You can't watch five minutes of news these days without hearing about the economic horrors this nation is facing right now. Huge banks collapsing, home foreclosures, stock market free fall, the horrendous news just keeps coming. I have nothing but sympathy for the thousands of people facing a real financial struggle. I can't even begin to imagine the loss and fear associated with losing your home. However, yes, you knew there was a but coming, I am having a hard time getting too worked up about a lot of these "personal" stories that they bring you to put a human face on the numbers. So many of these people only deserve sympathy. Once you hear their story you wonder why anyone would ever think that they deserve any sort of governmental bail out.
For instance, the face of the attack on the middle class. CNN did a profile on a woman who was having a really tough time. She was laid off her mortgage sector job, a few months later her husband left, her mother moved in with her to help with the mortgage. She makes can't qualify for food stamps, she gets unemployment. She has started going to the food bank for help. All her money now goes to keeping a roof over her head. I feel for her, I do. This is where she lost me. And she is telling her story to get our sympathy she explains how when she gets ready to go to the food bank she removes her Tiffany bracelet and doesn't take her coach purse. Alright now I am just mad. Why is your bracelet not on eBay by now, why is your purse not up there with it?
I cannot take any more people talking about the attack on the middle class. Have we thought about the fact that maybe the middle class is filled with people who are actually faking it? People who shouldn't be middle class. Just because you are living a middle class lifestyle doesn't make you middle class. If in two to three months of hardship you might lose your home and you are out of money by the end of the first month, maybe you weren't actually middle class? I think we need to rethink the definition of middle class. Now huge, monumental catastrophe, that I won't argue. You know, through the roof medical bills, some sort of horrible legal battle followed by lawyers fees, that kind of stuff can kick anybody down, even the most avid of savers.
Here is a personal disclaimer. I don't consider myself middle class, too much debt. If Dan were too lose his job we would be like all these other people. We are working hard to remedy that situation. We are plugging away every month at our debt and trying to make that number in savings go up a little bit more. Just putting that out there.
Since when did being in debt up to your eyeballs, barely making minimum payments, but having your kids in soccer, dressing nice and owning a house all of a sudden make you middle class? What a sorry state we are in that keeping up with the Joneses has become drowning with them also.
The thing that is so sad about all this is that somewhere along the line the American Dream became the American Right Now with no money down with no work involved. It would be wonderful for every American to own their own home but only if they can afford it. I would rather it take hard work and sacrifice to own a home than it be all interest only loans and we all end up Zimbabwean millionaires. (Just for the record in Zimbabwe with all the political unrest there inflation is out of control and for about $2 you can get about $100 million dollars there but that is still not enough to buy flour.)
This whole economy right now has got me fired up. It has me a little scared but mostly highly motivated to get my financial house in order. If a long recession is in the works, I want my family to be prepared. I guess the spending fast was a really good idea after all.
3 comments:
Amen! The problem is not that all of us want to own our home. The problem comes when we want to own the home our parents had after working hard to earn it and finally achieving it after 30 or 40 years. People have been married 5 years and expect to own the home they left Mom and Dad in. Plus, they have to have the toys (ATC's, Boats, Plasma T.V., Toy Hauler, Jet Skiis, and More). Also, gotta go on the vacations. Have the two new cars, with the payments. And most of them didn't wait and get the education and job experience - they just jumped into the debt.
I am constantly wondering how newlyweds (25 years old) are able to purchas homes in my neighborhood. The neighborhood that we struggle to make the payment in. Even though we don't have the toys that they have. I don't know if I should be scared for them, or jealous. (Oh yeah, we also have 5 or 6 more kids than most of them. Maybe that's why we can't afford the toys.)
I agree!!
One time my cousin came to church (FYI: same religion as Cristtin), but my cousin is not a member. Anyway, the lady who was teaching our class was complaining about not having any food on her table, (her 2 children are starving) and she can barley make ends meet and how she can't get assistant (church or state). Her and her husband both work and are severly overweight. So as we (my cuz and I) are leaving church this lady and her family climb into a brand spankin' new Crystler. We dropped our jaws!! Yeah. Or like welfare recipients with thier cell phones with unlimited text and internet and $150 digital cable bills with 72" HDTVs. Where is our integrity these days? What they don't realize it that is exactly what is distroying our economy. Buy now, pay later!! Amen sister!!
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