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Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,149,199 times
Reputation: 2677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nite Ryder
I don't think most people are taught when they are young how to handle money.
I can guarantee this. Work in a bank for any time at all and 50% of all checking account holder's don't even know how to properly balance their checking accounts... let alone know how to "handle" their money. It ought to be a basic requirement for graduating high school to know how to balance an account, balance a simple budget, properly make change and handle cash, and learn how to deal with credit and credit related activities. One doesn't need to be an economics genius, but everyone needs to at least know the basics.
Many people don't live within their means because they are always wanting more. I don't think most people are taught when they are young how to handle money.
The system we live in encourages greed - we are indoctrinated to the 'merits' of this evil from kindergarten and up.
So it's no surprise that most people believe greed to be good, and put self gain above all else.
Many times I've heard financially comfortable people plead poverty - actually claiming to be poor because they can't keep up the payments on their fancy house etc..
Actually, for one person, the minimum wage does give you enough money to eat and sleep.
...But any more extras like children or health care requires more working hours than full time...
maybe it does now, but not if the neo-cons/far right have their way - they will just as soon abolish the min wage and have people working for $2/hr and sleeping in dormitories.
That is the scary vision of the near future, and it will soon creep up into the middle class as well.
maybe it does now, but not if the neo-cons/far right have their way - they will just as soon abolish the min wage and have people working for $2/hr and sleeping in dormitories.
That is the scary vision of the near future, and it will soon creep up into the middle class as well.
Right
Minimum wage will never be 2 dollars. Even if we didn't have a minimum wage, what is the problem with the market setting the value of the work being contributed?
When I was a kid growing up in Russia, many of the people around me were poor by American standards. We didn't have much real estate, gadgets, or fancy trips. Half of the clothes were passed on. Vacations meant visiting relatives by train. Happiness meant spending time with each other. The family gave ONE present to their kids for the New Year.
...I was taught to be frugal with money. To save up the few coins my folks gave me here and there. Reason for saving was...
...I will need it for the future.
...Americans aren't that frugal. Many live paycheck to paycheck.
This is also reflected by the government.
BS.
Many, many US citizens live within their means.
Is this a take off from the whiny young people complaining that they aren't making $60k on their first job?
I'm completely debt free and give pretty generously to many organizations and travel the world.
Are you speaking for yourself?
Because here's a good segment of society who absolutely lives within their means.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHurricaneKid
there are many Americans out there that had to foreclose on their homes because they bought too much house to handle in rough times.
there are many Americans out there with unplanned kids.
there are many Americans out there with credit card debt used to buy stuff that was not needed.
...And there is a government who is raking up debt with no end in sight.
...From the bottom up, they say.
Where's your proof? Anything but your opinion?
And there are people who worked, didn't buy more than they could afford and lost their jobs.
And there are those who went bankrupt due to health care costs - the number one reason for bankruptcy in the US.
We get your agenda, got anything but whining and sweeping generalizations?
With the way things are going in the US, birth control will be illegal.
What is it that you want?
BS.
Many, many US citizens live within their means.
Is this a take off from the whiny young people complaining that they aren't making $60k on their first job?
I'm completely debt free and give pretty generously to many organizations and travel the world.
Are you speaking for yourself?
Because here's a good segment of society who absolutely lives within their means.
Where's your proof? Anything but your opinion?
And there are people who worked, didn't buy more than they could afford and lost their jobs.
And there are those who went bankrupt due to health care costs - the number one reason for bankruptcy in the US.
We get your agenda, got anything but whining and sweeping generalizations?
With the way things are going in the US, birth control will be illegal.
What is it that you want?
Living paycheck to paycheck is not living frugally, just like payday loans and cash advances, reputable banks give these out to customers, so it's not just low SES individuals taking advantage of these programs and supplementing their monthly income because they spend too much. Don't get too upset, these "sweeping generalizations" are not absolute, therefore you are not included. If you live your life the way you do then good on you, but the truth of the matter is that if everyone lived like you and I our global economy would crash- it depends on new debt to produce new money.
Right after the financial collapse of 2008 there were so many articles about why it happened. Shortly after it came to light how Americans were living. Compared to mid last century, hardly anyone saves money, (from the middle to lower classes). There are a variety of factors that contribute to this, but the introduction of credit is the main factor, why save for a few months when you can have it now?
What makes you think that birth control will soon/eventually be illegal in the United States? This is the most asinine statement I've read all week.
Because America is a capitalist, hyper-consuming culture where 'you are what you buy'.
Many Americans do live within their means but they are considered boring and unfashionable compared to others who have to have the latest gadget, the latest expensive electronic toy, the most fashionable name-brand clothes, shoes, and handbags, the latest new-model car, et al.
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