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Living Large [Drew Carey on America's Middle Class]
Reason.TV ^ | unknown | Narrated by Drew Carey

Posted on 02/06/2008 2:51:01 AM PST by LowCountryJoe

To hear the Lou Dobbses and Bill O'Reillys of the world--not to mention politicians ranging from Ron Paul to Hillary Clinton--the middle class of America (however you define that term) has never had it so tough. Between credit squeezes, out-of-control immigration, rising costs of education and health care and everything else, it's all darkness out there for those of us who are neither millionaires nor welfare cases, right?

In "Living Large," Drew Carey and reason.tv examine the plight of the American middle class. What do they find?

http://reason.tv/video/show/61.html


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: drewcarey; middleclass; reasontv
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To: rbg81
You are observing that some people are in over their heads (regarding debt), and hypothesizing that everyone is (and the video is therefore inaccurate).
101 posted on 02/06/2008 8:42:50 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Actually, things probably were better then.


102 posted on 02/06/2008 8:49:06 AM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: sageb1
If that's the way you feel.
103 posted on 02/06/2008 8:53:48 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: marychesnutfan

Not to mention that as you get older, you realize that you don’t need most of what you have and spend a good amount of time getting rid of the excess. ;)


104 posted on 02/06/2008 8:56:26 AM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: LowCountryJoe
Good video. I recall as a kid my parents buying a weeks worth of groceries for $20 and that seemed like a lot then. It all fit in like 2 or 3 bags.

When I started my family 20 years later, I recall having to spend around $100 for a week's worth and that seemed like a lot to me then -- but it was in like 5 or 6 bags.

It was then I realized that I was buying a lot of crap that that didn't even exist when I was a kid. From paper towels to dryer sheets to all the other stuff we consider necessities today. For sure, my parents didn't have a cell phone, cable TV or Internet service to pay for that we consider 'necessities.'

My Dad laid out in the street under his car to change the oil. I don't do that. There are so many examples of how life has changed over the years that we forget where we came from. If I wanted to 'live' like my parents did, I could probably bank 80% of my take home pay.

105 posted on 02/06/2008 9:00:15 AM PST by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: Red in Blue PA

“Prices are rising but wages are not keeping up, nor have they for years.”

Take 1/2 of that dual-income family out of the workplace and see what happens.


106 posted on 02/06/2008 9:00:29 AM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: ketsu
You would have been seriously poor in the '60s to not have air conditioning...

I'd bet not one in 100 new houses built in the North in the 1960s had air conditioning.

107 posted on 02/06/2008 9:06:07 AM PST by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: LowCountryJoe

How did some of you FReepers live through the Reagan presidency with his constant optimism? Most have drove some of you absolutely apeshit.


108 posted on 02/06/2008 9:06:48 AM PST by LowCountryJoe (Do class-warfare and disdain of laissez-faire have their places in today's GOP?)
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To: Ditto

It is interesting, isn’t it? For about ten extra bucks, you can get your oil changed in an hour, at most. And your fluids, tire pressure, etc. checked. And get told you need wiper blades and air filters that you don’t really need. :)


109 posted on 02/06/2008 9:09:41 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: Red in Blue PA

I have to disagree with your second assertion. The majority of men today, no matter what their age, expect their wives to work. There’s not even a question about it.


110 posted on 02/06/2008 9:13:05 AM PST by My hearts in London - Everett (I'd rather be single than wish I was.)
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To: My hearts in London - Everett

“There’s not even a question about it.”

But there should be.


111 posted on 02/06/2008 9:15:49 AM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: LowCountryJoe

Drew Carey, a comedian, pokes fun at the purveyors of gloom & doom in the media, and some of the complaints on this thread revolve around his failure to accurately purvey gloom & doom. Epic post, thanks.


112 posted on 02/06/2008 9:16:44 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: My hearts in London - Everett

But IMO, most would argue that it is far better for a mother to stay at home with kids as they develop. But this is not possible for very many people in this land, when it was once the norm. No arguing that fact.


113 posted on 02/06/2008 9:17:16 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (Truth : Liberals :: Kryptonite : Superman)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Once again, I disagree. While I agree that it is better for a mother to stay home with her children, I believe Americans today "expect" to be middle class at some point in their lives. That means big house, two cars, big screen TVs, boats, etc. Can't have all that with women staying at home! And I am not saying that men are the ones who desire all the finer things in life. Men and women agree on it together to the detriment of their children and families. (As shown by the amount of stress people are willing to live under today to keep up with expectations.)

It used to be the "norm" because Americans used to put the welfare and happiness of their families first. Social/financial climbing for the average American didn't enter the picture big time until the women's movement, IMO. It is possible to be happy with life without being "middle class"! :~)

114 posted on 02/06/2008 9:35:45 AM PST by My hearts in London - Everett (I'd rather be single than wish I was.)
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To: marychesnutfan
Seeing as you're the one that said "decent income" I thought you had a clue what you were talking about.
You said:
"Reality is two incomes have become necessary BECAUSE people want more and live high but scale back living high and believe it or not a family can live on one decent income."
So the presumption is you had a figure in mind when saying a family doesn't need 2 incomes. Duh it depends on how big the family but surely you could just pick something. I'll help you; let's say a middle aged couple whose last kid has just moved out, and a couple in their 30's with 2 kids. As for where they are living, just an average, we aren't talking big city or expensive suburb.
115 posted on 02/06/2008 9:47:29 AM PST by visualops (artlife.us nature wallpapers)
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To: NCLaw441
There are very few poor in this country, and perhaps none, based on world-wide standards. If the measure is in comparison with the well-to-do, there will always be poor.

Stop making sense. :) As much as the gas prices etc have really hurt us personally more and more over time (and they HAVE! OUCH!), all I need for a quick reality check is a glance around my house - a palace compared to probably 90% of the rest of the world.

116 posted on 02/06/2008 9:48:05 AM PST by agrace
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To: LowCountryJoe

watch at home BTTT


117 posted on 02/06/2008 9:56:00 AM PST by uglybiker (I do not suffer from mental illness. In fact, I'm enjoying every minute of it.)
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To: ketsu

Yeah, the economy is great? When they have a Wal-mart open they have 25,000 people apply for 250 jobs. That is a great economy. It was not uncommon for a man with a high school education to have a house, a wife that didn’t work, three kids or more, to live simple but well. Now it takes two people with degrees in most place to have a home. I don’t want to hear about how efficient it is to have the Chinese doing all our manufacturing and illegals doing all the construction and service jobs, and Chinese and Indians doing all the computer and high tech stuff.


118 posted on 02/06/2008 10:08:58 AM PST by calvo (Your strength isn't what you can do, but what you can endure.)
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To: agrace

I know what you mean. It doesn’t take very long for us to become accustomed to what we have, then we start looking at what others have, and measure OUR happiness by what THEY have that we don’t.


119 posted on 02/06/2008 10:23:53 AM PST by NCLaw441
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To: calvo

You posted: Yeah, the economy is great? When they have a Wal-mart open they have 25,000 people apply for 250 jobs. That is a great economy. It was not uncommon for a man with a high school education to have a house, a wife that didn’t work, three kids or more, to live simple but well. Now it takes two people with degrees in most place to have a home. I don’t want to hear about how efficient it is to have the Chinese doing all our manufacturing and illegals doing all the construction and service jobs, and Chinese and Indians doing all the computer and high tech stuff.
***

I am not sure I have ever heard of 25,000 people trying for 250 Wal-Mart jobs, but I guess that could be. Nationwide our unemployment rate is around 5%, which is generally considered full employment. I am sure there are depressed areas in the country (Detroit comes to mind), but that is not the general state of the economy.

You are right that most families used to have one earner, while the wife would stay home with the kids. I grew up in that era. The family home was usually much smaller than a typical house today. The family would own one car. There were no cell phones, cable tv (or even color tv at my house!), yearly trips to Disneyworld, etc. etc. The main reasons wives starting getting jobs were: 1)feminism (aka women’s lib, a misnomer); and 2) the desire to live a lifestyle more like those who had more.

You may not want to hear about the global economy, but it is now pretty much in place. There is also more and more mechanization of work, with robots doing much of what humans (often unionized, by the way) demanded much more to do.

No one owes any of us a living, and certainly not a living like the people in this clip are living. You makes your choices and you lives with them.


120 posted on 02/06/2008 10:32:18 AM PST by NCLaw441
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