Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke

MSNBC ^ | Sept. 9, 2003 | Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi

[Baby Bear]

This book supports a theory that two-income spenders have made inflation a problem for everyone. The two problems with the book is it offers too few solutions to this problem and its little attention on the tax burden.

[netmilsmom]

Good catch!

[lodwick]

Just look through the classifieds of your local daily to see all the "stuff" that folks are selling as they try to hang on to the essentials in our "recovery."

It's really sad.

[CasearianDaoist]

THe middle class - or what is left of them - are going broke becasue they pay too much of their income in taxes!

This article is just another attempt to obscrue the issue: it is the middle class that pay 60% of the taxes in this country, not "the rich."

[Rusty Shackelford]

I heard their interview on NPR. They have a solution, but it will make their message a bitter pill to swallow for most.

While times are good, cut out all the extras and go on one income. Cut out the cable. Cut out the internet. Cut out vacations and live like their grandparents did.... well within their means.

I got the feeling that these two are stealth conservatives... or realists.

[Ff--150]

With Dad Bush's re-election it was, "It's the economy, stupid!"

With son Bush's re-election it is, "Where are the jobs? India!? China!?"

The old timers used to say, "Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on ME!"

[natewill]

Suddenly my life doesn't suck so bad.

[stuartcr]

Is the author required to supply a solution?

[ladylib]

She mentioned in an interview that credit card companies are charging outrageous interest rates, but that can be regulated by Congress if Congress has the will to do it (influential banking lobby).

She also said that parents want the best education for their children so they tend to buy expensive houses they can't afford in "good" school districts. Wonder how they'll feel about their investment when NCLB designates their schools as failing. A well-regarded high school in my county was designated as failing because special ed students flunked their exams. Is that going to make property values drop?

As for childcare, she said that it costs approximately the same about of money you would spend for one year at a state college and that many public schools prefer that children to go to daycare so that they'll be "ready" for kindergarden.

It's a vicious cycle.

[opticoax]

They hadn’t realized just how tight their budget really was until they missed a mortgage payment three months after James lost his job..

Ruth Ann was more financially sophisticated than most women.

They are not the very young, tempted by the freedom of their first credit cards. They are not the elderly, trapped by failing bodies and declining savings accounts. And they are not a random assortment of Americans who lack the self-control to keep their spending in check.

They ran out of money three months after ONLY her husband lost his job? What about his unemployment? That really sounds financially sophisticated and it does sound like there was a severe financial discipline problem.

Note to young couples: 1. Your savings should cover 1 year minimum of expenses. 2. Drive a used Camry instead of a new Lexus SUV. 3. Cook at home, you don't need to eat out every night. 4. Credit cards are not free money; would you borrow money from the Mafia for 19% to get the latest clothing line from the GAP? 5..Don't cry to everyone because you failed to plan.

The American worker is now forced to pay for teenagers' babies, the elderly's medicine, and now our peers bankruptcies? Its nice to know my kids can't go to private school because you CHOSE to drive two new cars, go on vacation every year, and generally live beyond your means.

[AD from SpringBay]

Taxes and credit cards - failure to discipline both governement and personal spending - these are the two things that hurt us the most. And, by the way, whatever happened to saving on a regular basis and leaving those savings alone - don't take it to Best Buy every other month.

[natewill]

It's hard to save money when you're barely gettin' by every month as it is.

[fml]

-- if only they were more savvy about financial matters.--

That pretty much sums it up. People live beyond their means and/or live day by day rather than planning ahead. The old wisdom of saving your pennies for a rainy day is lost on people nowadays.

[justanotherfreeper]

It's fascinating that these gals recommend vouchers as part of the solution. I know a street in my town where houses on one side of the street go for $40,000 more than the other side -- because one side is in a very good school district and the other side isn't!

[AD from SpringBay]

If you're getting by you can save something. I'd rather have $10 saved than no dollars saved.

[Arrowhead1952]

Is the author required to supply a solution?

No. Neither are any dumbocRAT senators, representatives or any of their comardes in crime, i.e., the national media.

[tm22721]

It will get progressively worse until the government is forced to step in and forgive personal debt.

We don't have to worry about the national debt. Since we have hedged it with a BIG military those foreigners who hold our treasury bonds will have to WRITE IT OFF or go to war.

BUMP

[banjo joe]

little attention on the tax burden

You nailed it right there.
Yeah, some folks are spendthrifts and accumulate 30K in credit card debt. But look at the tax burden in 1960 v. 2003. Many factors play into this, but the tax bill can't be ignored.
Meanwhile, the root cause of the problem, gubmint, is offering "solutions".
Right.

[liberty or death]

You must be one of those people who wants to work in a factory and make shirts and shoes for a living.