7 things the middle class can't afford anymore

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Zaap

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2008
7,162
424
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So, the middle class can no longer afford that stuff.

How about a list of all the things they can now afford they there didn't buy a decade or two ago?

Latest and greatest smartphone? Check!
High speed internet subscription? Check!
Computer? Check!
Designer shoes / handbags / clothes? Check!
Eating out regularly? Check!
Larger houses / apartments? Check!
Latest Xbox / Playstation with lots of games? Check!

Should I continue? Or, can we stop this "omg everyone is poor and it is the rich man's fault" garbage? You want to know why people have no retirement and savings? Because, they are bad with money and can't fathom going without a little less entertainment in their miserable lives.
This forum (as a whole) is a real trip. In P&N, one would think we live in Somalia or some place- everything is gloom and doom and 99% of everyone is dirt poor, barely able to survive, with the 1% filthy rich cracking the whip and grinding them into dust beneath their boots.

Then the next section over, the same people are celebrating having bought some brand new $1000+ gizmo that serves the basic human need of putting pretty colors all over a higher definition screen than the previous $1000+ gizmo used to after it aged an intolerable number of months.
 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
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This forum (as a whole) is a real trip. In P&N, one would think we live in Somalia or some place- everything is gloom and doom and 99% of everyone is dirt poor, barely able to survive, with the 1% filthy rich cracking the whip and grinding them into dust beneath their boots.

Then the next section over, the same people are celebrating having bought some brand new $1000+ gizmo that serves the basic human need of putting pretty colors all over a higher definition screen than the previous $1000+ gizmo used to after it aged an intolerable number of months.

America is the next Somalia! :(
 

bshole

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2013
8,309
1,209
126
Everyone dies alone. Don't let anyone tell you different. Your family surrounding you and holding your hand as you slip peacefully into the great beyond is a Hollywood fantasy. Most people who don't die a violent death will die alone in a nursing home or hospital room, quietly and alone, long after their family has gotten over the initial shock of their ailment and resumed their daily routine.

That's utter horseshit right there. My wife, kids and grandkids will be there weeping their eyes out when I go. No way I am going out alone bro.... I am entirely too lovable for that.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
This forum (as a whole) is a real trip. In P&N, one would think we live in Somalia or some place- everything is gloom and doom and 99% of everyone is dirt poor, barely able to survive, with the 1% filthy rich cracking the whip and grinding them into dust beneath their boots.

Then the next section over, the same people are celebrating having bought some brand new $1000+ gizmo that serves the basic human need of putting pretty colors all over a higher definition screen than the previous $1000+ gizmo used to after it aged an intolerable number of months.

I know. It is rather funny. And, if the point about people not being able to afford new cars is true, why do new car sales continue to increase? At a rate far greater than the 1% is expanding, to boot! Obviously, someone in the middle class is able to buy new cars.

That's utter horseshit right there. My wife, kids and grandkids will be there weeping their eyes out when I go. No way I am going out alone bro.... I am entirely too lovable for that.

And, that is somehow better than the alternative? Dying alone? My last moments get to be watching those I care about in pain! Oh joy!
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
11
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That's utter horseshit right there. My wife, kids and grandkids will be there weeping their eyes out when I go. No way I am going out alone bro.... I am entirely too lovable for that.

When you fall, and break your hip at age 85, you'll spend the rest of your life in a nursing home. That could be another 10 years. How much time do you want your kids and grandkids to take out of their lives to come play monopoly with you in your bed? How much of their lives are you willing to sacrifice for your ego?

Do you even know anyone that works in medicine? Virtually everyone dies alone. You're wildly out of touch with reality if you think that your family will just happen to be there at the moment of your death.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
When you fall, and break your hip at age 85, you'll spend the rest of your life in a nursing home. That could be another 10 years. How much time do you want your kids and grandkids to take out of their lives to come play monopoly with you in your bed? How much of their lives are you willing to sacrifice for your ego?

Do you even know anyone that works in medicine? Virtually everyone dies alone. You're wildly out of touch with reality if you think that your family will just happen to be there at the moment of your death.

ashole is delusional about a great many things.
 

bshole

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2013
8,309
1,209
126
When you fall, and break your hip at age 85, you'll spend the rest of your life in a nursing home. That could be another 10 years. How much time do you want your kids and grandkids to take out of their lives to come play monopoly with you in your bed? How much of their lives are you willing to sacrifice for your ego?

Do you even know anyone that works in medicine? Virtually everyone dies alone. You're wildly out of touch with reality if you think that your family will just happen to be there at the moment of your death.

Are you high?! I will be living with my kids in the same house. No way am I living in no damn nursing home, my kids wouldn't stand for it.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
11
76
Are you high?! I will be living with my kids in the same house. No way am I living in no damn nursing home, my kids wouldn't stand for it.

So is one of your kids going to be a nurse who gives up their career to take care of you full time? Or pay for a home nurse service? After your first serious injury\illness when you're over 80, your odds of recovering to independence are dismally low.
 

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
Are you high?! I will be living with my kids in the same house. No way am I living in no damn nursing home, my kids wouldn't stand for it.

From the limited experience I've had with your personality, I can say for certain they are looking forward to the day you don't get a say in being put in a home.
 

xBiffx

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2011
8,232
2
0
Are you high?! I will be living with my kids in the same house. No way am I living in no damn nursing home, my kids wouldn't stand for it.

I'm guessing your daughter gets payback for using her picture as an internet avatar in such a disparaging manner. It might just have to wait until you are on death's door though.
 

Knowing

Golden Member
Mar 18, 2014
1,522
13
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what a fucking stupid article.

they still afford all of those. stop trying to keep up with the jones. stop thinking you need a 4k sq/ft house. stop thinking you need a fucking 45k new car every two years.

Then who's going to buy all the McMansions they just built?

Select food prices seem to be escalating as well.
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
3
81
This forum (as a whole) is a real trip. In P&N, one would think we live in Somalia or some place- everything is gloom and doom and 99% of everyone is dirt poor, barely able to survive, with the 1% filthy rich cracking the whip and grinding them into dust beneath their boots.

Then the next section over, the same people are celebrating having bought some brand new $1000+ gizmo that serves the basic human need of putting pretty colors all over a higher definition screen than the previous $1000+ gizmo used to after it aged an intolerable number of months.

Imagine that there's a spectrum of people on ATOT.
 
Nov 29, 2006
15,601
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I only bring home 63k before taxes and none of those apply to me currently. They did at one time, but i lived and learned.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
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Not to mention the thrill of dying alone with nobody to comfort you on your death bed.... that sounds fantastic. I remember vividly an old man at my grandma's funeral weeping bitterly. He saw all the children and grandkids at her funeral. He said that there would be nobody for him when his time came.

Not sure life has much meaning outside of children.
+1

I wouldn't say it's only children or only at one's death, but life has little meaning except for those we love.

Everyone dies alone. Don't let anyone tell you different. Your family surrounding you and holding your hand as you slip peacefully into the great beyond is a Hollywood fantasy. Most people who don't die a violent death will die alone in a nursing home or hospital room, quietly and alone, long after their family has gotten over the initial shock of their ailment and resumed their daily routine.
That has not been my experience. My maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather died suddenly, but home with their families. My paternal grandmother and paternal grandmother died in a hospital and nursing home respectively, but surrounded by loved ones.

This forum (as a whole) is a real trip. In P&N, one would think we live in Somalia or some place- everything is gloom and doom and 99% of everyone is dirt poor, barely able to survive, with the 1% filthy rich cracking the whip and grinding them into dust beneath their boots.

Then the next section over, the same people are celebrating having bought some brand new $1000+ gizmo that serves the basic human need of putting pretty colors all over a higher definition screen than the previous $1000+ gizmo used to after it aged an intolerable number of months.
:D :D :D

You, sir, have won the Internet.

P. J. O'Rourke famously said it's hard to get teary eyed about poverty in hundred dollar tennis shoes. Well, it's damned near impossible to feel bad from someone bemoaning that they can't pay down their credit card debt and still go to Aruba this year.

Every damned one of us here with the means, health and energy to post on AT has a pretty damned good life, all things considered. And it's worth pointing out that the ones without the health to do so, like Nanette1985, oddly enough are never the ones complaining about their lives.
 
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desy

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2000
5,433
204
106
Not my mom
Somebody was there 24/7 and my brother was with her
Just a couple of days before she passed she called out my name in the middle of the night, I assured her I was there and she settled back down.
But yes the nurses said it was rare to have round the clock family however tis what she wanted
 

Zaap

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2008
7,162
424
126
America is the next Somalia! :(

south-park-s13e07c06-this-is-your-pirate-boat-16x9.jpg
 

Orignal Earl

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2005
8,059
55
86
Everyone dies alone. Don't let anyone tell you different. Your family surrounding you and holding your hand as you slip peacefully into the great beyond is a Hollywood fantasy. Most people who don't die a violent death will die alone in a nursing home or hospital room, quietly and alone, long after their family has gotten over the initial shock of their ailment and resumed their daily routine.

You will probably die alone, nobody I have ever know has
But it will be your own doing
You coming from a very wealthy family no doubt has afforded you a very nice lifestyle including those things in your last post
I guess it has also left you clueless as to how most people are
 
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blankslate

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2008
8,581
472
126
I know. It is rather funny. And, if the point about people not being able to afford new cars is true, why do new car sales continue to increase? At a rate far greater than the 1% is expanding, to boot! Obviously, someone in the middle class is able to buy new cars.

Funny you should mention that...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/09/27/subprime-auto-loan/16272641/

Subprime mortgage lending shouldered much of the blame for the last financial crisis.

Now some observers are concerned that a recent jump in subprime auto loans could also mean disaster for markets.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the number of auto loans made to borrowers with credit scores below 660 has nearly doubled since 2009 – a much greater increase than in any other loan type. Other studies find repossessions climbing as well.

Will these trends precede another stock market crash? Experts say no, but there are still reasons for those with subprime loans to be cautious.

Why are people concerned about subprime auto lending?

It's not just the number of loans to borrowers with low credit scores that has analysts on edge, but also allegations of dealer misbehavior and subprime auto loans' involvement in the stock market.

hmmm.... at least cars aren't as expensive as houses I guess. So if it blows up it should make a smaller hole...


....
 

crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
10,521
2,111
146
Been around the world and found
That only stupid people are breeding
The cretins cloning and feeding
And I don't even own a tv
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
I see these things as symptoms of Western adjustment to a global economy. Let's not kid ourselves, most of us with the tech and the free time to even post on here live like kings relative to the rest of the world. It is inevitable in today's labor market that a formerly affluent workforce will stagnate while the emerging labor force grows and prospers. Since not all 7 billion of us can live the kinds of lifestyles today's Westerner enjoys, there are, sadly, more painful adjustments to be made. It would be nice if the rest of the world could be brought up to our standards, and we all want that to happen, but realistically in the future there will be a "new normal." Hopefully it won't be too bad.
Truth.
 

TheSlamma

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2005
7,625
5
81
Vacations
My wife and I save to take at least 1 maybe 2 per year

New vehicles
Only a moron buys new vehicles, used Toyota Corolla house here, drove the last one till 250,000 miles

To pay off debt
This is why we are able to take vacations, have savings and pay for medical and dental, cause we pay off debt and don't keep accumulating more like everyone we see around us, people with $15 an hour jobs running around in brand new cars going home to 60 inch TV's with $150 a month cable bills.

Emergency savings
See pay off debt

Retirement savings
See pay off debt

Medical care
See pay off debt

Dental work
See pay off debt

We are VERY middle class and are doing fine with all of this. Might I suggest this onion article http://www.theonion.com/articles/funyuns-still-outselling-responsibilityuns,383/

Imagine what power the middle class would have too if all of us paid off our debts and were not indentured servants.
 

bshole

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2013
8,309
1,209
126
You will probably die alone, nobody I have ever know has
But it will be your own doing
You coming from a very wealthy family no doubt has afforded you a very nice lifestyle including those things in your last post
I guess it has also left you clueless as to how most people are

Both of my grandad's went with ALL of their kids there holding their hands. My dad said grandad squeezed his hand so he KNEW that his family was there with him.
 

TheSlamma

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2005
7,625
5
81
This forum (as a whole) is a real trip. In P&N, one would think we live in Somalia or some place- everything is gloom and doom and 99% of everyone is dirt poor, barely able to survive, with the 1% filthy rich cracking the whip and grinding them into dust beneath their boots.

Then the next section over, the same people are celebrating having bought some brand new $1000+ gizmo that serves the basic human need of putting pretty colors all over a higher definition screen than the previous $1000+ gizmo used to after it aged an intolerable number of months.
Boy you hit that nail on the head.