proven fact that LBJ illegally overthrew the Greek government in 1967, installing a dictatorship called "The Colonels"
8,000 Greek people died in the first month after the coup, but hey....who cares....the Colonels bought $Billions worth of F-104 Starfighters, F-4 Phantoms, A-7 Corsairs, and all manner of field artillery and missiles and armored vehicles and destroyers and frigates so that Americans could have jobs and buy Zenith console TVs and RCA console stereos and lots of furniture.
I'm confused....is murdering and oppressing other peoples by interfering in their domestic, political, economics and social affairs a Christian thing, or is that a Liberal thing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
Houses that could once be bought decades ago on a single-income family salary for $25,000 may now, in 2015, cost as much as $750,000+, in certain residential areas. This is an extreme example where it is obvious that the financial industry has "moved the goal posts" of what living within one's means represents today in 2015, vs. what it used to mean.
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You have no right nor entitlement to live in a specific place. You may do so only by living within your means.
You have highlighted two different forms of Inflation: Demand-pull --- which I already discussed-- and Interest Inflation.
When you artificially suppress interest rates for mortgages, and then you flood the housing sector with Capital --- in the form of cash/credit for housing loans, and then you have a government that is bankrolling the whole thing by insuring mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...
...you get high housing prices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
While observing some degree of "living within one's means" would actually seem prudent and even wise, it almost sounds like some people may take it to drastic extremes, where it is used as a justification for endorsing the gradual (and involuntary) reduction of people's living standards, over time.
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Grow up and get over it already.
This ain't the 1950s when you had no global competition.
This ain't the 1960s when your only global competition was Taiwan.
This ain't the 1970s when your only global competition was Taiwan and Japan.
This ain't the 1980s when your only global competition was Taiwan and Japan and Korea.
This ain't the 1990s when your only global competition was Taiwan and Japan and Korea and Indonesia and Thailand and Malaysia.
This is the 21st Century. Your competition is the aforementioned plus 1.5 Billion screaming Chinese.
Soon to be 1.5 Billion screaming Chinese and 1 Billion screaming Indians.
Soon to be 1.5 Billion screaming Chinese, 1 Billion screaming Indians and 1 Billion Eastern Europeans & Central Asians.
Followed by 1 Billion sub-Saharan Africans.
Figure it out yet?
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarPaladin
Keeping in mind that it is much, much easier to live within one's means, so to speak, if one is already well-off in the first place.
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I eat yummy Chilean sea bass.
But I can afford it, because I'm not throwing away $86/month on Cable TV or Satellite TV (but then I don't have a TV either). I have pay-as-you-go cell-phone, so I save $40+ a month on that. I don't have anything disposable, so I save $1,000s every year. How important are designer clothing labels to you? To me, they aren't important, but I have lots of designer clothing I got from thrift stores.
I'm semi-retired, so I work when I wanna, and even then I work from home. And I make less than $25,000 to avoid taxes.
And I don't care.
I've only bought one new car in my entire life. I was in the military at the time. All other times, I have used cars, since I couldn't afford a car payment and a boat payment at the same time, and the boat is far more important. I keep it docked near Vama Veche and sail down the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea to my favorite all-time Greek restaurant.
You people need to learn how to prioritize and set goals to achieve what you want, and no, DVDs and iPhones and iPods are not priorities, because pissing and moaning about what you don't got and about what everyone else has, is going to leave you with nothing.
Living within my means....
Mircea