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And yet 68% of Americans have smartphones. The problem for many people isn't a lack of funds, it's choosing to live beyond their means. And a government that rewards poor behavior.
Why are smartphones the favorite example of economic excess? I carry a cell phone because it does not cost me a lot of money and allows me to remain in communication with my correspondents at a minimal level. They all have smartphone computers and communicate by E-mail more often than either text of voice. I miss out on some of these digital conversations because I am not properly equipped. I am willing to accept that because smartphones and the service contracts are still fat too expensive.
This situation applies even more so to younger people to follow what their friends are doing but even more importantly communicate with their current or prospective employers. At this time smartphones are not a luxury but a necessity.
There are actual luxuries. A new car is a luxury. A oversized apartment or home in a rich neighborhood you cannot afford is a luxury. Spending your money on a disabled relative is a luxury. Paying for alcohol or pot is a luxury.
Paying for health insurance is not a luxury. Paying for a healthy diet is not a luxury. In many places owning and knowing how to use a gun is not a luxury.
Why are smartphones the favorite example of economic excess? I carry a cell phone because it does not cost me a lot of money and allows me to remain in communication with my correspondents at a minimal level. They all have smartphone computers and communicate by E-mail more often than either text of voice. I miss out on some of these digital conversations because I am not properly equipped. I am willing to accept that because smartphones and the service contracts are still fat too expensive.
This situation applies even more so to younger people to follow what their friends are doing but even more importantly communicate with their current or prospective employers. At this time smartphones are not a luxury but a necessity.
There are actual luxuries. A new car is a luxury. A oversized apartment or home in a rich neighborhood you cannot afford is a luxury. Spending your money on a disabled relative is a luxury. Paying for alcohol or pot is a luxury.
Paying for health insurance is not a luxury. Paying for a healthy diet is not a luxury. In many places owning and knowing how to use a gun is not a luxury.
Smartphones are not a necessity, but I can easily give you another example. 70% of cars are purchased with loans, and the average loan is just under $500 right now. So when people are standing at the car lot, they can "afford" a payment of $500 a month.
Signs that the American middle class is on it's death bed. Some say that Trump will help... yes, he will speed up the demise.
'And according to the Fed, an astounding 47 percent of all Americans could not come up with $400 to pay for an emergency room visit without borrowing it or selling something.
A 2014 Bankrate survey, echoing the Fed’s data, found that only 38 percent of Americans would cover a $1,000 emergency-room visit or $500 car repair with money they’d saved.
51 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year according to the Social Security Administration.
But somehow they can come up with money for the latest I-Phone!
Ain't America great!
Trump will speed up the demise because everyone knows America was built on the backs of lazy people who got food stamps, welfare money and free housing. Yep, you kill off those and America will die.
Before she retired my wife worked in hospital admissions and and you wouldn't believe the cars and phones some "indigent" cases had. I remember waiting for her to get off work once and some young man whipped out the latest cell phone (was I ever jealous) to round up some money to pay a $2 co-pay for his visit. Medicaid it was.
If you can't come up with $400 the answer is to go get a second job, to work harder and to work smarter. For three years after I got married I had two jobs, one full time the other 20 hours/week, to make ends meet and what makes others so special their civil rights aren't violated by making them work more?
Oh, who can get a second job in this economy? Right, nobody can get a second job but then the conversation waxes lovingly to how the Obama economy is the best in the past thousand years. But nobody can get a second job. Right....
And 51 percent sounds about right. Lots of wives work in secretarial type jobs.
When I was growing up a family of 7 in the 70's, we had one car (eventually got a second one for mom), one phone line and free TV via an antenna on the roof. When I wanted a bike, I went outside, informed my friends and we would cobble one together using spare parts. We never ate out and when we went away on vacation it was camping in a popup camper and we loved it!
My parents bought their 1900 sq ft 1920's Dutch colonial house in a very close suburb of Boston in 1966 for $15,000. My father made in the range of 6,000/year.
This was a firmly middle class existence in Boston in 1975 and we were very comfortable
Today, that same family of 7 would have three or perhaps even four cars in the driveway, one cell phone for each child at at least $50 a month each, and cable TV along with internet and a landline at between $150 to $250/month.
...and that same house goes for $500,000
I am currently financially stable but it's definitely difficult, everywhere I turn, someone has their hand in my pocket. Every week there is another couple of hundred dollars leaving for one reason or another.
But somehow they can come up with money for the latest I-Phone!
Ain't America great!
Trump will speed up the demise because everyone knows America was built on the backs of lazy people who got food stamps, welfare money and free housing. Yep, you kill off those and America will die.
Before she retired my wife worked in hospital admissions and and you wouldn't believe the cars and phones some "indigent" cases had. I remember waiting for her to get off work once and some young man whipped out the latest cell phone (was I ever jealous) to round up some money to pay a $2 co-pay for his visit. Medicaid it was.
If you can't come up with $400 the answer is to go get a second job, to work harder and to work smarter. For three years after I got married I had two jobs, one full time the other 20 hours/week, to make ends meet and what makes others so special their civil rights aren't violated by making them work more?
Oh, who can get a second job in this economy? Right, nobody can get a second job but then the conversation waxes lovingly to how the Obama economy is the best in the past thousand years. But nobody can get a second job. Right....
And 51 percent sounds about right. Lots of wives work in secretarial type jobs.
Ehh...you're gonna die one day. I'll put aside a lil bit to invest, but tomorrow ain't guaranteed. I want to LIVE NOW.
^^^This is the reason so many Americans are up to their eyeballs in debt.^^^ People who "gotta have it now" or "my neighbor has one so I want one" are doomed to the poor house, especially if they fill those urges with credit cards. I truly do feel bad for people like you, desert.
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