 Why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer There are both ethical and political reasons for wanting to address the growing gap between rich and poor, according to experts ranging from economists and political scientists to social workers and activists.Commentsview comments in forum Page 1 2 You need to be a member of CKA and be logged into the site, to comment on news. |
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Nothign to see here. Move along.
Whether you agree with the article or not it's become quite apparent that the middle class of today expects to live a lifestyle that was only available to the rich 50 years ago and the term "going into debt to try to keep up" is misleading. What and who are they trying to keep up with.
Are they trying to keep up by keeping their children fed and clothed, a roof over their heads, basic life sustaining items or, are they trying to keep up with the Jones' who've got the new 4 bedroom house, the new car, pickup truck, boat, camper, and bi yearly holiday's to Mexico all on a Wal-Mart Greeters wage?
Yes the rich are getting richer and workers aren't being paid as much as they should but the middle class are exasperating the problem with their extremely high expectations of what they are entitled to.
If people lived within their means there'd be less rich people getting richer because the middle class wouldn't be funding their incomes by living beyond their means.
Not liking sports doesn't make you more intelligent.
Yea, but I bet not paying hundreds of dollars for sporting event tickets does.
Whether you agree with the article or not it's become quite apparent that the middle class of today expects to live a lifestyle that was only available to the rich 50 years ago and the term "going into debt to try to keep up" is misleading. What and who are they trying to keep up with.
Are they trying to keep up by keeping their children fed and clothed, a roof over their heads, basic life sustaining items or, are they trying to keep up with the Jones' who've got the new 4 bedroom house, the new car, pickup truck, boat, camper, and bi yearly holiday's to Mexico all on a Wal-Mart Greeters wage?
Yes the rich are getting richer and workers aren't being paid as much as they should but the middle class are exasperating the problem with their extremely high expectations of what they are entitled to.
If people lived within their means there'd be less rich people getting richer because the middle class wouldn't be funding their incomes by living beyond their means.
Personally I would agree with the gist of the article � it is getting harder for the middle class. Neither one of works at Wal-mart (I�m a writer and the wife is an accountant), but it is getting harder to get by.
Job security is a thing of the past and pay has been stagnant for a couple decades, while the cost of food, gas, utilities and everything else has gone up.
Unlike most people on our block, we don�t own any ATVs, RVs, boats or other expensive toys. We own one car � a 2006 Jetta (paid off) - and don�t upgrade electronics very often (I still have a flip phone and a CRT TV). We did buy a PS 3 two years ago, but haven�t bought any games for it since then � it was mostly to use as a Blu-ray disc player. I don�t buy DVDs, I get them from the library instead.
Our �extravagances� are an annual vacation � but usually something simple like a road/camping trip. When we do get extra money, we usually put it into RRSPs and/or RESPs.
We don�t keep up with the Joneses at all, but I think it is getting harder each year just to maintain a roof over your head and food in your belly.
Not liking sports doesn't make you more intelligent.
Yea, but I bet not paying hundreds of dollars for sporting event tickets does.
Depends on how you spend your entertainment dollar. Cutting out the cable bill will leave a lot of money for hockey tickets.
Not liking sports doesn't make you more intelligent.
Yea, but I bet not paying hundreds of dollars for sporting event tickets does.
Depends on how you spend your entertainment dollar. Cutting out the cable bill will leave a lot of money for hockey tickets.
How much are you spending on cable?
My bill is about $60/month - that would work out to 2 tickets in the nosebleeds a month (if you're lucky).
If people lived within their means there'd be less rich people getting richer because the middle class wouldn't be funding their incomes by living beyond their means.
I'm middle class, and live well within my means, and I'm still lucky to be paying the bills and having a little bit left over. Only problem is, the little bit left over isn't enough to consistently save or accumulate to do anything with. I seem to be barely inching up savings from year to year. Prices keep going up, fuel keeps costing more, but my wages don't go up nearly as much. I'll never be able to afford a house, much less the small fishing boat that's been a dream I've been chasing for 15 years now.
Life is one giant deadlock, a catch-22 if you will.
-J.
You'll earn what you're worth!
You'll earn what you're worth!
And in your case it'll be not much and not often.
Stop being a whiny lazy entitled deadbeat!
I work 55 hours a week and I'm 'lazy'?
What does that make YOU?
-J.
When you typed the word work, it should have been in parenthesis. Like this:
I "work" 55 hours a week..
Whether you agree with the article or not it's become quite apparent that the middle class of today expects to live a lifestyle that was only available to the rich 50 years ago and the term "going into debt to try to keep up" is misleading. What and who are they trying to keep up with.
Are they trying to keep up by keeping their children fed and clothed, a roof over their heads, basic life sustaining items or, are they trying to keep up with the Jones' who've got the new 4 bedroom house, the new car, pickup truck, boat, camper, and bi yearly holiday's to Mexico all on a Wal-Mart Greeters wage?
Yes the rich are getting richer and workers aren't being paid as much as they should but the middle class are exasperating the problem with their extremely high expectations of what they are entitled to.
If people lived within their means there'd be less rich people getting richer because the middle class wouldn't be funding their incomes by living beyond their means.
Personally I would agree with the gist of the article � it is getting harder for the middle class. Neither one of works at Wal-mart (I�m a writer and the wife is an accountant), but it is getting harder to get by.
Job security is a thing of the past and pay has been stagnant for a couple decades, while the cost of food, gas, utilities and everything else has gone up.
Unlike most people on our block, we don�t own any ATVs, RVs, boats or other expensive toys. We own one car � a 2006 Jetta (paid off) - and don�t upgrade electronics very often (I still have a flip phone and a CRT TV). We did buy a PS 3 two years ago, but haven�t bought any games for it since then � it was mostly to use as a Blu-ray disc player. I don�t buy DVDs, I get them from the library instead.
Our �extravagances� are an annual vacation � but usually something simple like a road/camping trip. When we do get extra money, we usually put it into RRSPs and/or RESPs.
We don�t keep up with the Joneses at all, but I think it is getting harder each year just to maintain a roof over your head and food in your belly.
Fair enough and like I said wages have to rise with the cost of everything else required to keep that roof over your head and bread on your table but, I still maintain there is a large contingent of "middle class" out there who want to live the dream and that dream now includes a large new home all the toys and a lifestyle that even 30 years ago would have been considered excessive.
So, I'd say if your struggling to raise a family and keep a roof over your head and not getting ahead then you have a very valid bitch but if you're one of the others who has mortgaged their lives for the short term status symbols and luxuries then you're part of the problem.
It seems we all want everything that everybody else has and consequently instead of waiting and saving like years ago we go out and purchase things on time, with credit and do stupid things like extend lines of credit all leading to a debt load that is both unrealistic and unlikely to be paid back.
And before anyone starts, this isn't a generational thing, it's a class thing. My generation is just as fucked up when it comes to wanting everything as any Gen X or Y'er and we went from the idea of working for things to expecting things which ended up putting some of us into almost as much financial trouble as the kids today.
I find it amazing that the Rich can keep selling us a dream we can't really afford and we keep blindly buying it. I don't have a solution but I can say with some certainty that raising wages will only prolong the problem and until people start living within their means and not expecting the brass ring the problem will continue to spiral out of control giving those same rich pricks even more power over us.
If the rich are truly destroying the middle class then we're doing everything we can to help them.