No, this country is fucked up because the middle class is systematically being wiped out. People like you stand by and tell the little guy that he has to rent a house, meanwhile the Fed and corporations pillage the economy for their own benefit. I suppose according to your thinking, when food prices skyrocket, people should just not eat then, right? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24127314/from/ET/
So now we're talking about food prices? When is the whining gonna stop? All I'm saying is that there are alternatives and we can make our own choices.. If the goal is to stop living from paycheck to paycheck then something's gotta give.. I totally agree the FED needs to be abolished and the printing press need to stop,, it's a separate issue and it's not gonna be done tomorrow.. but his kids can change their spending habits today..
nutmeg, your ideal of parenting is giving a lecture to your (stubborn) teenagers. think about it, since when do teenagers listen to a word anyone says? kids learn by experience and by example. when we grew up, my parents never talked about money management but somehow we learned about it. we learned by watching them buy inexpensive foods, never eat out, never take lavish vacations, only buying clothes from goodwill or kmart or flea markets.
so you taught your 4-year old a lesson about saving versus spending, by buying her a $laptop$.. damn, that'll show her!!! you should've given her option #3: invest in a 5-year CD. jeez do you know how laughable this lesson of yours is? when she turns 16, i'll bet you'll teach her another lesson by buying her a $30k car instead of a $45k car.
I've always said, the biggest problem America faces is excessive television. Television thrives by telling people to buy. Look at statistics and you'll see that Americans watch on average 8 hours of television per day, almost twice what the rest of the world watches. You have to give your kids a message stronger than the message being fed to them constantly from television or at least point out to them that they've been brainwashed by the media and that they need to resist it.
80:20 rule is alive and well.80% people in the country will live their life on welfare or in debt or living paycheck to paycheck,while 20% people has 99.5% wealth,and will carry the load (taxes) of rest of the people.Most people wants instant gratification,they have on concept of future,want to live life today,do not worry about tomarrow.As a nation we are broke,and always remain that way in future,until we learn the concept of saving.
Nutmeg, show on paper how to save money. Like this for example. One box of tea bags (big family size tea bag) is $1.50 from the walmart. The box have 24 bags. Only 2 bags to make 1 gallon of iced tea. So one box will make 12 gallon of iced tea for $1.50. So you have iced tea to drink for maybe a month for $1.50. If they go to 7/11 or wawa, one drink is could be $1.00 to $3.00..for one drink for one day. So why give the wawa their money if they have a small income, tell them that for one example.
Your kids sound just like my kids. They think money grows on trees. They think I am a big *ucking tree!
I have 4 kids ages 11,13, 22, and a boy that is 2 weeks away from 18. When it comes to money, sex, drugs, and a lot of other things older teens have a hard time paying attention or carrying what parents say and I assume some of us parents were the same way when we were that age. I use to pay my 17 year old sons car insurance until he ditched his car 3 times and his grades were poor. He also told me about a year ago that sometimes kids have to figure it out for themselves, so I decided after that day to let him figure life out for himself and also face the consequences. He didn't have a car for about 7 months and it didn't seem to bother him as long as he had his cell phone, which I don't pay for. He moved out about 3 months ago, not on good terms but he didn't want to live by my rules which is fine. Now he can face the consquences of life. Some kids will never listen to parents no matter how hard you try. As a parent all you can do is love the kids, do your best to raise them how you think you should and don't be afraid to you use the word NO.