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In Pennsylvania, the Cost of the American Dream Is Out of Reach
https://www.realclearwire.com/ ^ | 5/24/2024 | By Athan Koutsiouroumbas

Posted on 05/24/2024 6:27:12 PM PDT by bitt

The American Dream in Pennsylvania has a price tag: $230,464.

That’s the cost for a family of four to live “comfortably” in The Keystone State.

The tally is based on the “50/30/20 Rule,” which holds that half of a household’s income should be spent on housing and necessities, a third on nonessentials like eating out and entertainment, and the rest on savings and debt.

Here’s the problem: the average household income in Pennsylvania is $100,837, which falls short of the American Dream sticker price by more than a factor of two.

In fact, only 10% of Pennsylvania households have an income that exceeds $200,000. Nine out of ten are nowhere close to living comfortably, according to the standards of financial planners.

To get by, Pennsylvanians are pulling out all the stops.

Cohabitation has skyrocketed. Children and grandchildren of Baby Boomers are moving in with their parents to serve as caregivers in exchange for rent-free living and dipping into their elders’ retirement savings. Culturally, moving back in with your parents in your mid-forties has never been part of the American Dream.

Pennsylvania credit card debt is at an all-time high. Nearly 10% of accounts are delinquent. For many, credit cards serve as temporary supplemental income.

The number of beneficiaries of SNAP federal food benefits has grown 75% despite flat population growth in the Commonwealth. With unemployment at record lows, more Pennsylvanians than ever need help paying for groceries.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearwire.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: americandream; bidenomics; maganomics; pennsylvania; sourceisnoturl
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1 posted on 05/24/2024 6:27:12 PM PDT by bitt
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To: null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; bitt; ...

P


2 posted on 05/24/2024 6:27:25 PM PDT by bitt (<img src=' 'width=30%>)
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To: bitt
In 2020-21, Washington thought it could solve the nation's problems through money printing, but it created greater problems than the original problems.

3 posted on 05/24/2024 6:30:23 PM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: bitt

The country has been “fundamentally transformed”.

And AI is going to make it much worse, real soon.


4 posted on 05/24/2024 6:35:08 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (It's not "Quiet Quitting" -- it's "Going Galt".)
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To: bitt

‘Living Comfortably’ is VERY subjective. Americans are spoiled children compared to the rest of the world.

But, Let’s Go, Brandon! *SMIRK*

We need MORE of this reporting about the cost of living in Swing States between now and November. MAGA! ;)


5 posted on 05/24/2024 6:37:54 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: bitt

Bidetnomics.


6 posted on 05/24/2024 6:38:38 PM PDT by sauropod ("This is a time when people reveal themselves for who they are." James O'Keefe Ne supra crepidam)
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To: bitt

They can thank themselves ... for Gov Shapiro.


7 posted on 05/24/2024 6:40:48 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
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To: bitt

Culturally, moving back in with your parents in your mid-forties has never been part of the American Dream.


That gave me a chuckle.


8 posted on 05/24/2024 6:41:55 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
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To: fatima; Fresh Wind; st.eqed; xsmommy; House Atreides; Nowhere Man; PaulZe; brityank; Physicist; ...

Pennsylvania Ping!

Please ping me with articles of interest.

FReepmail me to be added to the lis

9 posted on 05/24/2024 6:43:01 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: Jane Long

My jury is out on Shapiro.

$pendell and Tommie (”the Commie”) Wolf....guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.


10 posted on 05/24/2024 6:45:42 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: bitt

We are poor....we went from solid middle class to being poor...


11 posted on 05/24/2024 6:48:38 PM PDT by cherry
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To: lightman

Wolf ... that’s the commie I was trying to think of.

Hopefully, things can be fixed, with a YUGE dose of MAGA.


12 posted on 05/24/2024 6:55:15 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
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To: bitt

50% (post tax I presume) spent on housing? that seems obscene


13 posted on 05/24/2024 6:55:39 PM PDT by posterchild
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To: cherry

In how much time?

I’m sorry to hear this, but, you are not alone, by how this article reads.

God bless.


14 posted on 05/24/2024 6:56:07 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

So a PA family is supposed to spend $69,139 a year on dining out and other non necessary expenses?


15 posted on 05/24/2024 7:06:45 PM PDT by Mogger (AreIn bookstores is a very expensive, beautifully bound in green leather Holy Koran. If one was goin)
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To: Jane Long

The Amish gave that boost in 2016.

Lancaster County put DJT om the White House.

Never forget!


16 posted on 05/24/2024 7:07:51 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: lightman

:-)


17 posted on 05/24/2024 7:14:18 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
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To: posterchild

“50% (post tax I presume) spent on housing? that seems obscene”

Housing and necessities includes food clothing medicine, etc.

With the price of housing and food alone, few people can do it with just 50% of their income with the way things are since Brandon and friends screwed the country.


18 posted on 05/24/2024 7:20:32 PM PDT by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smart-ass disorder. )
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To: bitt
the “50/30/20 Rule,” which holds that half of a household’s income should be spent on housing and necessities, a third on nonessentials like eating out and entertainment, and the rest on savings and debt.

I've been living on the 98/2/0 Rule for years now.

19 posted on 05/24/2024 7:38:00 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: bitt

Except to illegal alien invaders. The Far Left RATS are giving the Special Free Limited Edition “American Dream” to the foreign freeloading invaders and making the taxpayers pay for it.


20 posted on 05/24/2024 8:15:15 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (When did WE decide to make America a UN 5-Star Asylum Paradise for Socialist losers?)
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