Even with inflation in 1970. It only took 1 worker

Guys, lets keep this thread on topic and out of the P&R realm, or I'll be forced to split or close this thread.

Redirect the responses.

 

It's amazing how hard people in the richest country on earth can whine when they put their mind to it. Some of you need to take a short trip to Cambodia or somewhere similar, it might give you a bit of perspective.

To those who are knuckling down and thinking constructively, good on you. That is why the US will still be one of the world's pre-eminent places. It's a shame to see whining loser-socialism getting such a foothold there nowadays.

 

Gotta love people who think having a $900 a year cellphone habit and a car equates to poverty.

When I first moved out of home, I paid £20 ($30) per week to live in someone's attic, and took public transport to my minimum wage job. I had no heating let alone tv or cellphone in the place. A car would have been laughable. The place was a total ghetto dominated by social housing, crime, noise, dirt, and human scum.

Fast forward one decade, and people the age I was back then are now whining for handouts and living way beyond their means, instead of knuckling down, cutting expenses to the bone, and working hard to get ahead. I'm glad because it means I don't have much to fear from younger competition, you are weak and lazy and will get eaten alive if you try to compete in the workplace with that attitude.

You just proved Makloda's point. You are a spoiled brat.

 

A house is only worth what the banks will lend you,tried to buy a 2 flat in chicago,lincolnpark 1983, $70k,same property 2005,$850k,the banks made a killing in that time gobbbling up all the smaller banks,coglomerating,they made a fortune and hoarded it somewhere,now we are bailing them out,these figures are from memory but in 1975 your total income per month allowed 8 % for housing, today that has to be 40% for a new kid out of college making 25k, renting for $800 a mo. ,throw in an $800 mo.college loan payment and the banks have taken all this kids cash,the worst part is they are lending us our money,taxes we paid,fed lends it to the banks,back to us...they have built a cant win situation and we are saving them and not ourselves,soon we will all be out of work and the system will be toast,that is when they will realize it's time to let the banks fail,after the money is gone.

 

This is true. I've seen it first-hand.

Sandybestdog does make some excellent points. The problem is that he has very little room to talk until he goes out and tries to change his life in some way.

Go to school, get a degree, or learn a trade and then come back to tell me that you can barely get by. Until you do that, nobody is going to take you seriously.

 

Think about what you’re saying. You’re deligitimizing issues raised on this thread by telling people, well at least they have it better than someone in Cambodia. What kind of argument is that? Are you a lawyer? Cause if a lawyer used stupid logic like that they would lose every case.

Please point out 1 socialistic thing I have said on this thread. Just because you question the rich and corporation for their business practices, doesn’t make me a Socialist. You guys throw around that term way too much.

This is a very true statement that you will never understand. When the middle class sees no chance of getting ahead, they will inevitably give up and vote for higher taxes. When there credit cards are going to 25% for no reason, when their health insurance is going up 15% a year, when their jobs keep getting shipped overseas, eventually they won’t be able to keep up and they will give up. However, ignoranant people like you will never realize this.

 

Again you are really missing the point here. Do you really think people are hurting now because of their cell phone bill’s? You missed the whole point of that post. I listed every “luxury” I pay on a monthly basis and all of it put together was equal to just over half of just my health insurance. You are bashing people for spending a few dollars on some luxuries, and say nothing of the thousands they spend on necessities like food and health care and transportation and eduaction. All of which are continuously costing more and more. Cell phone prices have been stagnant for years, health insurance on the other hand is going up 15% a year. Yet you bash the cell phone bill! Keep up with your retarded logic and we will see the United Socialist States of America before you know it.

BTW I never said that was poverty. And I use my car for my job. I bought it with 176k miles for $2000. I love it when people like you say we should live within our means, but never point which items we should live without. If I lived without all my luxuries, it would save $148 a month. You think that is going to change my financial situation?

 

todays luxury cell phone is just a phone,i doubt sandy wastes money on a house line

 

I’ve read some of your posts and from what I gathered you went the traditional route. Went to college and now are starting it in you entry level job and trying to move up. That is very good of you. I went to school for 2 semesters and dropped out because I didn’t want to take out loans. I don’t really like school anyways. I like working. I didn’t go the traditional route like you. I wanted to start businesses and invest and get ahead that way. If you read some of my other threads, you’ll see I’ve tried a lot of things and spent tens of thousands doing it. Just because I have no “education” or “skills” doesn’t mean I’m a lazy bum who sits around and wants everybody else to give him everything.

To say that I have done nothing to change my life is so wrong that I won’t even respond to it. Just because change hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean I haven’t worked my butt off for 7 years to try to make it happen.

 

I don't understand why the middle class can't be rich today?

I come from a lower middle class family. An emigrant family with no formal education beyond the 7th grade that started with EUR 500 (in todays money) in the 70s in Western Europe.

Today I'm rich.

It's not easier or harder to become rich today than it was 35 years ago. Does it mean any working class kid can become a millionaire? Probably not. A certain element of chance is always involved, e.g. to be be in good health. But harder today "than in the good ole' times?". I disagree strongly.

And Sandy, complaining how terrible the times are now for working class that has to live in a 1BR, have a mobile phone and goto the movies once a month is not socialist or communist, it's something else: it's pathetic whining.

My parents were never in the cinema, their entire life. They never had a cell phone. They never drove a car, their entire life. And they never ever complained about how tough times were or how they have to swim upstream. Thus I never learned to complain and bitch. There is a big difference between analyzing your situation and taking disciplined steps for improving your finances and basically giving up and blaming your own misery on others -- the rich, the politicians, the Fed, inflation etc. etc.

I am sorry to say it openly, but that is a typical attitude that is used by people who gave up already on the inside but are not able to openly admit this fact to themselves.

Accepting facts and unemotionally analyzing circumstances directly influencable by you (not the Fed, the politicians etc. but rather things like education, career path and planning, city you live in, people you hang out with, monthly costs, investment strategy) is the first step you should consider.