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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,260,275 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
Obama has been in office for almost 6 years now. Are you any better off since he has been in office?
I am far better off today and since mid-2009 than ever before. I do not attribute that to Obama or any other president or politician, however. It's due to making hard decisions and a lot of effort working to recover from the dire situation I was in during 2008. Cutting expenses, finding a good job and getting 2 promotions, and a performance based raise every year have gotten us through it.
A solution is to work your full-time job and start a business that you can do part-time or in your spare time. There are many network marketing businesses to choose from that people can do with small up front cost.
Yea I know some will say scam or they won't make any money. Here's the problem with those arguments. There are people making money in the network marketing industry. Legally.
I have never understood why or how people believe what governments tell them. Especially this government.
what are you talking about? Where was the govt. even mentioned in my post. I just stated you can't make apples to apples comparisons because quality of product is better too.
Comparing a 1975 Pontiac Trans Am to a 2014 Chevy Camaro SS in quality would be like comparing a 1975 tv to a 2014 flat screen in quality and saying...look at how much more expensive TVs have gotten. They may be more expensive, but they are also higher quality and last 2-3x longer. My 2004 TL has 162k miles on it and has had absolutely no issues beyond basic maintenance. Is that representative of cars from 1975?
what are you talking about? Where was the govt. even mentioned in my post. I just stated you can't make apples to apples comparisons because quality of product is better too.
Comparing a 1975 Pontiac Trans Am to a 2014 Chevy Camaro SS in quality would be like comparing a 1975 tv to a 2014 flat screen in quality and saying...look at how much more expensive TVs have gotten. They may be more expensive, but they are also higher quality and last 2-3x longer. My 2004 TL has 162k miles on it and has had absolutely no issues beyond basic maintenance. Is that representative of cars from 1975?
You mentioned inflation and I assume you got your inflation rates from somewhere. As far as cherry picked arguments, perhaps you have a point concerning the car, but certainly not when it comes to food, health insurance, or college expenses.
You mentioned inflation and I assume you got your inflation rates from somewhere. As far as cherry picked arguments, perhaps you have a point concerning the car, but certainly not when it comes to food, health insurance, or college expenses.
The college example is greatly over rated. College if done right isn't some rediculous cost, yes it has outpaced any inflation but this is another example of how Americans have let wants get ahead of or change needs not to mention not everyone is college material. Kids don't have to leave home for college, don't need to rack up 30-50k a year just for the education and "experiance" the truth is on average only 70% of grads are in debt when they get out and with an avg debt of 29k or so. These numbers would be even lower if you went to community college first and then transferred. All that said it's an expense you keep using as an example and greatly overblown.
... As to housing and cars, actually the price of small homes and non luxury cars has also exploded at a rate that has FAR outpaced wages.
True, BECAUSE of excess governmental regulations. The government has mandated more expensive insulation in those small homes as well as higher efficiency HVAC systems. That costs money, and is reflected in the price of those small homes.
So thank your government.
The price of non luxury new cars has also gone up BECAUSE of excess governmental regulations. Regulations require manufacturers to have different types of bumpers than they had 40 years ago, as well as electronic fuel injection (rather than a less expensive carburetor), 6 and even 8 speed dual-clutch automatic transmissions in the quest for higher mandated MPG rather than the less expensive 4-on-the-floor or even 3-on-the-tree transmissions of a generation ago.
So, thank your government.
Your elected representatives & career do-gooder bureaucratic interventionist regulators have made things more expensive because, you know, it is good for you.
You mentioned inflation and I assume you got your inflation rates from somewhere. As far as cherry picked arguments, perhaps you have a point concerning the car, but certainly not when it comes to food, health insurance, or college expenses.
I agree on college, that has shot through the roof, but I don't think we are very far off from a huge structural change in what college looks like. With these MOOCs popping up all over the place offering quality UG level courses from schools like Harvard (and sometimes in congruence with the actual Harvard students) for $49-$99 per certificate I could easily see a shift in schooling, where instead of getting an BA/BS you obtain certificates or structured courses that offer an advanced certificate in an area you would like to work. This would greatly reduce the cost of higher education.
I have only been paying for healthcare for about 5 years, but right now I only pay $18 every 2 weeks and my deductible is 2k. If healthcare costs have skyrocketed in recent years I wonder what they looked like before that.
I think food is rising in price, but I don't think you could say it has skyrocketed. Certain things are obviously going up faster than others, but you can skill get a lb of boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.89. I'd say that's not a bad deal.
True, BECAUSE of excess governmental regulations. The government has mandated more expensive insulation in those small homes as well as higher efficiency HVAC systems. That costs money, and is reflected in the price of those small homes.
So thank your government.
The price of non luxury new cars has also gone up BECAUSE of excess governmental regulations. Regulations require manufacturers to have different types of bumpers than they had 40 years ago, as well as electronic fuel injection (rather than a less expensive carburetor), 6 and even 8 speed dual-clutch automatic transmissions in the quest for higher mandated MPG rather than the less expensive 4-on-the-floor or even 3-on-the-tree transmissions of a generation ago.
So, thank your government.
Your elected representatives & career do-gooder bureaucratic interventionist regulators have made things more expensive because, you know, it is good for you.
The price of cars and housing have gone up in part to regulation however they both have gone up in cost due to increased size and features. I'm not sure your four on the floor is from a generation ago so your examples I feel are exaggerated in an attempt to blame the govt for all of this
Obviously, someone is still hiring them or they would not continue the habit and practices.
We can't complain about what we seek and support on one hand, and then claim we detest it on the other, and tomorrow when the plumbing breaks, we are seeking them out, or seeking some company who specializes in focusing their aims to acquire undocumented persons for labor.
They( business owners or contractors) pocket their profits and continue smiling as they head to the bank. The individuals who utilize the undocumented services, smile happily at their savings, by hiring a undocumented worker who will do the work for 35-50-60% less than a U.S. Citizen who does this type of work. and they will boast to their friends and associate about how much they saved in what they had done.
People may complain about the lack of English skills,but they are really only concerned that the person can interpet enough to make the deal and understand what the expectations of the job is.
This is the nature of the situation - its unlikely to change any time soon.
I guess I didn't explain my post well enough. It was in response to a dialogue where one poster claimed illegal immigration was driving US citizens out of what were once good working class & middle class jobs; a second poster pointed to piece-rate farm work picking fruit.
My post was to give examples of other skilled trades that were once staple of working class & middle class jobs that today are unavailable to US Citizens.
The college example is greatly over rated. College if done right isn't some rediculous cost, yes it has outpaced any inflation but this is another example of how Americans have let wants get ahead of or change needs not to mention not everyone is college material. Kids don't have to leave home for college, don't need to rack up 30-50k a year just for the education and "experiance" the truth is on average only 70% of grads are in debt when they get out and with an avg debt of 29k or so. These numbers would be even lower if you went to community college first and then transferred. All that said it's an expense you keep using as an example and greatly overblown.
You see, just because it may be possible to do college on the reasonable and cheap through a prudent strategy of going to community college then a state subsidized college- that doesn't invalidate my point. Fact is, the cost of college has spiraled out of control over the past couple of decades. I'd surmise that if you looked at the numbers concerning doing college in the way you advise it would have been really really cheap 25 years ago. Consider this- if families have to do college this way in today's world, whereas 25 years ago students could get the full experience of college while living on campus for the same relative price (or less) that is exactly what I'm talking about when I make the argument that wages have collapsed and so has relative standard of living. We are getting less for more nowadays.
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