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Posted on 07/06/2025 4:47:09 AM PDT by Libloather
The American dream is slipping away.
Most US citizens no longer enjoy “a minimal quality of life” due to skyrocketing costs, a depressing new study has uncovered.
Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity conducted research into the economic well-being of the country’s residents, defining “minimal quality of life” as the ability to pay for a “basket of American dream essentials”: housing, food, transportation, clothing, medical costs and basic leisure expenses.
The leisure expenses included access to cable TV and streaming services, as well as the ability to pay for six movie tickets and two baseball tickets per year.
The Minimal Quality of Life index goes “beyond traditional cost-of-living measures to provide a more comprehensive understanding of what it takes to secure a foothold on the bottom rung of the American dream ladder and have a real opportunity to climb it over time,” the authors wrote.
The bottom 60% of American households by income fell well short of that threshold, the researchers damningly determined.
“The MQL reveals the harsh reality that the American dream, with its promises of well-being, social connection, and advancement, is out of reach for many,” the authors concluded. “Rising costs in essential areas like housing, healthcare, and education significantly outpace wage growth, leaving millions struggling to attain even a minimal quality of life.”
An average American couple with two children would need to spend $120,302 per year to cover the minimum quality of life expenses, the researchers determined.
Skyrocketing costs over the past two decades are to blame...
**SNIP**
“I get tired of the ‘Stop your Starbucks latte habit’ [advice], because in reality it’s not people’s fault,” financial planner Laura Lynch told CNBC in relation to the study. “The structures around us have created an expectation of a lifestyle that is increasingly becoming unreachable for folks.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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…Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity…
Sounds a little commie-ish.
Maybe the “poor” but our Middle Class has been sliding into the poor category for 30+ years.
That doesn’t seem to me to be what she’s saying in the quote I highlighted. She says essentially that people are groomed to expect luxuries that they can’t afford.
The Dems couldn’t have done it without the Pubbies.
The first Media coup was getting rid of a very popular Republican president, Richard Nixon. It followed destroying a popular Senator who wanted to get rid of Communists in the government (McCarthy). Both incidents showed the power of the Media was more important than a politician, because the Media could destroy political careers. It wouldn’t have mattered if their wasn’t one philosophy/ideology which controlled 99% of the Media. That philosophy was Progressivism, which dominated the media by 1945, and absolutely dominated the media by 1964.
McCarthy was not a progressive, but Hoover, Roosevelt (both), Eisenhower, Nixon, and the Bushes were all Progressives. Early Progressivism wasn’t death to the USA, because those progressives were mostly pro-American.
I have talked to members of Congress and state legislators. In that era (1964-1994), they feared the Media far more than voters, because the Media framed the issues to motivate the voters.
Now, with much cheaper and widespread, fragmented Media, the Media no longer has a unified voice. Individual politicians are more important, and parties can have significant variation.
“folks”......obama was notorious for using that term.....I see it as an underhanded and deceitful attempt to make people think you’re one of them....and usually nothing could be further from the truth.
Yes. It would be interesting to examine the spending habits of people who complain about the cost of living. I bet that hundreds of dollars of savings a month could be realized by stopping luxury purchases.
Sounds like you are older and retired abd really have no idea what life is like for younger people. I don’t know any young person with corn rows.
Unlike the democrats, we got rid of much of our establishment. Even Cenk Uygur of TYT, no conservative by any means, gave us credit for that.
'What Lunatic Thought It Was A Good Idea?': Cenk Ugyur Slams Harris For Campaigning With Liz Cheney
Good points.
Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity...whoahahahaha
Haaahahahahahahahahashehahaha.
Yep.
And free medical care paid by us.
"Our splurge is a cruise every couple of years."
Our splurge was a 22 foot camping trailer a few years ago. Four days at some state parks a few times a year is our "get away". Probably works out the same money-wise.
We keep our wants and our needs in perspective.
He slowed it down. For now. 3 years from now we could be back to a Biden like influx.
Ever notice liberals claim life is great when they have the whitehut but life is depressing and bleak when they don’t?
Liberals are political animals with nothing to offer society.
I think it was an increase in the deduction for SS and not a removal of the taxing.
16% of the total... so about 6 trillion in the 80s and 90s.
They got the ball rolling, and then each president afterwards is about 19% just on their own... Biden in for years was 19%. Trump + covid was 20%. Obama was 19%.
It’s crazy what happened after borrowing and spending became the rule.
Individual politicians are controlled. Almost none of them have neither bribery nor blackmail over their heads.
And it doesn’t really matter which party wins, within a narrow sway back and forth we’re always headed in the same direction.
Except earlier debt has had more interest piled on, like a big snowball. It doesn’t just get inflated out of.
Maybe, but even if that’s what she is saying I’m saying that some of the mentioned luxuries are now necessities, like cell phones.
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