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.
Yes...was that the same magazine I read too? It was how to save $30k a year....oh....but you had to be married and both people were working.......yeah....great plan.
I am in debt...I pay student loans. I had no parents to pay for my college. I gladly pay it...going to college was the only thing that helped me. I set a goal and achieved it....sure....I am paying for it now...but at least I have a good job.
No parents are going to leave me money. I divorced a spouse...just left...nothing there. I am not going to get married again...
So...I am working on personal...free goals. I may not be able to afford a trip any place...but I can go to yoga every day....
Ha! I recently got a free book on my Kindle, "How to Completely Change Your Life..achieve everything you want " ...Wow...cool. So, I downloaded the book, it was free. After the first three paragraphs, I was ready to toss it...why? Okay, the guy said he was down and out, all the way at the bottom...and how did he get back up? He moved home with his PARENTS!! Wow! Gee...If I could move home with my parents, I could get out of debt...heck, I would have never got into debt! I would have money to travel, go to school, work on a degree, on and on....how about how to get your life on track, when you don't have anyone to support you? That book was worthless. I can't even bring myself to even care about it.
LOL. this reminds me so much of a story that was one of the top most read on Y! a few weeks ago. This man was in debt in student loans $90,000 he paid them off in a few months they said and we can all do that too. He was an ivy league grad.....
"So how did he cut through $90,000 in seven months? It helps to have a low-six-figure salary, as Mihalic does working for Dell Inc. But he also recommends...." Who cares what he recommends it's moot after reading that part, isn't it? There were people talking about he's an 'inspiration' for in debt students.
Wow! Great plan! I better pony up that 90k for my loans in the next six months....ha ha...
Taking a flask to the bar? Not. And he got a second job...landscaping? Please! The guy makes six figures...I don't exactly see him out digging ditches.
That is as good as the guy who goes and lives with his parents...problems solved!
Wow! Great plan! I better pony up that 90k for my loans in the next six months....ha ha...
Taking a flask to the bar? Not. And he got a second job...landscaping? Please! The guy makes six figures...I don't exactly see him out digging ditches.
That is as good as the guy who goes and lives with his parents...problems solved!
I know. I don't see how 'move back in with your parents' is a viable solution to solving debt problems. That's like false advertisement or something, LOL.
Well you will have the 90K in no time at your six figure job.
I am going to follow the example of the family living on $24,000 a year in the article I read.
First, does anyone want to adopt me and my three children? The catch: you have to own a large, fully furnished two bedroom home and pay the utilities, taxes and insurance.
Next, I need a friend who has a nice vehicle they aren't using and will let me have for free. Any volunteers?
Then I had better find a husband who can make a living in the provided workshop because I am sure I would love being a "full time mom" too, and I would rather not work.
Anyone who can help with the above goals, please send me a direct message.
This simplistic dogma is relentlessly reeled out as a precursor for regression and a means of legitimising abject poverty. After all, in all these rags to riches stories poverrty makes one..."aspirational".
Quality of life on the flip side breeds apathy, indulgence, decadence and ineptitude as well as a lack of an in-built work ethic (apprently). But then this misty eyed perception of a bygone era also borders on the mythologically revisionist if you ask me. It doesn't seem that long ago that these were the kind of accusations thrown at Western democracies by totalitarian dictators with big furry hats in the Soviet Union.
Yet there is now a whole industry devoted to the attitude that life is for "the winners" and the winners alone. Day after day books, magazines and slogans are churned out on a conveyor belt production line and people are gobbling this nonsense up. Why???
Why have we become so in thrall to the "bootcamp philosophy?" Is it representative? Or is it something that is merely conveniently representative to and that massages the vanity of the kind of demographic that is likely to have reached the top in his/her particular sphere of influence?
It seems to me everything from the dating world "See your prey and capture it!", the workplace "own that boardroom" to even the mundane facets of everyday life "you have to be the first served at the bar, you have to be Lord Of The Jungle, you are Tarzan etc..." are now covered with the same sloganeering proficiency for easy soundbites and conclusions in a now monolithic bibliography of over-simplistic and consescending quick fix guru 'how to go from zero to bank account with 1 and plenty of zeros' style mantras. Take your pick.
This also appears to be the only facet of life where the exception ALWAYS proves the rule. If a teacher was to constantly highlight their star pupil whenever a teacher or parent stormed into the classroom demanding why grade averages were so low they would be shown the door in no time at all. TEAMWORK is always such an essential component of success yet is mysteriously abandoned in favour of INDIVIDUALITY when measuring financial success. Why?
Partly because as far as poverty is concerned it is easier to measure the weak, the vulnerable and the sick by the standards of a few secluded exemptions than to calculate the more complex sum as a whole. What is always overlooked of course is the fact that the exceptions wouldn't be millionaires/multi-millionaires/billionaires if they weren't 'EXCEPTIONS'. But then again society seems increasingly comfortable with the deviations and sharp contrasts in equality that now form the bedrock of our morality as a world.
Role models, rags to riches success stories these are the metaphors idolised as marketing departments constantly bombard societies with the same bogus methodology. Take the concept of the ghetto movie if you will. Now this is more of an American phenomenom because the extremities are more sharply in focus in America though even walking through a working-class section of London near where I love today a similar amalgamation of the same culture is prevalent i.e. corner boys sitting on corners histling, burly enforcers looking menacingly in groups in a show of strength as 'business' carries on deep in the inner chambers of the estate (milder UK equivalent to a harsh Chicago/DC project).
In this economy in fact tensions are building and the venomous vitriol of hate is palpable in the air in the Harlesden area of London which I was walking though today (demographic Carribean, Hispanic and Irish) and shootings and stabbings as well as violent crime in general is noticably on the increase in this part of London right now.
But whenever solutions are proposed to these kinds of problems economic and social factors are almost universally ignored in favour of the fable of the role model. And that to me is where the role model/rage to riches status symbology falls short. Why examine the deficiencies in society when we can put a man/woman on a pedestal and look up instead of in a mirror appears to be the fairy tale happy ending rather than a more sober assesment that may lead to an evaluation based on truth.
In essence I believe this mentality not only legitmises extreme neglect and the dehumanisation that cheapens life in times of hardship it almost actively encourages it. Encourages it as a means of purging the community of dead wood and producing that razor sharp 'King Of the Jungle' we all look up to for inspiration and hope.
As long as there is always a ruthless dog eat dog 'King Of The Jungle' then it doesn't matter how high unemployment is, how pitiful life is, how low the pay for labour is or how senseless the violence is. Hands off. Deal with it. Live with it! There goes the King Of the Jungle moving on to pastures new. All hail the King Of The Jungle because one day it could be you.
Live with it. Die with it. One way or other you are going to have to come to terms with it. Because there's little appetite left anymore to even try and even sell us the lie that there is anyone out there willing to change things for the benefit of humanity as a whole.
This simplistic dogma is relentlessly reeled out as a precursor for regression and a means of legitimising abject poverty. After all, in all these rags to riches stories poverrty makes one..."aspirational".
Quality of life on the flip side breeds apathy, indulgence, decadence and ineptitude as well as a lack of an in-built work ethic (apprently). But then this misty eyed perception of a bygone era also borders on the mythologically revisionist if you ask me. It doesn't seem that long ago that these were the kind of accusations thrown at Western democracies by totalitarian dictators with big furry hats in the Soviet Union.
Yet there is now a whole industry devoted to the attitude that life is for "the winners" and the winners alone. Day after day books, magazines and slogans are churned out on a conveyor belt production line and people are gobbling this nonsense up. Why???
Why have we become so in thrall to the "bootcamp philosophy?" Is it representative? Or is it something that is merely conveniently representative to and that massages the vanity of the kind of demographic that is likely to have reached the top in his/her particular sphere of influence?
It seems to me everything from the dating world "See your prey and capture it!", the workplace "own that boardroom" to even the mundane facets of everyday life "you have to be the first served at the bar, you have to be Lord Of The Jungle, you are Tarzan etc..." are now covered with the same sloganeering proficiency for easy soundbites and conclusions in a now monolithic bibliography of over-simplistic and consescending quick fix guru 'how to go from zero to bank account with 1 and plenty of zeros' style mantras. Take your pick.
This also appears to be the only facet of life where the exception ALWAYS proves the rule. If a teacher was to constantly highlight their star pupil whenever a teacher or parent stormed into the classroom demanding why grade averages were so low they would be shown the door in no time at all. TEAMWORK is always such an essential component of success yet is mysteriously abandoned in favour of INDIVIDUALITY when measuring financial success. Why?
Partly because as far as poverty is concerned it is easier to measure the weak, the vulnerable and the sick by the standards of a few secluded exemptions than to calculate the more complex sum as a whole. What is always overlooked of course is the fact that the exceptions wouldn't be millionaires/multi-millionaires/billionaires if they weren't 'EXCEPTIONS'. But then again society seems increasingly comfortable with the deviations and sharp contrasts in equality that now form the bedrock of our morality as a world.
Role models, rags to riches success stories these are the metaphors idolised as marketing departments constantly bombard societies with the same bogus methodology. Take the concept of the ghetto movie if you will. Now this is more of an American phenomenom because the extremities are more sharply in focus in America though even walking through a working-class section of London near where I love today a similar amalgamation of the same culture is prevalent i.e. corner boys sitting on corners histling, burly enforcers looking menacingly in groups in a show of strength as 'business' carries on deep in the inner chambers of the estate (milder UK equivalent to a harsh Chicago/DC project).
In this economy in fact tensions are building and the venomous vitriol of hate is palpable in the air in the Harlesden area of London which I was walking though today (demographic Carribean, Hispanic and Irish) and shootings and stabbings as well as violent crime in general is noticably on the increase in this part of London right now.
But whenever solutions are proposed to these kinds of problems economic and social factors are almost universally ignored in favour of the fable of the role model. And that to me is where the role model/rage to riches status symbology falls short. Why examine the deficiencies in society when we can put a man/woman on a pedestal and look up instead of in a mirror appears to be the fairy tale happy ending rather than a more sober assesment that may lead to an evaluation based on truth.
In essence I believe this mentality not only legitmises extreme neglect and the dehumanisation that cheapens life in times of hardship it almost actively encourages it. Encourages it as a means of purging the community of dead wood and producing that razor sharp 'King Of the Jungle' we all look up to for inspiration and hope.
As long as there is always a ruthless dog eat dog 'King Of The Jungle' then it doesn't matter how high unemployment is, how pitiful life is, how low the pay for labour is or how senseless the violence is. Hands off. Deal with it. Live with it! There goes the King Of the Jungle moving on to pastures new. All hail the King Of The Jungle because one day it could be you.
Live with it. Die with it. One way or other you are going to have to come to terms with it. Because there's little appetite left anymore to even try and even sell us the lie that there is anyone out there willing to change things for the benefit of humanity as a whole.
Very nicely written! This is something that I think about everyday. Here in America this stuff is in your face 24/7. What is sad to see is some middle class people who act like they are "already" winners. Some have a such a stuck up attitude.
I am going to follow the example of the family living on $24,000 a year in the article I read.
First, does anyone want to adopt me and my three children? The catch: you have to own a large, fully furnished two bedroom home and pay the utilities, taxes and insurance.
Next, I need a friend who has a nice vehicle they aren't using and will let me have for free. Any volunteers?
Then I had better find a husband who can make a living in the provided workshop because I am sure I would love being a "full time mom" too, and I would rather not work.
Anyone who can help with the above goals, please send me a direct message.
I've read these articles. I don't pay any attention them any more. I don't watch those d*** Home and Garden House Hunter shows anymore either. One young girl was buying a vacation home in the Caribbean with the money she made from her jewelry making business. They showed the business and it was just her sitting at a desk stringing together some cheap crap like you would buy at Walmart. I don't think so!
Totally agree with Doll eyes here!! (yes I know there's a first time for everything j/k } But she's right as are the other posters here. I get so sick and tired reading these "inspirational" stories, only to find out they caught some very nice breaks, which is great, but then don;t prattle on about how you "overcame" a bad situation.
I know a few former friends that bragged about how they overcame two layoffs and a ton of debt-then finding out they pretty much got high paying jobs, and a nice home plus a lot of decent posessions basicall handed to them by family or freinds. If I got a 108K job gift-wrapped for me, I think I'd over come a lot too!! The worst part is they brag like they earned it themselves and can;t understand why other folks in bad situations can;t "overcome and succeed" like they did
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.
There were people talking about he's an 'inspiration' for in debt students. 
j/k 
