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Which to me is the heart of the problem in today's world.
Much of the 'pie', is either shrinking or staying the same, whereas in past generations various 'pies' were increasing. It's much tougher when many are fighting for something stacic as opposed to few fighting for something that is growing.
And yes, I acknowledge that's an oversimplification.
You know, this is a very difficult thing for me. I advocate for personal responsibility, wise choices, and consequences for bad choices. But the fact of the matter is that the economic status has changed and it is becoming more difficult to crawl out of poverty.
The very sad fact of the matter is that you must be willing to make hard choices depending on what you are facing.
I had to make the very difficult decision to go back to school and get a degree as a single mother with three children and an ex husband whose goal in life was to cause me as problems as possible.
Had I not made that choice, I would still be in the same financial place as I was 20 years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger
Just don't have them. Layoffs, outsourcing, jobs going obsolete are normal, not the exception.
Set up your life so that you can save a large portion of your income which includes one or more of the following:
--Living in moderate to low cost areas
--Having roommates or maybe only renting a studio apartment.
--Living within walking/biking distance from work.
--Driving only used, fuel efficient cars (if you have one at all)
--Skipping Cable TV and expensive cell phone plans
In short, we need a new, much more conservative definition of "afford".
There is a lot of truth in this. During the good ole days, families only had one car, one TV, one modest family vacation, a reasonable Christmas, reasonable birthday parties, and they ate dinner at home. No cable, no internet, no cell phone.
My son is going to college and lives on $600 to $800 per month because he has room mates, a paid off fuel efficient car, and a cheap cell plan. He needs help now and then, but is holding his own pretty well.
You know, this is a very difficult thing for me. I advocate for personal responsibility, wise choices, and consequences for bad choices. But the fact of the matter is that the economic status has changed and it is becoming more difficult to crawl out of poverty.
The very sad fact of the matter is that you must be willing to make hard choices depending on what you are facing.
I had to make the very difficult decision to go back to school and get a degree as a single mother with three children and an ex husband whose goal in life was to cause me as problems as possible.
Had I not made that choice, I would still be in the same financial place as I was 20 years ago.
There is a lot of truth in this. During the good ole days, families only had one car, one TV, one modest family vacation, a reasonable Christmas, reasonable birthday parties, and they ate dinner at home. No cable, no internet, no cell phone.
My son is going to college and lives on $600 to $800 per month because he has room mates, a paid off fuel efficient car, and a cheap cell plan. He needs help now and then, but is holding his own pretty well.
In a low-cost area, right?
I'd love to own any car at all but I can't make it fit into my budget.
Depends. If there are 400 applicants and 30 open positions, and 30 applicants have recent experience and the other 370 have old experience, all else equal, who do you suppose will get the job?
What type of job? That sounds like a very low skill or low demand job.
Quote:
Agree with all of that.
You agree with what? That a teenage, high school drop out should make $17 per hour?
Or do you agree that the ripple effect would make the cost of everything higher, thus, understanding $17 now is not enough to live on?
I advocate for personal responsibility, wise choices, and consequences for bad choices.
But the fact of the matter is that the economic status has changed
and it is becoming more difficult to crawl out of poverty.
And MOST of them never will because there is no place to crawl into.
They are for most intents and purposes a lost cause.
Which means that focusing on those who are already here misses the point.
Any solution has to be based in reducing the number of their progeny.
Sounds harsh... right? It's not as harsh as starvation.
We can reshuffle what we currently spend in welfare and other programs to provide
support for the basic human needs ... but 1) we can't afford to make that support comfortable
enough that any but the most severe cases will want to remain and 2) we can't do any of that
support if it also means allowing the creation of yet another generation of them. We just can't.
Those who can do better for themselves will. They always have.
There is a lot of truth in this. During the good ole days, families only had one car, one TV, one modest family vacation, a reasonable Christmas, reasonable birthday parties, and they ate dinner at home. No cable, no internet, no cell phone.
Thank you for saying this. Obviously, we can't go back to the 1950s in every respect. But people in that time most certainly did have more realistic expectations and I believe they were happier, overall, as a result.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Everdeen
My son is going to college and lives on $600 to $800 per month because he has room mates, a paid off fuel efficient car, and a cheap cell plan. He needs help now and then, but is holding his own pretty well.
Sounds like he's on a decent track. You might also refer him to the Mr. Money Mustache blog:
The pie is not shrinking, the pie is becoming more global. China and India are only beginning to become consumers.
That's reality. I believe we are going to see more of it, not less.
And the key to getting more of that pie for ourselves is we need to adopt more of a savings and investment mindset and less of a wage earner / consumer mindset. For most of us, we are not going to become financially comfortable from a job alone. That kind of thinking is now 30 years out of date.
We must focus more on:
--Learning to enjoy a lower consumption lifestyle than we can easily afford, enabling a high savings rate. This gives us a lot more flexibility (and dare I say, happiness?) than being completely dependent on a whimsical job market and being tied down to a big mortgage and/or high rent payment.
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