carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Someone being ultra rich has absolutely no affect on someone with less money other than creating jealousy. The ultra rich have been amassing more and more $$$ while the middle class steadily declines. It's a dangerous path. Also, FWIW, I'm not particularly jealous. Link to comment
JJ Husker Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I would agree that not having a flourishing middle class is not good for the economy. And, it is apparent that the middle is shrinking and we are already at an unhealthy level of haves and have nots. I know one thing, it takes a bunch more money now to live comfortably than it did only five years ago. Link to comment
carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 I know one thing, it takes a bunch more money now to live comfortably than it did only five years ago. How so? (Not a loaded question . . . I'm genuinely curious. I don't think that I've noticed much change . . .) Link to comment
JJ Husker Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 I know one thing, it takes a bunch more money now to live comfortably than it did only five years ago. How so? (Not a loaded question . . . I'm genuinely curious. I don't think that I've noticed much change . . .) Just personal experience with the home budget. More trouble keeping all the bills paid, less discretionary spending, less going towards retirement. I don't do much of the grocery shopping but wife is constantly mentioning how this or that has increased in price or how many items have stayed same price but quantity/size has gotten smaller. One of the problems is that my business lost money in 2010 and 2011 then we did ok in 2012. So now the quarterly taxes with no profit distribution is a bitch. Add in still increasing health insurance premium plus another big jump when I turned 50 a few months ago. So, currently we are losing ground instead of growing the nest egg. I don't want to whine too much cuz it could be much worse, I'm just not accustomed to it but it is very noticeable. It seems as if we have gone from upper middle class to lower middle with really no reduction in take home pay in a mere couple of years. Link to comment
StPaulHusker Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 I know one thing, it takes a bunch more money now to live comfortably than it did only five years ago. How so? (Not a loaded question . . . I'm genuinely curious. I don't think that I've noticed much change . . .) That's because you are making up the added overhead by passing costs along to your clients. Link to comment
carlfense Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Just personal experience with the home budget. More trouble keeping all the bills paid, less discretionary spending, less going towards retirement. I don't do much of the grocery shopping but wife is constantly mentioning how this or that has increased in price or how many items have stayed same price but quantity/size has gotten smaller. One of the problems is that my business lost money in 2010 and 2011 then we did ok in 2012. So now the quarterly taxes with no profit distribution is a bitch. Add in still increasing health insurance premium plus another big jump when I turned 50 a few months ago. So, currently we are losing ground instead of growing the nest egg. I don't want to whine too much cuz it could be much worse, I'm just not accustomed to it but it is very noticeable. It seems as if we have gone from upper middle class to lower middle with really no reduction in take home pay in a mere couple of years. I see. I've noticed some grocery price increases (beef, in particular) have increased but most other costs (housing, transportation, etc.) have seemed relatively stable. Link to comment
It'sNotAFakeID Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Do you really think the wealthy, or the ultra-wealthy, drive up the cost for the common man? The wealthy can afford a Pagani Zonda and have been known to pay a premium for getting one before the next guy, but I'm not in that market anyway so does that really affect me? I'm more the Camry or minivan market these days. No matter how many Zondas they buy, I don't think that really affects me. Or look at wine. I drink a lot of wine, but my market isn't the same as the wealthy person's market. They're (most likely) buying entirely different wine than me. How does that affect my cost of living? Pagani Zonda--Where the hell did you pull that car from? Link to comment
knapplc Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Do you really think the wealthy, or the ultra-wealthy, drive up the cost for the common man? The wealthy can afford a Pagani Zonda and have been known to pay a premium for getting one before the next guy, but I'm not in that market anyway so does that really affect me? I'm more the Camry or minivan market these days. No matter how many Zondas they buy, I don't think that really affects me. Or look at wine. I drink a lot of wine, but my market isn't the same as the wealthy person's market. They're (most likely) buying entirely different wine than me. How does that affect my cost of living? Pagani Zonda--Where the hell did you pull that car from? Top Gear. Link to comment
LouisianaHusker Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Do you really think the wealthy, or the ultra-wealthy, drive up the cost for the common man? The wealthy can afford a Pagani Zonda and have been known to pay a premium for getting one before the next guy, but I'm not in that market anyway so does that really affect me? I'm more the Camry or minivan market these days. No matter how many Zondas they buy, I don't think that really affects me. Or look at wine. I drink a lot of wine, but my market isn't the same as the wealthy person's market. They're (most likely) buying entirely different wine than me. How does that affect my cost of living? Pagani Zonda--Where the hell did you pull that car from? Top Gear. And on that bombshell....... 1 Link to comment
It'sNotAFakeID Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Do you really think the wealthy, or the ultra-wealthy, drive up the cost for the common man? The wealthy can afford a Pagani Zonda and have been known to pay a premium for getting one before the next guy, but I'm not in that market anyway so does that really affect me? I'm more the Camry or minivan market these days. No matter how many Zondas they buy, I don't think that really affects me. Or look at wine. I drink a lot of wine, but my market isn't the same as the wealthy person's market. They're (most likely) buying entirely different wine than me. How does that affect my cost of living? Pagani Zonda--Where the hell did you pull that car from? Top Gear. Glad to see I'm not the only one who watches that show. Link to comment
tschu Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Great work CNN, yeah THIS IMAGE accurately describes why millennials are living at home. It couldn't be the massively unbalanced economic factors that have unemployment in our age group out of control, college tuition prices rising at outrageous rates, and entry-level pay being lower than ever before. f#*k you. Link to comment
Stumpy1 Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I think this thread somewhat goes along with the budget thread. The wealthy got to where they are at by budgeting and being smart with their money, not because of tax breaks and such. My view as far as this whole thing is that people are the ones that control their lives and how they want to live it. I do understand that "some" things are out of a persons control but that doesn't mean they can't change to counter the situation. 2 Link to comment
tschu Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 I think this thread somewhat goes along with the budget thread. The wealthy got to where they are at by budgeting and being smart with their money, not because of tax breaks and such. My view as far as this whole thing is that people are the ones that control their lives and how they want to live it. I do understand that "some" things are out of a persons control but that doesn't mean they can't change to counter the situation. The fact that some people are more successful than others isn't the issue. That's going to happen; thats capitalism and that's humanity. THIS is the issue: 3 Link to comment
KJ. Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 The fact that some people are more successful than others isn't the issue. That's going to happen; thats capitalism and that's humanity. In regards to the images you just posted, how do you know that's not due to the above quote? Maybe since 1979, the top 1% has worked harder than they did in the previous decades. And maybe all those sheet metal workers out there are slacking and not really working too hard to try to get a promotion or better job? You can't just point to increased growth for one group and call it a bad thing right after saying some people are going to be more successful than others. 2 Link to comment
tschu Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 The fact that some people are more successful than others isn't the issue. That's going to happen; thats capitalism and that's humanity. In regards to the images you just posted, how do you know that's not due to the above quote? Maybe since 1979, the top 1% has worked harder than they did in the previous decades. And maybe all those sheet metal workers out there are slacking and not really working too hard to try to get a promotion or better job? You can't just point to increased growth for one group and call it a bad thing right after saying some people are going to be more successful than others. You're probably right. Inequality is because all of our sheet metal workers are slacking off. 4 Link to comment
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