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Old 07-06-2010, 08:36 PM
 
12,997 posts, read 13,607,556 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyrano View Post
The underclass is here and all around us-- they just don't know they're the underclass yet. They think they're still middle-class because their credit cards haven't been cut off yet. They cover all age groups and educational levels. But if you're a 29 year-old college graduate who lives with mom and dad because you don't have a job and no reasonable prospects of finding one, then you're part of this new underclass. If you're 55 or 60 and you've been unemployed for three years and you're about to finish off what used to be your 401k, you're in the new underclass.

I'm more than a little tired of smug moralizing by people who think they're ants, lording it over people they think are grasshoppers. Most people didn't save for the last 20 years because they spent and borrowed to maintain the middle-class lifestyle they thought they had earned by virtue of education and dedication to work. Hell, it would have been damn close to unpatriotic NOT to spend-- and the economy is going to continue to suffer because people are finally not spending, and 70% of the economy is consumer spending.

But go ahead and believe that you can John Galt your way to riches, and vote for politicians who will tell you what you want to hear but represent those who bought them, at bargain-basement prices.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:00 PM
 
Location: NJ
2,210 posts, read 7,015,050 times
Reputation: 2193
Quote:
Originally Posted by dazzleman View Post

As we've seen, that lifestyle was unaffordable for a long time even before the economy crashed. In fact, people's insistence on living an unaffordable lifestyle largely caused this crash.

I think some people will have to trade down their houses, and that will put downward pressure on the housing market, at least at the middle to upper range. People will have to work longer than they originally anticipated, and their retirements may not involve the level of luxury that they anticipated, with constant traveling, eating out, etc. We as a society can't afford to subsidize 30 years of that, and people who were counting on their home appreciation to pay for that level of luxury will be out of luck.
Couldnt agree more. It will become less about want and more about need. We can meet peoples needs. Not their desires.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:04 PM
 
Location: NJ
2,210 posts, read 7,015,050 times
Reputation: 2193
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharpydove View Post
Even with graduate degrees, our generation cannot seem to accrue wealth and financial security. For some, it's because they did live above their means; but not all of us.
We never received help with college or anything... we were raised with the idea that once you are 18, you are on your own. However, we DID pay for college for our kids, weddings, cars, etc., only alot of our kids' generation is boomer-anging back home because they can't find jobs! So, it feels like we are paying for our own lives and those of our children...
I guess if we would have kicked our kids to the curb after high school, we'd have more saved, too. Is it different generational expectations?
There's your problem right there. You paid for/lived your kids lives for them (paying for things is an integral part of living) and unless extremely wealthy, carrying that much of the tab for another, physically able adult is definitely living above your means if it takes away from the budget that should have gone towards older age.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:13 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,644,082 times
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I don't know;I have knw amny people who have started over in their 40's. Either from mecial problem that eant they could no long to a physcial skill they had done for 20 years or duirng the 70's recession. most got down to zero really before they recovered. I alosknow ones that just din't because it seemd to beat them down. People are different.There lieially are like 2000 i a small town in refinig that got layed off i teh 70;s recessio of all ages and changed their profession many times and others used those skills i other palces most working foreign most of the year,. Most people do not realise that refinig itself made liitle money with comanies beig sold multiple times util like 2003. The operation of refineries do not take near the numbers now days from moderniztion. The ral money is in the crude itself. I am afraid that si what is going to happen in the auto industry;bascailly cut numbers in half and along tme until really profitable fi they survive.But people who are skilled will make a living and recover;its just their nature.
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