Do you think most Americans are trying to live a lifestyle they can't afford?

A

architekker

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It's always Obama fault if we ended up not able to afford things now days. In the near future, your children's will ended up paying for that stimulus money that never works. $39,000 each future Americans to pay for. Great job Obama, you just destroyed America.
 
Yes.

There is a large pool called 'the middle class poor' who own homes and cars yet don't have a dime in their pocket.

This 'middle class poor' have been around for more than a few decades, and was mentioned on the Ed Sullivan show back in the '60s.
 
Do you think this may be part of the reason we are in such a deep deficit?

Any smart rational thinking republican or conservative knows that it is not entirely Obama's fault. Given the fact that this started during the term of the Bush administration.

But I personally think that too many Americans cannot except the fact the we have a class system, and that we are always going to have the poor among us, and that some of us are not going to be able to live like others do, no matter how hard they try. And then there are those who do succeed by sucking the poor dry. There is a 19th century Philosopher that said this as well by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.

You have some poor out there that will go broke trying to pay off furniture and/or a automobile or brand name clothes like ambercrombie or even gucci; or people that will go out and buy $1000 set of rims or a bunch of hunting guns and ammo, but still live in trailer park in the outskirts or in a one room flat in a city. I blame some of this on constant advertising.

Then you have the middle class that gambles with their savings as well. This nice cars that get changed every year just to impress their friends; or the two story house in the burbs with a white picket fence that they know they can't stay in forever because of rental or land costs. Oh and the constant splurging of money on things that may get used only once that then flood their garages full of junk. i believe that the middle class uses the most natural resources out of any other class in America.

And then you have the rich who really don't care as long as they succeed and what the poor or middle class does doesn't effect them!

So do you think Americans are a little too delusional in the way they go about spending money to suit their lifestyle?
 
I don't think irresponsible spending by consumers is the problem in most cases. People are having to get new credit cards to pay their debts. The credit industry is shady. I don't even use credit cards unless I must. The top 5 credit cards have unreasonable rates to begin with, and the lesser known cards have even worse rates.
 
Yes. A cell phone is considered a "necessity" these days. I would have felt more sympathy for those receiving free healthcare in LA last week if half of them did not have bluetooth's stuck in their ears... who does the poor need to be in constant contact with?
 
I don't think irresponsible spending by consumers is the problem in most cases. People are having to get new credit cards to pay their debts. The credit industry is shady. I don't even use credit cards unless I must. The top 5 credit cards have unreasonable rates to begin with, and the lesser known cards have even worse rates.
 
Yes. And, before the housing market collapse, bad economic behavior was rewarded as follows:
- for 60+ years the value of houses have been going up (with very few exceptions)
- If you borrowed money for a small house, the value increase was small. If you borrowed money for a large house the value increase was larger.
- Banks historically didn't have to worry about home foreclosures (because the values kept going up) so they loosened their lending standards (the gov encouraged this)
- Until recently, the foolish behavior of borrowing more than you could afford was rewarded.
So who wants to bail out people who have foreclosed on their house?

As for the poor, I have seen poverty, but not in this country. Even the people earning more than $10G are rich in comparison to the world at large.
 
well, most people who speak of living in "flats" don't live in the US. and there are plenty of people in the US who try to live a lifestyle they CAN afford, even as their savings have been raided by speculators and their paychecks have been cut. these are the people the social engineers wish to crush into dependence.

did philosophy 101 just convene for the semester?
 
well, most people who speak of living in "flats" don't live in the US. and there are plenty of people in the US who try to live a lifestyle they CAN afford, even as their savings have been raided by speculators and their paychecks have been cut. these are the people the social engineers wish to crush into dependence.

did philosophy 101 just convene for the semester?
 
The people are just imitating their government.

The Chinese are great at saving money.

Many poor people have simply made many bad decisions and fail to accept responsibility for their actions.

Why is it that legal immigrants come to the US all the time and within 10 years become very successful - broke, language barrier, culture barrier,etc - it's not easy but these people are used to much worse.
Americans have become lazy and fat, we have changed and no longer appreciate the freedoms we have. We expect everything to handed to us on a silver platter from the government.
 
The people are just imitating their government.

The Chinese are great at saving money.

Many poor people have simply made many bad decisions and fail to accept responsibility for their actions.

Why is it that legal immigrants come to the US all the time and within 10 years become very successful - broke, language barrier, culture barrier,etc - it's not easy but these people are used to much worse.
Americans have become lazy and fat, we have changed and no longer appreciate the freedoms we have. We expect everything to handed to us on a silver platter from the government.
 
The people are just imitating their government.

The Chinese are great at saving money.

Many poor people have simply made many bad decisions and fail to accept responsibility for their actions.

Why is it that legal immigrants come to the US all the time and within 10 years become very successful - broke, language barrier, culture barrier,etc - it's not easy but these people are used to much worse.
Americans have become lazy and fat, we have changed and no longer appreciate the freedoms we have. We expect everything to handed to us on a silver platter from the government.
 
The people are just imitating their government.

The Chinese are great at saving money.

Many poor people have simply made many bad decisions and fail to accept responsibility for their actions.

Why is it that legal immigrants come to the US all the time and within 10 years become very successful - broke, language barrier, culture barrier,etc - it's not easy but these people are used to much worse.
Americans have become lazy and fat, we have changed and no longer appreciate the freedoms we have. We expect everything to handed to us on a silver platter from the government.
 
A lot of people do but not the majority.

That's why you need a severe recession or a mild depression every generation to bring things back into balance.
 
Yeah pretty much, I wish more people think the way you do. i agree with the class issue that there will always be income classes. How can we actually have a "poor class" of people that have two cars and a flat screen TV in there house. The middle class is getting smaller as we speak but we seem to plug along and provide for the family as much as we can. As for the "rich" that you discribed as "uncaring" I tend to disagree with you. How much money do they have to throw away in taxes to be called a caring class.
 
I think that there are many reasons why some people end up being classified in the poor class. Some do waste their money and over spend. But, there are some who have poor health and are not able to work full time. Some do work full time, but end up spending lots of money on doctors and health care. There are many who do waste money but not all. It is a complex situation. In conclusion, not all try to live a lifestyle that they cannot afford.
 
Most? No. many? Absolutely.

You know what's funny about that? Our entire economy is based on people spending more than they make...
 
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