I call bullsh1t. What the middle class can’t afford any longer is to remain financially ignorant and not learn how to delay gratification. The number of families actually living on a budget is almost nonexistent. But every family I know that has a budget does quite well, at various income levels.
10-4! We budget for all of these items. No problems.
So, it’s all actually the fault of those self-indulgent middle class. Couldn’t be because the economy has been turned to shit over the short period of the last 6 years now could it.
How democrat of you.
I MUST disagree with you, partner.
Things ARE a LOT worse financially in this country than they were just a few short...umm maybe 6 years ago!
Never had to do it before, but yep, I am forced to REALLY be careful at the grocery store these days - avoiding the meat sections...
Prices have shot up in that time. I’ve been laid off a few times in that time too, after decades of solid work...
So you deny that healthcare and dental costs have risen? You deny that all costs have risen? You deny that wages have basically been frozen for most professions?
Perhaps you don’t deny it, you just think the middle class should have planned for Obama and tightened our budgets which misses the entire point of the article. Sure I can still buy those things but some other items in my budget will be cut to cover the increases.
That is what the article is about. If I sadly didn’t have places to cut from, then I wouldn’t be able to afford them.
Glad to see you have sympathy for hard working people.Not.
you know the number of people including me that have no guarantee defined pension is growing exponentially....
its all well and good to know that you can Never be fired...and that you're retirement can never go away with bankruptcy and that you'll always have it....
millions and millions don't have that luxury...
THANK YOU!
The middle class needs to stop spending on items they can’t afford to pay off and need to stop blowing money on a posh lifestyle and SHOULD stop taking out loans for school if they can’t afford it! How many don’t even TRY to build a work history and don’t even WANT to learn a practical trade. It’s not the fault of people on welfare or the 1% to save the irresponsible from the mistakes they make and of their own financial ignorance.
No one on welfare FORCES members of the middle class to max out credit cards or live beyond their means or take a worthless course for their degree.
Dude...
Ever hear of inflation, wage stagnation ?
The last six years I have seen three raises of 2% each...
All the while prices, taxes, fees, food, etc has skyrocketed....
I figure my buying power has decreased by 20 % at least...
To those people, I issue the following challenge. Go down to the strips malls this Friday or Saturday night, where all the casual eating joints are. You know the ones. Applebees; Longhorns; Olive Garden; Texas Roadhouse; Macaroni Grill; Cheesecake Factory; and the dozens of other restaurant chains that are exploding all over America put the sprawl in suburban sprawl.
See if you can get a table without at least a half hour wait.
They can't open these places fast enough as more and more people decide they don't want to cook at home anymore.
With an average check of about $52 for a family of four (not including tip), a family going out just twice a week will easily spend close to $500 a month. And many families go more than twice a week.
Anyway, I didn't mean to go on a rant about restaurants but that's just one example of how middle class families of today are living much better than they did a generation ago. Then throw in the smartphones, video game consoles, tablets and all the other electronic marvels that even the rich could only fantasize about just 20 or 30 years ago.
So yes, the middle class is getting squeezed. No doubt about that. But their standard of living is such that none of them would trade places with a middle class family of 1957.
What really irritates me most is those who are not saving for retirement, yet living lavish lifestyles today. We all know that when the time comes, the government is going to seize the retirement savings of those who did prepare so that the ones that didn't prepare can be taken care of.
Just like today, those of us that are working, must pay higher taxes in order to support the millions upon millions of able-bodied young people who are out of the workforce and on the dole.