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 ...
It’s about focus.. traumatic brain injury. My vision is 20/20.. my eyes bounce around like balls and my head is splitting because of trying to post all this, so I have to go puke for awhile.
Thanks for your trouble.
And yet America has the fattest poor people on the planet. Maybe raising the minimum wage, for phone watchers, to $350 an hour should do the trick.
I believe a lot of people are skirting by on credit cards - paying off the minimum monthly amount, racking up huge debts on these high interest cards - to keep up appearances, some perhaps to survive, damn the interest and overdue bill. Student loan debt is killing others.
My daughter’s friend just graduated from medical school $600,000 in debt. Even with a doctor’s salary, which she won’t see for years, how do you get out from under that?
Everything has gone up - thanks to Biden’s mismanagement of the economy.
I have everything in my life paid off - house, car, credit cards (haven’t had one since the year 2000) - and I feel prices going up, up, up and have had to cut back.
Check
The first is when the family shows up to work picking apples (?) at a private owned farm. Lots of people with guns around. No one is nice to the family.
They eventually leave and drive on until they come across another place.
The man at the gate is very friendly. Tells the people there are showers, a place to sleep and later a dance.
The camera zooms in on a building....the name on the building is what stuck out to me.....US Department of Agriculture.
What's the message here?
Private business is bad....the government (financed by deficit spending something the private business can't do) is all nice and warm and inviting. It will take care of you.
Went trac phone last year. 10gigs of data for $30 a month. Better service, no isssues. Verizon and Apple miss my $140/mo.
With the exception of those that are old and frail and those with debilitating illness, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to make it in this country. One thing this country has is many free loaders.
We have had wage suppression policies and high inflation for generations. This is the expected/planned result.
The only way out is policies that grow the wages to match the cost of living. Which Trump is attempting to do.
A huge benefit will be less people needing government assistance and increased tax revenues for the government.
My soon to be former company has gone the opposite direction...moved from medium sized cities to the metro areas.
Why?
In the medium sized cities they had to pay more to attract better workers....wanted the best of the best.
Now, in the larger metro areas they burn through people like a hot knife through butter.
They no longer want the long term employee simply due to costs.
Meanwhile, the top tier of mgt gets nice big fat bonuses as the place falls apart.
“I don’t know any young person with corn rows.”
Neither do I. I see them.
Activating a hotspot on an Android phone:
tap on Settings
tap on Network & internet
tap on Hotspot & tethering
tap on Wi-Fi hotspot
tap on Off (to make it switch to On)
tap on Hotspot password (to find out the Hotspot password - write it down & write down the Hotspot name)
*****
to connect a Windows 10 PC
tap on the globe icon on the bottom bar
tap on the Hotspot name
tap on box to the left of Connect automatically [only if there is no arrow in the box]
tap the Connect box
type in the Hotspot password in the Enter the network security key box
tap on Next
America! Where one has to buy movie tickets a month before the movie comes out!
In October, it’s trump economy. Until then we’re still living on Biden’s economy. Come on October.
Considering how much the US dollar has been devalued since the mid-1960s that has resulted in its extremely diminished purchasing power, I’m surprised it’s still around.
Inflation (through money printing and de-dollarization) and taxes are making us poorer every day.
My only large bill is my yearly property tax. Oh, and coffee just went up - even my “cheap” Walmart French Roast. Can’t imagine purchasing daily coffee at Starbucks.
“In the medium sized cities they had to pay more to attract better workers....wanted the best of the best.”
Tech people will shun smaller cities as getting a new job probably means buying a new house and paying out 15% of the house price to relocate.
When you have a retarded fool sitting on the American throne who imports a population of freeloading scumbags that is two times larger than the largest city in the USA. (NYC), it can’t be too “depressing”. They get new cellphones and Nikes for everyone in the family, free diaper changes and healthcare, free housing and 42 dollars three times a day to buy their next meal, brand new SUVs and Pickup trucks and free education. “Depressing” my arse. Why did they come here? Because the dumb gringos have agreed to pay for the Socialism that didn’t work in the sewer they crawled out of.
I’m amazed how busy the local Starbucks is my second-tier area of Florida.
Yes, you’re right. We aren’t anywhere near rich but we managed to buy a few acres in the country and stick a large RV on it. That’s our vacation destination. I’m sitting there right now drinking coffee and watching our little herd of deer eat the corn pile Mr. GG2 put out. Great entertainment.
I cut my own hair from watching how to do the Brad Mondo butterfly cut on YouTube. We go out to dinner once or twice a month to inexpensive restaurants. I very occasionally buy clothes and shoes mostly at TJ Max.
We dumped direct TV years ago and get all the news and entertainment we need on the Internet.
The only thing that sets us back is the horrible cost of groceries the past year or two.
“My daughter’s friend just graduated from medical school $600,000 in debt. Even with a doctor’s salary, which she won’t see for years, how do you get out from under that?”
My neighbor’s daughter became a physicians assistant.
Her employer agreed to pay of her college debt if she stuck around for two years.
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