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thats the point, no ones saying only blacks overspend, Just me as Black Man im talking about our community!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigbluelandrover
"Our" people take materialism to a whole notha' level. That is why so many inner-schools have uniforms. I remember being in school and people would relentlessly tease you (to the point of fighting) if they did not like your clothes. I got teased b/c my parents were older and not up to date with fashions so my clothes were never in style. Things got worse after I left HS. I can only imagine how bad it is now.
I highly doubt the kids in Fairfax County take it that far. Sure they are snobs but I know they aren't fighting over clothes. Our folks just stay stuck on stupid sometimes.
Where is the facts that Blacks are more materialistic then whites. I see another side since I am in the modification field and more then half of the people asking for government modification because they can not afford their homes are white.
I am not a born American so I see the world differently then Americans. In my country we do not see Black or White. we see people as a whole. I see American side and this country is Black or White. We are all humans and regardless of our race we are all the same. You have poor blacks and poor whites. Rich Blacks/Rich Whites. I think you need to live outside of American then maybe you will judge upon individual and not by race.
How do you know Blacks over spend more then Whites. Now I am not American Black so my thinking is different then most Black American because of my culture so for you to sum up all Blacks as one is wrong. We might have the same color but we have different culture so we think and see the world differently.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmorefella
Iscalder your still missing the point.... Im proud of you and your husband, your a few years older than me and i would love to be in your situation in the next few years!! Im not saying everyone in moco is rich and everyone in pg is poor, thats ridiculous!!! Their are plenty of wealthy people in pg who make good money!!! My point is, that their are also twice as many overspending, stretching their lines of credit and barely affording the luxury lifestyle!!! And thats a fact!!! This is bigger than pg, this is a plague thats affecting our people as a whole!!! Kids are more concerned with the clothes on their backs then the knowledge in their head and i think its sick!!! I got friends saving up for prada shoes, please im saving up for my masters!!!! Im not generalizing everyone in the county i'm just using what i see as an example, i love pg i have family in pg (bowie/fort washington) but lets keep it real!!! Ride through any development in fort washington and half of the homes you find will have a for sale or foreclosure signs on them!!! Lets face the facts!!
Let's talk solutions. If you teach your children to value education and to not obsess with wearing their assets on their @ss, maybe some of the materialism can stop. And look at things differently. Wearing Prada doesn't build wealth. But perhaps investing in Prada stocks will. Splurge sometimes (if you can afford it, a little Prada isn't going to hurt you) but spend wisely. The rich and famous often throw money around, and others try to follow the frivolous pursuits. Copy the more substantive achievements -- education, career, business building.
The reason I brought up Fairfax County, VA was to show that even in a majority-CAUCASIAN county of over 1,000,000 people materialism runs rampant as well. This is not a "racial" issue; this is a SOCIETAL issue. For every one fiscally-responsible person like lscalder who is upper-middle-class and actually has the income to support her finer tastes in life there are two others in this country who earn half of what she and her better half do who still try to "keep up" with the SAME lifestyle.
I know the "facts" may not be easy to digest, but like it or not Prince George's County, while being the nation's most affluent majority-African-American county, still trails quite a bit behind Montgomery County and Fairfax County in terms of overall income and spending power, yet the people in Prince George's County overall continue to try to play "keep up with the Jones's" with those who live in Montgomery or Fairfax Counties who have much higher incomes, overall. Here in Fairfax County the MEDIAN household income is well over $100,000 to begin with (which means already that half the county earns even more than that). As one of the "working poor" in Fairfax County I earn $42,000 at age 23, and while I am living paycheck-to-paycheck I'm in no danger of filing for bankruptcy or having to sell myself to pay bills. Why, you may ask? I don't live beyond my means. I live in a ratty 1-BR apartment over 20 miles outside the city. I drive a Mazda with low monthly payments. I DO indulge myself by going out to eat about once per week, but if times became tougher I'd gladly give up that luxury.
In Prince George's County there are many people who earn similar incomes to what I do who are stressed beyond the hilt because they are maxing out credit cards in an incessant quest to try to "keep up" with peers who may make $20,000-$30,000 more than they do. As for me? I see daily here in Reston dudes around my age driving nicer cars than I do, wearing more expensive clothing than I do, and having trophy eye candy better halves. Does it make me jealous? No. Does it make me want to further indebt myself to "even the score?" No. I think there are too many people throughout this nation that have become so wrapped up in vanity, competition, self-indulgence, materialism, and hedonism that they would rather stress themselves to no end trying to "prove themselves" and make themselves stand out from the crowd with nicer "bling", so to speak. Why? What's the point? I personally don't respect someone who drives a Mercedes or Porsche anymore than someone who drives a Hyundai or a Kia. I personally don't respect someone who wears clothing from Juicy Couture, Banana Republic, Talbot's, or Gucci anymore than someone who wears clothing from Target, Marshall's, or TJ Maxx. Respect should be EARNED---not demanded by one-upping each other---and unfortunately Americans IN GENERAL (not just blacks, whites, Asians, gays, etc.) have lost sight of this. Do something kind-hearted for me, and I'll love you forever. Burn me in order to get yourself ahead to "impress" me, and you can leave my side forever for all I care.
Americans in general just need to STOP with this thirst for outdoing each other. Even back in my relatively economically-disadvantaged hometown of Scranton, PA there were suburban enclaves where people building newer homes would try to build bigger and better driveway entry pillars and gates than the previous homeowner. It was disgusting. I'm not top of the heap. I'm not bottom of the barrel. I'm middle-of-the-pack, and that's what makes me happiest inside.
The reason I brought up Fairfax County, VA was to show that even in a majority-CAUCASIAN county of over 1,000,000 people materialism runs rampant as well. This is not a "racial" issue; this is a SOCIETAL issue. For every one fiscally-responsible person like lscalder who is upper-middle-class and actually has the income to support her finer tastes in life there are two others in this country who earn half of what she and her better half do who still try to "keep up" with the SAME lifestyle.
I know the "facts" may not be easy to digest, but like it or not Prince George's County, while being the nation's most affluent majority-African-American county, still trails quite a bit behind Montgomery County and Fairfax County in terms of overall income and spending power, yet the people in Prince George's County overall continue to try to play "keep up with the Jones's" with those who live in Montgomery or Fairfax Counties who have much higher incomes, overall. Here in Fairfax County the MEDIAN household income is well over $100,000 to begin with (which means already that half the county earns even more than that). As one of the "working poor" in Fairfax County I earn $42,000 at age 23, and while I am living paycheck-to-paycheck I'm in no danger of filing for bankruptcy or having to sell myself to pay bills. Why, you may ask? I don't live beyond my means. I live in a ratty 1-BR apartment over 20 miles outside the city. I drive a Mazda with low monthly payments. I DO indulge myself by going out to eat about once per week, but if times became tougher I'd gladly give up that luxury.
In Prince George's County there are many people who earn similar incomes to what I do who are stressed beyond the hilt because they are maxing out credit cards in an incessant quest to try to "keep up" with peers who may make $20,000-$30,000 more than they do. As for me? I see daily here in Reston dudes around my age driving nicer cars than I do, wearing more expensive clothing than I do, and having trophy eye candy better halves. Does it make me jealous? No. Does it make me want to further indebt myself to "even the score?" No. I think there are too many people throughout this nation that have become so wrapped up in vanity, competition, self-indulgence, materialism, and hedonism that they would rather stress themselves to no end trying to "prove themselves" and make themselves stand out from the crowd with nicer "bling", so to speak. Why? What's the point? I personally don't respect someone who drives a Mercedes or Porsche anymore than someone who drives a Hyundai or a Kia. I personally don't respect someone who wears clothing from Juicy Couture, Banana Republic, Talbot's, or Gucci anymore than someone who wears clothing from Target, Marshall's, or TJ Maxx. Respect should be EARNED---not demanded by one-upping each other---and unfortunately Americans IN GENERAL (not just blacks, whites, Asians, gays, etc.) have lost sight of this. Do something kind-hearted for me, and I'll love you forever. Burn me in order to get yourself ahead to "impress" me, and you can leave my side forever for all I care.
Americans in general just need to STOP with this thirst for outdoing each other. Even back in my relatively economically-disadvantaged hometown of Scranton, PA there were suburban enclaves where people building newer homes would try to build bigger and better driveway entry pillars and gates than the previous homeowner. It was disgusting. I'm not top of the heap. I'm not bottom of the barrel. I'm middle-of-the-pack, and that's what makes me happiest inside.
Yea, i hate to be the fact checker, but i know this county typically gets bashed pretty hardcore by practically everyone, which is odd, considering it is the 70th wealthy county by median income in the United States out of 3,250 odd counties. I'm not here to defend or bash just state the facts.
Anyway, so let's examine the issue at present. Materialism is not a "black" thing, i hate to bring this news to you, but it is a nationwide American Metro Area Hobby.
To examine whether this is an accurate view of Prince Georges County in terms of Materialism and Foreclosures we need to know a few facts, before we can even start to make opinions
1. What is the total housing stock (how many houses are in Prince Georges County?)
Okay, so I'm not going to argue the already known fact, that Prince George's leads the state of Maryland foreclosure rate and number of total foreclosures.
However, I will argue that it is clearly not a problem considering the foreclosure rate only represents 4% of the housing stock in the county, which means that 96% of the people that live in the county that either rent or own homes are doing fine.
I think this county suffers from a lot of bad press and also suffers from the fact it is in the DC Metro Area lol, because if it was in any other state, it would most likely be either the wealthiest or second wealthiest. I hate to point this out to your DC/Metro types, but Fairfax, Montgomery, etc..all the way down to Prince George are far superior counties when you compare them to almost 99% of the other counties int he country. People do not live like you all do at all in most of the country. In the parts of the country where there is this kind of wealth it is no where near as spread out.
What i do find funny about all of this is that Prince George's county is considered one of the worst counties in that area, which is really saying a lot about how ridiculously wealthy the Nation's Capital is!!!
Your worst county is 99% better than almost all the other counties in America. It is just crazy how much wealth is in the DC Area.
http://www.mdhope.org/Documents/Property_Foreclosure_Events_in_Maryland_2009_Q1.pd f (broken link)
Thanks for posting the facts, yes its very true, people in md/dc/northern va make ridiculous amounts of money! I apologize if anyone thought that i was stating that overspending is just a black thing!!! Its just as a black male and living in largely black area, i see how my people can take overspending and materialism to a new level!!! But yes overspending does affect the entire country!!
Factchaecker dude
Thank you for posting those numbers. Cold hard facts and you did not belittle or point fingers!. Bravo!
Being a black couple from the midwest I can attest to the fact that people here live wayyyyy better than many parts of the country. (Especially on paper/not so much in housing size etc). We went from lower, lower middle class to the upper class almost over night. I can't say that I would ever go back to the way I lived before. It totally changes your outlook on everything.
This is one of the few areas in the country that still have PACKED malls on the weekends. When I go back to my hometown in Ohio the mall looks like a ghost-town on a Saturday.
Thanks for posting the facts, yes its very true, people in md/dc/northern va make ridiculous amounts of money! I apologize if anyone thought that i was stating that overspending is just a black thing!!! Its just as a black male and living in largely black area, i see how my people can take overspending and materialism to a new level!!! But yes overspending does affect the entire country!!
No problem bmorefella,
I think your issue is simply with "rich" or "well to do" kids. I hate to say it, but snobby attitudes are not just a rich "white" kid thing, because there are certainly a lot of rich "black" kids that are equally as snobby if not more so, especially in Maryland/DC/VA/Metro Area.
Prince George's County while it has a number of problems is no where near a "ghetto," but there's a joke about the DC Metro Suburbs I heard from someone a long time ago. She stated what we consider "ghetto" would be Upper Class in 99% of the country. Oddly enough once you've traveled around the US a bit, you realize, that it is very true.
Honestly comparing Prince George's County to Fairfax and then calling it ghetto is like comparing Cornell to Harvard and calling Cornell a school for dummies. Harvard is the best school in the country, but Cornell is also an excellent Ivy League school, so while Harvard is definitely superior overall, no person in their right mind would sit and argue that Cornell is a school for dummies, which is exactly what you people do in the DC metro in terms of Fairfax and Prince Georges. It just doesn't make sense to me. There are over 3,200 counties in this country and every last county that is a suburb of Washington DC including Prince George's county is in the Top 100 wealthiest counties in the country, and most of the counties are in the Top 20 lol.
You guys are just ridic and flushed with rich whites, blacks, and asians, there is no other place in America where the majority and the minority are both rich, well to do, and all middle class.
Hell, you guys have town homes in that area that are bigger than most peope's homes.
Not to mention Maryland is the richest state in the country largely due to Prince George's and Montgomery county, because of their shear large size and heavy middle to upper middle populations. Anyway, i'm just trying to put some of this stuff into perspective.
This has been a very interesting read. I will agree with everyone that america is a materialistic society. It really get's on my nerves a lot. Bmorefella, I definitely understand where your coming from with your point of view. I grew up in P.G. on both sides of the spectrum. I've lived 9 years in Suitland in a one bed room apartment. I understand the struggle. However at 16, my mom was able to move us to Clinton. I definitely noticed the more materialistic kids with nice cars and clothes. Not like Forestville high where a nice car was the Police package crusiers. I actually like the fact that my old school ;kids weren't so pressed to get the designers.
I think money changes people sometimes. I understand we all work hard for our money, by all means get what you want. I'm all for my people are becoming acheivers and acquiring more wealth. However, when we act like our stuff don't stink that is when I have a problem. I find that this area can have a materialistic mentality. I mean dag we make it to at least a GS-12 and up and we think we made it.
I would like to shout out the person who broke down the stats for the area counties. That was definitely a eye opener. I think people can be a little uppity around here. P.G. county is a good county to be in. I just wished that people would take the time to see this. With future development in place P.G. will not be the same ole "dump" that people see it as. But I'm a native so I will alway rep P.G.
Last edited by jayman1981; 05-18-2010 at 11:34 AM..
I think your issue is simply with "rich" or "well to do" kids. I hate to say it, but snobby attitudes are not just a rich "white" kid thing, because there are certainly a lot of rich "black" kids that are equally as snobby if not more so, especially in Maryland/DC/VA/Metro Area.
Prince George's County while it has a number of problems is no where near a "ghetto," but there's a joke about the DC Metro Suburbs I heard from someone a long time ago. She stated what we consider "ghetto" would be Upper Class in 99% of the country. Oddly enough once you've traveled around the US a bit, you realize, that it is very true.
Honestly comparing Prince George's County to Fairfax and then calling it ghetto is like comparing Cornell to Harvard and calling Cornell a school for dummies. Harvard is the best school in the country, but Cornell is also an excellent Ivy League school, so while Harvard is definitely superior overall, no person in their right mind would sit and argue that Cornell is a school for dummies, which is exactly what you people do in the DC metro in terms of Fairfax and Prince Georges. It just doesn't make sense to me. There are over 3,200 counties in this country and every last county that is a suburb of Washington DC including Prince George's county is in the Top 100 wealthiest counties in the country, and most of the counties are in the Top 20 lol.
You guys are just ridic and flushed with rich whites, blacks, and asians, there is no other place in America where the majority and the minority are both rich, well to do, and all middle class.
Hell, you guys have town homes in that area that are bigger than most peope's homes.
Not to mention Maryland is the richest state in the country largely due to Prince George's and Montgomery county, because of their shear large size and heavy middle to upper middle populations. Anyway, i'm just trying to put some of this stuff into perspective.
Thank you so much for stating all of this. Some people on this board act like its a warzone out there and the state is going to hell in a handbasket.
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What's the point? I personally don't respect someone who drives a Mercedes or Porsche anymore than someone who drives a Hyundai or a Kia. I personally don't respect someone who wears clothing from Juicy Couture, Banana Republic, Talbot's, or Gucci anymore than someone who wears clothing from Target, Marshall's, or TJ Maxx. Respect should be EARNED---not demanded by one-upping each other---and unfortunately Americans IN GENERAL (not just blacks, whites, Asians, gays, etc.) have lost sight of this. Do something kind-hearted for me, and I'll love you forever. Burn me in order to get yourself ahead to "impress" me, and you can leave my side forever for all I care. 
