It’s a poverty where you may still have most of the accoutrements of middle-class life. But your relationship with the financial elite has changed: you are indentured to the credit industry — for life
I don’t know Bill, but I have friends who make over half a million dollars a year plus and are absolutely broke. I also have friends that make less than 20% of that and are living very well. Not the expensive lifestyle, the cars and vacations the other half have, but more focused on family and friends over individual satisfaction. Charity begins at home and it’s better to share what little you have with those you love than to spread it around and support useless and fruitless endeavors.
Excellent point. The high earners oft feel the need to “keep up with the Joneses”: big house, prestige neighborhood, country club, private schools beginning at 2yrs old with college-level tuition for kids-12, etc. Saw a lot of that in the DC suburbs.
I've never known the income of my friends. My assumption is they were +/- 15% of our income. One of my best friends "retired" early because his wife hit the jackpot in Vegas the previous year. No one knew. I was fortunate to walk him out of the door.
Other friends always lived lavishly, BMW's for cars and a Caribbean timeshare. The husband died during COVID and his wife's new reality was that after 30 years in the house they owed more than it was worth. Supposition of wealth or poverty is just that.
Would you really fund a relative who is a "taker?"
I don't think Bordentown N.J. "workfare" program to be a fruitless endeavor.
Everything the corrupt leftist democrat cartel does is a useless and fruitless endeavor for America….due to useless and fruitless useful idiots that continue to support their insanity.🤔
We married in 1961. When the children came along I stayed home to take care of them because parenting is the most important job you will ever do. We lived in a modest house, drove used cars and lived within our means. We sent our son and daughter to colleges we could afford so they finished without debt. We paid off credit cards every month. It was a simple life but felt well worth it. We could afford the symphony and occasional theatre. The local library was important for us. Most of our social life originated from church. It was a good life. I wonder if that could still be done today at all? It might be a matter of attitude, what you consider important to afford in your life.
Interesting that Childcare is as high as it is: more than food and housing combined. Even more interesting that it is on the list at all. My parents did not pay for child care because my mother raised us. Now people decide that they will pay for childcare and free up one spouce to earn a separate income, but doing so incurs a significant expense.
I presume couples are making a decision to earn a second income even though that triggers such a large expense. Seems self-defeating.
BB-If a family makes the decision to eat filet mignons and lobster and a costly university life could be difficult. My parents would go shopping on sundays and clip coupons from the Sunday paper to buy enough groceries for the week. My mother stayed home to take care of my brothers and me and cooked our meals. We wore hand me down clothing. We all started going to junior college which was basically free. All three of us graduated as professionals; 2 pharmacists and one physician. It can be accomplished if you control your spending and spend your earnings smartly. i.e. buy a used car, don’t live in an expensive city, etc. maybe I’m naive.
The worst part of debt is the stress it creates. It is an omnipresent burden, quietly waiting to sink you should an event or circumstance disrupt income flow. As Boomers, life wasn’t especially easy in our family-raising years. We endured wild inflation and extraordinarily high interest rates. I didn’t rid myself of non-mortgage debt until I was 50. Millennials face a far tougher situation, as costs are rising far faster than salaries.
Have you gone to a moderately priced restaurant recently only to wait in line for a table? Then, while being seated, notice numerous unoccupied tables. Where's the wait staff? Americans (mostly) are not stupid and they have calculated that they have more spendable income, and a lot of free time for fun, if they collect benefits and stay home. Read the Green's full article not just Bonner's synopsis; it's an eye opener. Here's a short solution. Make child care available to everyone under $140,000/year income who has children. Then as you approach an income level that causes loss of benefits, taper the loss so people are rewarded, not penalized, as their income increases. As people make money (crossing the Valley of Death, as Green describes it) benefits are reduced, reducing government costs, and people may make enough money to pay income taxes.
What Bill is aptly describing is the "life designed for you". You can design your own path! We raised four kids, all college grads, no debt. From an early age we helped are kids build small cottage businesses, some remarkably successful, even a lemonade stand that earned between $50-$100 per day at 12 years of age. There were others, some did even better. By the time college came around they all had become committed entrepreneurs. Each one took a straight commission sales summer job selling educational books door to door earning enough to fully paying the last two or more years of college, buy a decent car, graduate debt free. Today three are very successful business owners and one a RN, all prioritizing faith and family, all four with nice, modest homes, either fully paid off or close raising their own families with the same values focused on designing their own path.
Great link, SE. It's obvious the Muslim Brotherhood has deeply embedded itself in the command and control structure of the U.K., and it's a virtual certainty that they have here, as well.
I do believe that the poverty line calculation needs to be redefined. $283.00 A week for food with a family of four? Ridiculous Pass on the chips and the Uber delivery and its half that.
The rental calculation he has At nearly two thousand dollars , a month is absurd. I have a completely renovated property 5 bed 5.bath , 3 car gar i'm gonna be charging $ 2100 great schools excellent neighborhood. And they sure as hell don't need to be spending two hundred bucks for social media. Mom and dad might need a phone but that's it.
Apparently, based on his thesis, they don't need more help from the government.They eat a subscription to Dave Ramsey's program. Stay out of debt in the first place and they'll be just fine.
"Social media" is internet and cellphone. If you're in a big city $200 will probably work for 1 house with one cellphone. $2100 here might get you 3 bedrooms in a decent school district. Commuting for just 1 person, $100+ for tolls, $250+ just for gas to get to work from that house - assumes you found the money to buy the car without a loan. You must not buy your own groceries. If you do, please post a list.
There is no doubt that most people are financially illiterate.
Don't buy assets that earn money but smoke, drink, expensive cars, posh houses, boats, live together but not marry or marry and keep getting divorced.
Went to buy a 2nd hand Ute for the farm 4.5 years ago, ($31,000, most expensive vehicle we ever bought.) Sitting there in the car yard was a $150,000 2nd hand RAM ute. I had just bought a cheap $160 000 house to rent out. With the vast number of immigrants into Australia since, the house has about doubled in value and rental income neatly doubled too. Many people drive a car worth a years income. Don't know what the RAM would be worth now but it would be depreciating.
Your American heath care system must be a vast fraud scheme if it costs do much and your life expectancy is not so good?
I cannot get rid of Substack! I am not interested in writing for them or their company; or using their EMAIL!
! Is 'Bonner Private Research' married to them? I highly value "Bonners Private Research" Key members [i.e. Bill bonner, Dan Denning, and Tom Dyson and their guests]. Is it possible to go to their web site and get their work 'WITHOUT SUBSTACK'?
I don’t know Bill, but I have friends who make over half a million dollars a year plus and are absolutely broke. I also have friends that make less than 20% of that and are living very well. Not the expensive lifestyle, the cars and vacations the other half have, but more focused on family and friends over individual satisfaction. Charity begins at home and it’s better to share what little you have with those you love than to spread it around and support useless and fruitless endeavors.
Excellent point. The high earners oft feel the need to “keep up with the Joneses”: big house, prestige neighborhood, country club, private schools beginning at 2yrs old with college-level tuition for kids-12, etc. Saw a lot of that in the DC suburbs.
I've never known the income of my friends. My assumption is they were +/- 15% of our income. One of my best friends "retired" early because his wife hit the jackpot in Vegas the previous year. No one knew. I was fortunate to walk him out of the door.
Other friends always lived lavishly, BMW's for cars and a Caribbean timeshare. The husband died during COVID and his wife's new reality was that after 30 years in the house they owed more than it was worth. Supposition of wealth or poverty is just that.
Would you really fund a relative who is a "taker?"
I don't think Bordentown N.J. "workfare" program to be a fruitless endeavor.
Everything the corrupt leftist democrat cartel does is a useless and fruitless endeavor for America….due to useless and fruitless useful idiots that continue to support their insanity.🤔
We married in 1961. When the children came along I stayed home to take care of them because parenting is the most important job you will ever do. We lived in a modest house, drove used cars and lived within our means. We sent our son and daughter to colleges we could afford so they finished without debt. We paid off credit cards every month. It was a simple life but felt well worth it. We could afford the symphony and occasional theatre. The local library was important for us. Most of our social life originated from church. It was a good life. I wonder if that could still be done today at all? It might be a matter of attitude, what you consider important to afford in your life.
Interesting that Childcare is as high as it is: more than food and housing combined. Even more interesting that it is on the list at all. My parents did not pay for child care because my mother raised us. Now people decide that they will pay for childcare and free up one spouce to earn a separate income, but doing so incurs a significant expense.
I presume couples are making a decision to earn a second income even though that triggers such a large expense. Seems self-defeating.
BB-If a family makes the decision to eat filet mignons and lobster and a costly university life could be difficult. My parents would go shopping on sundays and clip coupons from the Sunday paper to buy enough groceries for the week. My mother stayed home to take care of my brothers and me and cooked our meals. We wore hand me down clothing. We all started going to junior college which was basically free. All three of us graduated as professionals; 2 pharmacists and one physician. It can be accomplished if you control your spending and spend your earnings smartly. i.e. buy a used car, don’t live in an expensive city, etc. maybe I’m naive.
You’re definitely not naive Abe. The feelings of entitlement in this country have become outrageous and cancerous.
The worst part of debt is the stress it creates. It is an omnipresent burden, quietly waiting to sink you should an event or circumstance disrupt income flow. As Boomers, life wasn’t especially easy in our family-raising years. We endured wild inflation and extraordinarily high interest rates. I didn’t rid myself of non-mortgage debt until I was 50. Millennials face a far tougher situation, as costs are rising far faster than salaries.
Have you gone to a moderately priced restaurant recently only to wait in line for a table? Then, while being seated, notice numerous unoccupied tables. Where's the wait staff? Americans (mostly) are not stupid and they have calculated that they have more spendable income, and a lot of free time for fun, if they collect benefits and stay home. Read the Green's full article not just Bonner's synopsis; it's an eye opener. Here's a short solution. Make child care available to everyone under $140,000/year income who has children. Then as you approach an income level that causes loss of benefits, taper the loss so people are rewarded, not penalized, as their income increases. As people make money (crossing the Valley of Death, as Green describes it) benefits are reduced, reducing government costs, and people may make enough money to pay income taxes.
For most, income is always a challenge.
Decisions in education and employ determine how well you will fare.
Not the price on the shelf.
Reading this BPR is depressing, one might assume that's the way it HAS to be...
What Bill is aptly describing is the "life designed for you". You can design your own path! We raised four kids, all college grads, no debt. From an early age we helped are kids build small cottage businesses, some remarkably successful, even a lemonade stand that earned between $50-$100 per day at 12 years of age. There were others, some did even better. By the time college came around they all had become committed entrepreneurs. Each one took a straight commission sales summer job selling educational books door to door earning enough to fully paying the last two or more years of college, buy a decent car, graduate debt free. Today three are very successful business owners and one a RN, all prioritizing faith and family, all four with nice, modest homes, either fully paid off or close raising their own families with the same values focused on designing their own path.
...bully for you!
Your children had good guidance, many are not as fortunate.
Most young folks I know that struggle...
... have no idea what they are doing in life, regardless of their parent's financial status.
Those that hunkered down and learned a trade are faring well.
Dots...
https://rumble.com/v72hm56-a-bowl-of-porridge-patriots-top-10-afghan-refugee-attacks-dc-troops.html
Great link, SE. It's obvious the Muslim Brotherhood has deeply embedded itself in the command and control structure of the U.K., and it's a virtual certainty that they have here, as well.
Good to see you around again, SE. We had a conversation not long ago where we wondered if you were gone for good.
Excellent video brother…the facts are overwhelming how traitorous the leftist party of mental illness has become. Get ready for it!
I do believe that the poverty line calculation needs to be redefined. $283.00 A week for food with a family of four? Ridiculous Pass on the chips and the Uber delivery and its half that.
The rental calculation he has At nearly two thousand dollars , a month is absurd. I have a completely renovated property 5 bed 5.bath , 3 car gar i'm gonna be charging $ 2100 great schools excellent neighborhood. And they sure as hell don't need to be spending two hundred bucks for social media. Mom and dad might need a phone but that's it.
Apparently, based on his thesis, they don't need more help from the government.They eat a subscription to Dave Ramsey's program. Stay out of debt in the first place and they'll be just fine.
Amen to the Dave Ramsey program. It should be a required course in all government schools.
Seems to me that every cost inflated except the cost of labor (big city attorneys and senior airline pilots excepted).
I put myself through college by hunting coyotes.
Today there probably aren't enough coyotes in the entire Great Basin to fund a college degree.
And there are still a hell of a lot of coyotes.
"Social media" is internet and cellphone. If you're in a big city $200 will probably work for 1 house with one cellphone. $2100 here might get you 3 bedrooms in a decent school district. Commuting for just 1 person, $100+ for tolls, $250+ just for gas to get to work from that house - assumes you found the money to buy the car without a loan. You must not buy your own groceries. If you do, please post a list.
There is no doubt that most people are financially illiterate.
Don't buy assets that earn money but smoke, drink, expensive cars, posh houses, boats, live together but not marry or marry and keep getting divorced.
Went to buy a 2nd hand Ute for the farm 4.5 years ago, ($31,000, most expensive vehicle we ever bought.) Sitting there in the car yard was a $150,000 2nd hand RAM ute. I had just bought a cheap $160 000 house to rent out. With the vast number of immigrants into Australia since, the house has about doubled in value and rental income neatly doubled too. Many people drive a car worth a years income. Don't know what the RAM would be worth now but it would be depreciating.
Your American heath care system must be a vast fraud scheme if it costs do much and your life expectancy is not so good?
Unheimlich dystopisch , desillisionierend , ihr Bericht !
I cannot get rid of Substack! I am not interested in writing for them or their company; or using their EMAIL!
! Is 'Bonner Private Research' married to them? I highly value "Bonners Private Research" Key members [i.e. Bill bonner, Dan Denning, and Tom Dyson and their guests]. Is it possible to go to their web site and get their work 'WITHOUT SUBSTACK'?
Thanks SE, that was awesome. President Trump is transforming America and the World. Meanwhile, Bonnie Bonner is busy picking nits.