Some folks live in small rural areas, have small paid off homes, drive old well cared for cars (all paid off), live off small salaries, have small bills, etc..
Perhaps focus should be shifted as to how to manage in a different way.
Oh, I agree. I used to be one of those lost in the moment. I thought I was living the high life. I had a business, paying for a house I couldn’t afford and was making $70K a year. Then as a general contractor, I got messed over by a sub-contractor. All of a sudden, I was over $56K in debt with only about $300 in the bank! After loosing my house, three trucks, my business and almost my wife and kids, I said, “No more!”
At the age of 35 I had NOTHING. I started over and five years later, I paid cash for my current home. I have one loan. I drive a 1996 Chevy truck. And I am much happier.
I finally realized that I cannot reach the lifestyle that I was living unless I do a few things:
1) Stop acting like I have that lifestlye.
2) Quit posing as a charlatan.
3) Start actually working towards HAVING that lifestyle.
Of course, I could use the “they said I could afford it...” excuse, but that is not the truth. The truth is I wanted it all - TODAY. And that is where we are in Amerika.
So, these guys don’t see where these businesses are doing anything wrong - heck that is how they live too. So the problem is there is little self-reliance in the Amerikan public and until we change that we will continue down this slippery slope to Socialism.