Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Both. Our capitalist society to designed to encourage Americans to consume, consume, consume; always with a jealous, envious eye on 'keeping up with the Jonses'. And simultaneously discouraging them to save money (just look at the ridiculously low interest rates that banks offer for savings accounts). Many schools do not teach kids how to handle their money or how to be smart shopper. These are the life skills people need to learn.
The American Dream is alive but people need to teach themselves how to handle their money; how to budget and invest their money; and how NOT to be hyperconsumerists, always falling the latest fashion fad or gadget. Being in debt used to a shameful thing, and using credit cards was a last resort, but not anymore. Now, people think nothing of carrying $5,000–$25,000 debt, year to year, in credit cards alone.
Have you noticed the number of poor people willing to spend their hard-earned $300 on street-cred sneakers or fancy pocketbooks? Brand companies specifically target the working- and middle-classes with silly high-end items they can least afford because they know the power of peer pressure will compel them to buy things they can't afford and really don't need.
Think about that the next time you're tempted to drop $500 on an ugly Coach handbag that will be out of style within the year. Rich people — the real rich people, not the middle-class wannabes — don't carry Coach handbags.
What use is that to a burger flipper?
p.s. The room I'm renting is freezing. The only electric usage in my room is laptop, lamp, and clock radio. Turning on a toaster oven or space heater for more than 90 seconds trips a breaker. So I'm considering buying an electric blanket ($40-$60) but I have been agonizing for weeks over the cost with no resolution. Dropping $500 on a Coach bag isn't even a remote possibility.
p.s. The room I'm renting is freezing. The only electric usage in my room is laptop, lamp, and clock radio. Turning on a toaster oven or space heater for more than 90 seconds trips a breaker. So I'm considering buying an electric blanket ($40-$60) but I have been agonizing for weeks over the cost with no resolution. .
$40 for two months usage seems like a wise investment.
Stocks are deadly for the most part.
Remember the low interest rates started under Clinton, people left with no alternative went into stocks as the big boys bailed leaving elders broke. That was the start of the recession at the end of the Clinton administration.
To clarify, since I was on my phone last time --
A. Low interest rates did not "start under Clinton." They started around the turn of 1980-81, when Paul Volker "tamed inflation" (supposedly), and rates began falling steadily since then.
B. At no point during the Clinton administration did "the big boys bail" from stocks, "leaving elders broke."
C. There was no recession "at the end of the Clinton administration." There was a bursting of the stock market, which was not a recession. There was a small recession from March 2001 –Nov 2001, which was during the Bush administration, right around the time of 9/11.
You, sir , with your totally wrong understanding of recent economic history, are the "core Trump voter." Congratulations.
Both. Our capitalist society to designed to encourage Americans to consume, consume, consume; always with a jealous, envious eye on 'keeping up with the Jonses'. And simultaneously discouraging them to save money (just look at the ridiculously low interest rates that banks offer for savings accounts). Many schools do not teach kids how to handle their money or how to be smart shopper. These are the life skills people need to learn.
Isn't that the parents' responsibility?
Just anecdotal, but the way we did it while raising our kids was... no allowance. Chores, etc., were part of contributing to the maintenance of the household in which they lived, ate, etc. They did get cash gifts for birthdays, holidays, etc., from relatives and had to make that last so they learned how to spend judiciously. They knew they got a certain amount of cash from us for back to school clothes shopping, and boy did they ever learn how to stretch a dollar. They both had after school/Summer jobs in high school, and the same plus Summer professional internships in college. We paid for college tuition, books, room, and board, and a small sum for clothing, but they funded everything else themselves. Recreational expenses were on them.
They're both now self-supporting young adult professionals, living in the trendy Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.
For me it indicates that the American dream is basically dead or am I wrong. Also who do you blame government polices, the irresponsiblity of the American people or both.
FRB has been issuing stats on the number of people with FDIC insured bank accounts and average balances and has done so for years. The trend has been in decline for decades.
On the other hand the number of people with non FDIC insured money market accounts has steadily increased.
There are tons and tons of people on welfare with iPhone's! Just yesterday I saw a lady with a Coach purse using an ebt card to pay for her groceries lol.
Unless you are a cashier, how would you how what kind of card someone uses to pay groceries. Do you get real close to them and peer over to check if it's a credit card or debit card or EBT card? How do you even know what and EBT card looks like?
1. Once credit cards and financing for everything became easy to get
...the idea of needed savings went right out the window....
2. I suppose these people's emergency fund is credit cards?
Many don't save enough for retirement, I've been taught by grandparents (from both sides of the family) that I need to save at least 10-15% of my earning. I learned how to invest when I was nine years old. I made a lot of mistakes and lost a lot of money. Nowadays, I just learn to stay away from investment I am not familiar with no matter how attractive it sounds. I also save at least 40% of my earning. I invest very conservatively and lucky for me, I have support from family as well.
Many people live pay check to pay check, but in my humble opinion, even if you live paycheck to paycheck, you should still be able to save just a little. You need to make it a life style (even if you can only save 10 bucks a month)
I won't blame economy or any presidents, although it is very TEMPTING to find a scapegoat. You need to be the master of your own financial freedom. Nobody is going to do it for you.
"Working for Walmart" isn't successful. It's the bottom of the employee pyramid. People who actually earn money and save it aren't somehow the enemy you are making them out, they are everyone who understands economic principles. And those people in debt do include people who make more money then me, but then overspend in excess of their income thus putting them down on the list.
Trump used the laws on the books to insulate himself because a corporation has nothing to do with the individual in a legal sense.
Working class people don't lose everything. You file your BK and the court sells off your excess assets in most cases. Hell I know people that still had a house and expensive cars after they filed BK only to run up their debt like it was a video game score. I also know people that voted for the idiot we have in office now because he used government money to cover their mortgage debt. I don't agree with that nonsense at all, I hope you'll join me in condeming those who bought houses they couldn't afford.
Welfare people are on the public dole. If you have enough to cover a savings account then you shouldn't be taking from the community. That's not punishing, that's common sense. Would you keep giving me money if you found out I have $10,000 in savings and just bought an Xbox while you hand $200/wk to me to help with my bills? If you want a savings account, stop sitting on the public dole.
Our economy sucks, partly because people are idiots and partly because our elected official are elected by those same idiots who think the government exists to give them free stuff.
There are federal and state bankruptcy exemptions. Retirement savings and pensions are exempt. Someone could have $ millions in a 401k account and not be required to tap into those funds to pay off financial obligations.
Homestead exemptions are variable. Some states completely exempt personal residences, regardless of equity. Others test for equity based on filer's claims of value.
Auto exemptions are also highly variable, state to state and depend on net value, less outstanding loans.
This is not surprising as our economic system is set up to protect and reward the successful. It does not care for anyone that cannot afford to play the game. Hell, most of the people working for WalMart cannot afford to shop there let alone pay rent, own a clunker car to get to work or even feed themselves. We have armies of homeless people including families with kids. Some of those have working adults.
By contrast we have a billionaire running for President. This guy has bankrupted several times yet managed to keep his personal fortune while stiffing his investors. That is because the system protects him while robbing the rest of us. When a working class person gores bankrupt they loose everything to their creditors. Why not The Donald?
One example of this corrupt system is people on welfare cannot have bank accounts let alone savings. These people are excluded from the economy and never have a chance to rejoin because their saving anything would be illegal. We punish our poor and worship our thieves.
Our economy is not bankrupt but our morality certainly is. More people are outraged about a woman showing a nipple in public than care about giving the poor a chance.
I agree Trump is smarter than the other mega-millionaires he did business with and cannot be bought-off by the donor class like Jeb, Rubio, Hillary, et al.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
