Pindah Rata Tidak Tidak Bekerja

6 Alasan Rencana Anda Bergerak di Luar Negeri Mungkin Tidak Beroperasi Jika Anda berkeliaran di papan pesan Internet, kira-kira sebulan sekali seseorang akan mengumumkan bahwa mereka sudah muak dengan Amerika dan ingin pindah ke luar negeri. Alasannya beragam: mereka ingin melarikan diri ke Kanada untuk menjauh dari perusahaan korup, atau mereka takut dengan Presiden Bachmann. Mungkin mereka ingin pergi ke Jepang dan mendapat pekerjaan sebagai Presiden Anime. Saya memiliki beberapa pengalaman dengan hal ini, karena saya juga tanpa perasaan meninggalkan negara asal saya, pindah dari Australia ke Amerika Serikat setelah pertempuran darat yang berkepanjangan dengan imigrasi dan sebelumnya, menghabiskan sebagian besar hidup saya di negara-negara selain negara saya sendiri ( Termasuk beberapa tahun di Eropa, sebuah tugas di Jepang dan satu lagi di sebuah sekolah tinggi internasional di Thailand). Pengalaman itu telah meninggalkan saya dengan aksen di suatu tempat antara rintangan bicara dan cewek berambut pirang dari Fringe setelah beberapa minuman dan juga dengan hikmat ini bagi siapa saja yang berencana membolos ke Amerika Serikat. Anda mungkin akan lebih baik mengeluarkan uang tiket penerbangan Anda untuk wiski, karena Kemungkinan rencana Anda untuk kehidupan baru di luar negeri tidak akan berhasil. Mengapa untuk memulai. Orang yang Mungkin Mungkin Tidak Ingin Anda Bukan berarti kami ingin memilih penggemar anime, tapi ini merupakan contoh bagus untuk ini. Its tidak sulit untuk menemukan penggemar anime muda bermimpi tinggal di Jepang. Karena jika anime membuat mereka dikucilkan sebagai kutu buku di Barat, mengapa, pindah ke Jepang akan seperti pulang ke rumah. Semua anime di sana selalu ada. Dan hanya diasumsikan bahwa Jepang akan senang untuk memiliki mereka. Lagi pula, inilah orang Barat yang mendapatkan Jepang Selamat Datang, American Getty Senang sekali bertemu dengan pria dewasa yang benar-benar menghargai kartun anak-anak kita. Darr Lanjutkan Membaca Di Bawah Tapi jika orang-orang ini pindah ke Jepang, mereka dengan cepat mengetahui bahwa sebanyak omong kosong karena mereka mungkin mendapatkan anime fandom di Amerika Serikat, yang jauh lebih buruk di sana. Bagi orang Jepang rata-rata, kata-kata penggemar anime dewasa, atau otaku, sedikit menyanjung dan lebih banyak citra seseorang yang tidur di antara bantal tubuh hentai dan tubuh orang tua yang membusuk. Ketika tsunami menyebabkan pembatalan konvensi anime, Gubernur Tokyo mengatakan bahwa mereka pantas mendapatkannya (hes merupakan advokat baru untuk undang-undang baru yang membatasi penjualan anime kepada kaum muda). Dia kemudian terpilih kembali. Getty Saya harap mereka menurunkan kepala terlebih dulu dengan wig cosplay mereka. Jika Anda pindah ke sana karena Anda bermimpi bekerja di anime, Anda akan mendapati bahwa animator muda saat ini mendapat bayaran rata-rata kekalahan 11.000 tahun untuk bekerja di industri yang cepat sekarat. Jika Anda pergi ke luar di daerah non-perkotaan di Jepang saat menjadi non-Asia, Anda akan ditunjukkan secara terbuka, ditertawakan dan dibunyikan dengan mobil yang lewat seolah-olah mengatakan, Anda orang asing Biarkan saya mengingatkan Anda akan hal ini Itu menggemaskan Dia meletakkan telinga kucing, mengacungkan beberapa sumpit dan mulai menangis. Sementara itu, pelancong Afrika-Amerika dan Asia ke Eropa Timur secara rutin melaporkan hal-hal seperti membuat botol yang dilemparkan ke mereka dan orang-orang lokal menunjukkan tato swastika mereka kepada mereka. Getty Thats Kanji untuk douchebag. Darr Continue Reading Below Bahkan di negara-negara yang toleran seperti Inggris dan Selandia Baru, orang Amerika dari semua warna masih dapat mengandalkan orang asing yang meneriaki mereka di depan umum dan menargetkan mereka dengan grafiti anti-Amerika. Failblog Kami tidak tahu kami unweal. Tentu saja, itu berarti Anda benar-benar masuk ke negara ini di tempat pertama, yang mungkin Anda sukai. Itu karena. Pemerintah mereka tidak menginginkan Anda, baik di satu sisi, setiap orang Amerika tahu imigrasi adalah sebuah perjuangan - kami memiliki gambaran lama tentang orang-orang yang meringkuk di kapal yang hanyut ke Patung Liberty setelah melakukan perjalanan selama berbulan-bulan, dan kami tahu itu Imigran ilegal berisiko mati untuk menyeberangi padang pasir dan menyelinap melintasi perbatasan. Jadi, orang Amerika menyadari bahwa masuk ke Amerika itu sulit. Tapi ketika kita muak dengan negara kita sendiri dan berbicara tentang bagaimana, saya hanya akan pindah ke (New ZealandCanadaFranceJapan) dan melepaskan diri dari semua ini yang cenderung kita bicarakan seperti yang paling sulit adalah membeli tiket pesawat. Getty Sialan Anda ke neraka, Expedia Its sulit, atau lebih keras, untuk masuk ke negara lain karena orang asing beremigrasi ke Amerika. Sebagian besar negara memiliki persyaratan masuk yang ketat sehingga Anda tidak dapat melewatinya dengan menjelaskan bahwa Anda benar-benar ingin masuk. Imigrasi ke Kanada, Australia dan Selandia Baru bekerja dengan memberikan poin kepada imigran yang memiliki keterampilan atau hal lain yang dibutuhkan negara. Misalnya, Selandia Baru dan Kanada memiliki daftar profesi pilihan, sebagian besar memerlukan gelar sarjana dan pengalaman bertahun-tahun. Darr Continue Reading Below Theyll juga melihat hal-hal seperti sejarah kriminal, karakter dan apakah Anda memiliki masalah medis yang mungkin harus mereka habiskan untuk uang. Hal-hal bekerja hampir sama di Australia, meskipun di sana Anda dapat memperoleh poin tambahan dengan menyetujui untuk tinggal dalam jangka waktu tertentu di daerah pedesaan yang terisolasi dan tidak menguntungkan secara ekonomi. Getty No Netflix atau Hulu. Persetan dengan cakrawala saya. Jika impian Anda adalah Uni Eropa, berita tersebut bahkan lebih buruk lagi. Orang yang mengajukan visa kerja tidak hanya perlu membuktikan bahwa mereka lebih cocok untuk pekerjaan daripada orang lain di negara ini, tapi juga lebih cocok untuknya daripada orang lain di seluruh Uni Eropa. Oh, dan kemudian ada tingkat pengangguran yang tinggi dan kenyataan bahwa sebagian besar warga Uni Eropa yang bersaing dengan Anda akan berbicara, seperti, enam bahasa. Tentu saja, pindah ke negara-negara ini bukan tidak mungkin - orang kadang-kadang melakukannya. Masalahnya adalah bahwa hal-hal negatif dalam hidup Anda yang cenderung membuat Anda ingin meninggalkan Amerika dan memulai lagi - Anda bosan, Anda terjebak dalam pekerjaan buntu, Anda tidak menyukai biaya perawatan medis, Anda ingin merokok. Panci tapi hukum tidak akan membiarkan Anda - adalah hal yang sama yang akan menghalangi Anda memasuki tempat yang sejuk. Getty Ooh, pecundang yang dicuci Nah dapatkan karpet merah. Dan ada ironi yang kejam dalam kenyataan bahwa kebanyakan orang Amerika bahkan tidak mempertimbangkan hal ini. Bagaimanapun, satu alasan populer untuk meninggalkan Amerika adalah berpikir bahwa orang-orang di sini terlalu bodoh, sombong atau tidak berbudaya. Menurut keluhan ini, orang Amerika jingois ini menganggap mereka lebih baik dari orang lain, dan berpikir bahwa dunia seharusnya mencintai mereka hanya karena menjadi orang Amerika. Siapa yang bisa berdiri di sekitar jawaban itu. yahoo Anda bisa dengan senang hati mengetahui bahwa semua jawaban itu tidak sopan. Darr Lanjutkan Membaca Di Bawah Tapi dalam perjalanan emigrasi saya yang panjang, saya menghabiskan banyak waktu antara lain yang juga berencana untuk meninggalkan Australia. Semua orang tahu apa yang mereka hadapi, dan sedang membicarakan penggalian nenek moyang yang telah lama hilang untuk memenuhi syarat untuk bekerja di Uni Eropa, atau tentang audisi untuk iklan deodoran yang cukup untuk mendapatkan visa kerja A. S. Namun mayoritas orang Amerika yang berencana meninggalkan negara mereka tampaknya berasumsi bahwa bagian yang paling sulit untuk ditinggalkan adalah menentukan negara mana yang akan dikunjungi. Seperti yang sama seperti merencanakan liburan. Getty Jadi rencananya akan menjengkelkan selama 14 tahun pertama sebelum pensiun dan memasang foto di Facebook. Dengan kata lain, mereka membuat asumsi yang sama dengan redneck yang coba mereka lepaskan: bahwa setiap negara lain, sembari menyaring imigran kotor dari tempat lain, akan senang memiliki orang Amerika. Anda tahu, karena orang Amerika lebih baik daripada orang lain dan dunia harus mencintai pantat pengangguran Anda hanya karena menjadi satu. Dan jika Anda memikirkan untuk mendapatkan semua barang legal itu dengan menyelinap masuk, ingatlah. Negara Lain Perlakukan Imigran Ilegal Lebih Buruk Daripada Amerika Baru-baru ini, seorang jurnalis terkenal keluar sebagai imigran ilegal di New York Times. Yang menjadi kesempatan bagi para komentator untuk membicarakan tentang betapa buruknya A. S. memperlakukan imigran ilegalnya. Dengar, jujur ​​saja, orang Amerika: Im Australia, dan saya mencintai negara saya yang dulu, tapi dibandingkan dengan kalian, orang Australia seperti masyarakat dystopian di Children of Men. Dingos akan melahirkan bayi itu beberapa menit kemudian. Darr Lanjutkan Membaca Di Bawah Ini dan ini akan berlanjut untuk beberapa lama - orang Jepang, bersama dengan orang Cina dan Korea, diklasifikasikan oleh Departemen Luar Negeri A. S. sebagai bahasa superhard, yang berarti dibutuhkan waktu tiga kali lebih lama untuk belajar bahasa-bahasa Eropa. Tapi bahasa Eropa datang dengan masalah mereka sendiri: Di ​​sebagian besar Eropa Barat, semua orang bisa bahasa Inggris dengan baik, kedengarannya bagus sampai Anda mencoba mempraktikkan bahasa Prancis atau Jerman Anda di depan umum dan penduduk setempat dengan senang hati beralih ke bahasa Inggris. Jadi, ada sedikit masalah dalam menyampaikan makna infeksi jamur yang parah, tapi Anda juga akan menghabiskan sisa hidup Anda seperti turis. Anda mungkin hanya bergaul dengan orang Amerika lainnya Ada alasan mengapa kantong seperti Chinatown ada - seseorang secara naluriah ingin berada di sekitar apa yang tidak asing lagi, tidak peduli di mana mereka berada. Dan ya, di negara lain Anda memang menemukan Americatown. Komunitas ekspat ini dimana orang-orang Amerika berkumpul bersama untuk makan hamburger dan merindukan Mt. Rushmore arent hanya untuk pekerja luar negeri yang agak rasis di manajemen puncak. Reaksi yang benar-benar alami terhadap stres budaya yang berkepanjangan. Getty Dan kemudian dia baru mulai tertawa. Sepuluh menit kemudian nenekku meninggal. Masih tertawa. Neraka, negara saya mungkin termasuk yang paling mirip budaya di Amerika di Bumi, dan saya masih menyergap hampir setiap orang Australia yang saya temui, bahkan jika mereka menjadi turis acak yang muntah di Hollywood Boulevard. Saya tidak bisa membedakannya, karena hanya ada sedikit di antara mereka. Kemungkinannya adalah bahwa Anda juga akan sangat putus asa mencari perusahaan dari sesama Amerika yang bahkan tidak Anda sukai. Sebuah survei di seluruh dunia 2010 menemukan bahwa hampir dua pertiga orang yang tinggal di luar negeri setuju dengan pernyataan tersebut, saya cenderung untuk pergi dengan teman-teman expat lebih dari teman-teman lokal, dan jumlahnya jauh lebih tinggi saat Anda mengurangi ekspatriat yang tinggal di negara-negara berbahasa Inggris seperti Australia dan Inggris darr Lanjutkan Membaca di Bawah Jika Anda tidak dapat membayangkan diri Anda mencoba membawa Amerika dengan Anda ke Jepang atau China atau Swiss dengan kasar, Anda akan terkejut. Pengalaman itu mengubah seseorang. Tidak peduli apa itu tentang negara asalnya yang tidak Anda sukai sehingga membuat Anda pergi, tinggal di luar negeri untuk sementara dan Anda akan mulai mempertahankannya. Mengapa Karena negara sangat mirip keluarga. Satu hal untuk Anda dan saudara perempuan Anda untuk tertawa tentang betapa gemuknya ibu Anda adalah Anda bereaksi berbeda saat berpacaran acak di jalan. Getty Jika ibu saya telah memperluas kerajaannya, hanya karena dia memiliki masalah kepercayaan Kritik penuh pemikiran terhadap Amerika mungkin baik-baik saja ketika Anda berada di antara orang Amerika, namun ketika seseorang mulai mengoceh tentang negara Anda dan Anda satu-satunya orang dari sana dalam jarak 10 mil Jari-jari, mulai terasa seperti kritik terhadap Anda. Sebentar lagi Anda akan menyadari bahwa Anda hanya memiliki dua pilihan untuk merespons: bertindak sebagai tempat sampah untuk beberapa orang aneh yang sangat anti-Amerika, atau membela diri. Ini hanya masalah waktu sebelum Anda akan berteriak seperti, Persetan, Nixon adalah seorang presiden yang hebat dan, Paling tidak Transformers lebih baik daripada Louvre bodoh Anda, mungkin berakhir pada ungkapan. Menyelamatkan pantatmu dalam Perang Dunia II. Getty Semua orang tahu keterlambatan itu modis, brengsek. Kemudian mulailah reaksi balik internal. Anda pernah bertemu dengan salah satu dari orang-orang yang menyalahkan semua hal buruk yang terjadi dalam kehidupan mereka pada kelompok tertentu, seperti kaum liberal atau wanita atau mata-mata Yesuit Sebenarnya, menjadi seorang ekspat mungkin akan mengubah Anda menjadi salah satu dari orang-orang itu. Bahkan jika Anda menyukai negara baru Anda, Anda akan terus menyalahkannya atas semua hal yang tidak beres dalam kehidupan sehari-hari Anda, karena Anda mulai melihat kembali negara tua itu dengan lensa berwarna mawar. Baru-baru ini di L. A. seseorang menyalakan lampu merah dan meninggalkanku dengan sebuah mobil yang rusak di tengah persimpangan yang sibuk. Selama berhari-hari sesudahnya, saya berteriak pada siapa saja yang mau mendengarkan tentang betapa buruknya pengemudi California, meskipun di rumah, mobil saudara laki-laki saya telah dihapusbukukan oleh SUV pada minggu yang sama. Tinggal di sini rupanya membuat saya percaya bahwa tidak seorang pun di Australia pernah mengalami kecelakaan mobil sebelumnya. Getty Kegembiraan melihat mobil lain di sini cukup untuk dibiarkan liar. Selalu ada pengecualian. Mungkin tidak satu pun dari ini akan terjadi pada Anda (dan sebenarnya, pasti seseorang akan muncul dalam komentar dengan kisah pengalaman emigrasi yang sempurna). Tapi ada kemungkinan lebih baik untuk itu terjadi jika Anda tahu apa yang akan terjadi. Dan kebanyakan orang tidak melakukannya. Ikuti C. Twitter Covilles di sini. Selamat Datang di City-Data Dengan mengumpulkan dan menganalisis data dari berbagai sumber pemerintah dan swasta, dapat membuat profil rinci dan informatif untuk setiap kota di Amerika Serikat. Dari tingkat kejahatan hingga pola cuaca, Anda akan menemukan data yang Anda cari di City-Data. City-Data melihat lebih dari 14 juta pengguna per bulan (Juli 2016) dan telah ditampilkan di 121 buku, di CNN, WABC di New York, Bay News 9 di Tampa Bay dan USA Todays Hot Sites, antara lain. Navigasi cepat FL TX NM AZ AK CA NV CO ATAU WA ID HI OK MT WY ND SD NE KS MN IA MO AR LA MS AL GA SC IL WI MI IN OH TN KY NC VA VA NY ME VT NH RI CT NJ DE MD MA DC Berdasarkan kategori Penilaian Lingkungan Temuan Pemeriksaan Restoran Perubahan peta data Interaktif sejak 2k Memuat data. Silahkan tunggu Berdasarkan data Pemuatan data 2005-2014. Harap tunggu data kami dalam tindakan Blog Data-Kota. Hal aneh apa yang orang cari di Google Bagaimana pajak penghasilan mempengaruhi pola migrasi Fitur apa yang populer di jenis rumah di Blog Data-Kota. Penulis menggunakan data untuk menjawab pertanyaan yang tidak pernah Anda ketahui. Dari investigasi konyol dan ringan sampai ujian ekonomi yang kuat, kami membahas berbagai topik yang dapat dinikmati oleh semua penulis Kami, banyak di antaranya Ph. D. Lulusan atau kandidat, membuat artikel yang mudah dibaca pada beragam topik. Panduan Kota kami Ingin merencanakan liburan Bagaimana menemukan sesuatu yang baru untuk dilakukan di kota Anda sendiri Pemandu kota kami diperuntukkan bagi Anda. Pemandu kami memberikan gambaran umum kota-kota di seluruh A. S. serta informasi terperinci tentang atraksi tertentu termasuk museum, restoran, kehidupan malam dan banyak lagi. Mereka juga memasukkan saran praktis tentang transportasi, kesehatan dan layanan medis setempat. Mereka pergi ke sumber daya Anda untuk mendapatkan hasil maksimal dari kota mana pun Temukan kota yang sesuai dengan kebutuhan Anda. Pilih hingga 10 kriteria dari database besar kami, tetapkan rentang yang diinginkan dengan kontrol visual yang mudah digunakan dan kurangi hasilnya menggunakan beberapa filter yang tersedia. Gunakan alat perbandingan kota kami untuk menganalisa dan membandingkan dua kota. Data geografis dan statistik, demografi, nilai terkini dan historis - semuanya ada di sini. Membuat keputusan tentang ke mana harus bergerak lebih mudah dari sebelumnya Kalkulator Bahan Bakar kami memungkinkan Anda untuk menentukan jumlah dan biaya bahan bakar untuk perjalanan, serta membandingkan biaya perjalanan dan biaya tahunan untuk dua kendaraan. Whats on City-Data Kami memiliki lebih dari 74.000 foto kota tidak ditemukan di tempat lain, grafik harga real estat terkini dan tren penjualan, penjualan rumah baru-baru ini, estimator nilai rumah, ratusan ribu peta, foto satelit, data demografi (ras, Pendapatan, keturunan, pendidikan, pekerjaan), data geografis, profil negara, data kejahatan, pelanggar seks terdaftar, biaya hidup, perumahan, agama, bisnis, tautan berita lokal berdasarkan teknologi eksklusif kami, tempat kelahiran orang-orang terkenal, kontribusi politik, kota Keuangan pemerintah, lapangan kerja, cuaca, bencana alam, rumah sakit, sekolah dan perpustakaan. Selain koleksi data kami yang besar, kami juga telah membuat Top 100 City Lists dan Top 101 City Lists. Daftar ini menampilkan kota-kota di ratusan kategori, termasuk pendapatan, kejahatan, kebanyakan pasangan gay, kebanyakan mobil, perjalanan terpendek, rumah terbesar, penduduk berpendidikan paling banyak dan banyak lagi. Kami juga memiliki ribuan gambar kota acak yang dikirimkan oleh pengguna kami. Berapa Rata-Rata Orang Amerika Memecahkan Angka Penghasilan Rumah Tangga A. S. Seberapa besar keluarga Amerika yang khas Pertanyaan ini mungkin salah satu yang paling penting dalam memikirkan bagaimana kita bisa memperbaiki kelesuan ekonomi kita saat ini. Lagi pula, kita tidak bisa mendengar banyak orang mengatakan di dunia sekarang bahwa mereka memiliki terlalu banyak uang. Pendapatan rumah tangga rata-rata di Amerika Serikat adalah 46.326. Di sini, di California orang-orang sulit memahami bahwa ya, 50 persen populasi kita hidup dengan 46.000 atau kurang setahun. Bahkan sampai hari ini, semua obat mujarab dan obat terlarang dilipat di sekitar gagal memusatkan perhatian pada pendapatan dan penghasilan besar, pekerjaan yang solid. Rumah tangga pencari nafkah memiliki pendapatan median yang lebih tinggi di 67.348. Untuk menyoroti perbedaan besar, saya menyusun bagan yang menunjukkan distribusi pendapatan rumah tangga: Seperti yang dapat Anda lihat dari tabel di atas, hanya 17,8 dari seluruh rumah tangga A. S. yang menghasilkan lebih dari 118.200 per tahun. Hanya 2,67 yang menghasilkan lebih dari 200.000. Fakta bahwa hanya 34 yang membuat lebih dari 65.000 orang mencengangkan mengingat betapa mahal biaya hidup item lainnya yang didapat selama dekade terakhir. Itulah sebabnya kelas menengah merasa terjepit dari berbagai sisi. Ketika saya mengumpulkan anggaran untuk keluarga yang menghasilkan 100.000, saya menerima sedikit umpan balik dari kedua belah pihak. Meskipun saya menyadari sangat sedikit orang memiliki pendapatan rumah tangga dalam kisaran 6 angka yang terlihat sangat dekat dengan data, saya dapat mengerti mengapa orang mengambil isu dengan anggaran yang berada pada tingkat tersebut. Saya juga mengumpulkan anggaran dari seseorang yang tinggal di California membuat 46.000 setahun dan menerima umpan balik juga. Saya pikir ketika sampai pada pendapatan, Anda tidak akan pernah memiliki terlalu banyak. Yang lebih menarik lagi, adalah bagaimana bahkan di kalangan pendapatan super kaya pun tidak didistribusikan secara merata. Ada sekitar 146.000 (0.1) rumah tangga dengan pendapatan melebihi 1.500.000 per tahun. Bahkan pada saat itu, 0,01 rumah tangga teratas memiliki pendapatan 5.500.000 dan menyumbang 11.000 rumah tangga. 400 pembayar pajak tertinggi di negara tersebut menghasilkan 87.000.000 per tahun yang menakjubkan. Nah, itu kekayaan. Bagi kita manusia biasa, penting sekali lagi untuk fokus pada grafik itu. 46.000 tidak pergi jauh. Dalam sebuah laporan Sensus baru-baru ini ada 110.000.000 rumah tangga di Amerika Serikat. Apa data ini mengatakan bahwa 55.000.000 rumah tangga hidup dengan 46.000 atau kurang setahun. Mari kita asumsikan ini adalah pasangan suami istri dengan 1 anak. Mari kita jalankan angka-angka: Aku berlari angka untuk sebuah negara tanpa pajak penghasilan negara bagian, Texas. Keluarga di tingkat ini hanya membawa 3.215 sebulan. Harga rumah rata-rata nasional mencapai sekitar 200.000. Jadi mari kita asumsikan keluarga ini membeli rumah rata-rata: 5 uang muka: 10.000 Mortgage 30 tahun tetap (6.5): 1.200 Pajak dan Asuransi: 333 Langsung dari kelelawar, keluarga ini menghabiskan 47 uang bersih mereka di rumah dengan harga rata-rata. . Kami bahkan tidak memperhitungkan investasi rekening pensiun pra-pajak. Mengingat kinerja pasar saham baru-baru ini dan hilangnya 50 triliun kekayaan global. Mungkin itu bukan gagasan buruk. Intinya adalah keluarga Amerika rata-rata diperas dari setiap sudut. Yang kita butuhkan adalah fokus pada pekerjaan dan ekonomi kita, bukan menebus bank. Itu mengalahkan seluruh tujuan. Rata-rata keluarga Amerika sedang berjuang untuk mendapatkan dan ketika mereka mendengar tentang handout miliar dolar ini, mereka tidak dapat membantu tapi merasa ditinggalkan. Update Februari 2013: Karena artikel ini ditulis, belum banyak yang berubah di depan pendapatan rumah tangga. Saya pergi ke depan dan menggali data terbaru tentang pendapatan rumah tangga: Sumber: Sensus, ACS 2011 Data Sensus terakhir memiliki pendapatan rumah tangga rata-rata di AS pada 50.500. Namun, karena bagan di atas menyoroti satu dari empat rumah tangga AS hidup dengan pendapatan rumah tangga kurang dari 25.000 per tahun. Ini masuk akal ketika kita mengukur hal ini terhadap data Jaminan Sosial yang memiliki pendapatan per kapita rata-rata per bulan di 26.000 untuk tahun 2010. Anda juga mulai menyadari mengapa dua rumah tangga penghasilan hampir menjadi kebutuhan untuk bisa tinggal di Amerika saat ini. Jika Anda menikmati posting ini klik di sini untuk berlangganan feed yang lengkap dan tetap up to date dengan pasar yang menantang Saat ini Doooglaz: Saya setuju. 2004 adalah tahun saya secara resmi kehilangan kepercayaan pada rakyat Amerika. (Meski harus adil, mungkin benar-benar kesalahan Diebold8217s8282) 23 Februari 2010 pukul 17:36 Semua ini sangat lucu. Dapatkah seseorang menjelaskan bahwa ketika Anda meminjam secara kredit (seperti yang kita dapatkan dari China untuk membiayai apa yang Anda inginkan sekarang, karena Anda tidak memiliki kesabaran untuk sabar dan membutuhkan kepuasan instan), bahwa jika Anda tidak dapat membayarnya kembali seumur hidup Anda8230. Anda meneruskannya Perbudakan hutang kepada anak-anak Anda. Saya akan berpikir bahwa orang Amerika Afrika akan menganggapnya sangat agregious, memperbudak anak-anak mereka. Dengan pendapatan rata-rata serendah itu, bagaimana kelas menengah dapat memperoleh pajak yang lebih tinggi. Sampai hari ini kita menuju pengobatan sosialis. Itu akan menjadi pajak tambahan. Saya pikir pesta usai dan FBI mencoba untuk mengendalikan sebanyak mungkin agar tidak kehilangan kekuatan mereka saat semuanya berantakan. Saya pikir China akan mengambil pantai barat saat mereka memanggil pinjaman mereka dan kita harus menyerahkan wilayah. Jadi saya harap nilai real estat tetap tinggi di sana. Dengan begitu mungkin mereka hanya akan berada di sebelah barat Rockys. 22 Maret 2010 pukul 12:02 pm Tinggal dengan nyaman di CA mengatakan: Untuk Don di Spring Green, WI, yang menulis, 8220Thats mengapa saya menjual rumah 700K saya di Long Beach CA pada tahun 2006 dan membeli rumah yang sama untuk 150K di Wisconsin82308221 Pertama Semua, jika Anda pikir Anda membeli rumah 8220SAME8221 di WI yang Anda miliki di CA, Anda sudah terlalu banyak keju. Saya senang Anda meninggalkan negara dan tidak terlalu mengerti dengan Anda. Sedangkan untuk komentar Anda, 8220Mengunjungi 201 ks dan uang Anda sebesar 4,0000 dolar per bulan rumah pembayaran82308221 mungkin salah satu dari tetangga Wisconsin Anda dapat membantu Anda menerjemahkan angka 82204.0000 dollar8221 Anda ke angka dengan angka nol yang benar atau membantu Anda. Pindahkan koma ke tempat yang benar agar kita bisa mengerti apa yang ingin Anda katakan. Akhirnya, saya melihat bahwa salah satu objek wisata Spring Green8217s adalah bir pembuatan bir lokal1211Furthermore. Sudahkah Anda mengkonsumsi lebih dari kuota produk lokal Anda, atau apakah Anda mendapatkan banyak susu 23 Maret 2010 pukul 10:51 Untuk Hidup dengan nyaman di CA, saya yakin California adalah negara anggur. Mungkin saya tidak tahu apakah ada 8220quota8221 pada Produk lokal tapi saya pikir mungkin Anda terlalu banyak memikirkannya sendiri. Apa yang Anda sukai? Mungkin Anda harus melakukan perjalanan ke Wisconsin dan melihat sendiri betapa sebanding dengan rumah Anda. Anda bisa mengambilnya. Beberapa keju yang sangat bagus saat Anda berada di sana, itu akan berjalan dengan baik dengan anggur yang mungkin Anda konsumsi lebih banyak lagi. 27 Maret 2010 pukul 09:11 Anda memulai dokumen yang bagus ini dengan 8220fact8221: Pendapatan rumah tangga rata-rata di Amerika Serikat adalah 46.326. Tapi apakah ini BENAR-BENAR benar atau menyamarkan atau salah menyebutkan atau pernah menyatakan fakta bahwa saya benar-benar termasuk semua, atau hampir semua, pekerja rumah tangga pemerintah 8212 kecuali mungkin militer, yang seringkali dibayar lebih sedikit, (misalnya banyak anggota Garda Nasional Yang selama ini dipanggil untuk tugas aktif telah mengambil pemotongan gaji). Tetapi jika pegawai pemerintah, yang rata-rata memiliki 8212 tugas aktif militer, kecuali 8212 secara rata-rata lebih tinggi daripada pegawai non-pegawai, maka rumah tangga yang tidak memiliki gaji tinggi di rumah masing-masing memiliki tanggungan tambahan yang sangat berat, dua kali lipat, jadi karena banyak Jika tidak sebagian besar dana pensiun pegawai negeri dan pemerintah daerah sangat kekurangan dana, yang menjadi beban masa depan bahkan lebih besar dan penurunan pendapatan rumah tangga yang lebih baik lagi.8221 pendapatan. Dapatkah Anda PLEASE menghitung atau menghitung ulang pendapatan rumah tangga rata-rata 82201 dalam hal ini, (mungkin juga menghitung pendapatan rumah tangga militer secara terpisah) 29 Maret 2010 pukul 8:59 Herman Clausan berkata: Orang-orang berkata kepada saya 8220Jika Anda sama seperti Amerika meninggalkannya8221. Jadi saya lakukan. Saya pindah ke Thailand. Cakupan kesehatan merupakan faktor utama. Ilegal8217s memiliki perawatan gratis plus pemerintah. memeriksa. Dan tidak pernah dibayar sepeser pun. Saya pensiun dengan 450.000 ditambah 950 sebulan jaminan sosial. Satu penyakit di Amerika akan menghapusku. Biayanya saya 4 untuk menemui dokter berbahasa Inggris di sini. Saya tes darah di A. S. untuk kadar glukosa saya 549. WTF. Amerika adalah tempat impian para imigran tapi bukan untuk yang lahir di sini. Saya membangun sebuah rumah baru di Thailand untuk 25.000 truk Toyota baru seharga 11.000. Tidak bisa mengalahkannya Seperti semua posting Anda. Terus bekerja dengan baik. 10 April 2010 pukul 5:32 am Herman: Redshirt kegilaan meskipun, itu mulai terlihat seperti pensiun saya sendiri akan terlihat seperti milikmu. Saya memiliki seorang istri Thailand dan tinggal di Amerika Serikat tapi sepertinya saya tidak dapat memenuhi kebutuhan di sini, jadi tidak perlu pensiun. Pembayaran Jaminan Sosial akan menjadi lelucon pada saat saya pensiun sekitar 20 tahun karenanya. Karena itu, sebuah komentar yang menyedihkan tentang bagaimana rasanya menjadi warga negara Amerika kelas menengah yang berpendidikan (Meskipun Thailand memiliki beberapa fitur hebat, terutama orang-orangnya.) 11 April 2010 pukul 15:46 Istri saya dan saya berusia di bawah 30 tahun dan membuat Pendapatan rumah tangga sekitar 175k per tahun. Melihat persentil itu sepertinya kita banyak menghasilkannya, namun memang tidak seperti itu. Kami telah menyewa sebuah apartemen dengan 2 kamar tidur di Southern California selama 4 tahun. Sebuah rumah yang layak di daerah OCLA akan menelan biaya di utara 400k. Kita perlu menghemat setidaknya 80k atau lebih untuk uang muka. Setelah itu kita masih akan membayar 3k sebulan untuk hipotek, asuransi, pajak, dll. Lupakan tentang menabung untuk masa pensiun. 14 Mei 2010 pukul 14:43 Analisis pendapatan dan kekayaan di situs ini sangat baik. Tapi blog ini tidak meneliti akar permasalahan dari keserakahan dengan baik. Tidak masalah menyalahkan kaya akan hal itu. Tapi ada yang merasa bahwa kelas menengah juga serakah dan menggerutu karena tidak mendapat manfaat dari keserakahan. Orang kaya menjadi kaya dengan memanfaatkan keserakahan yang melekat dalam masyarakat. Tidak ada yang memaksa rumah tangga rata-rata untuk mengambil hutang besar dalam bentuk kartu kredit dan pinjaman. Korporasi tentu saja menginduksi dan merayu Amerika rata-rata dengan impian kemewahan dan surga konsumeris. Selama beberapa dekade terakhir, orang Amerika telah memperoleh rasa enteng yang meningkat dan ini bertahan bahkan di masa-masa sulit ini. Mengapa misalnya rumah tangga rata-rata membutuhkan rumah 200k. Mengapa keluarga kelas menengah membutuhkan kolam renang di halaman belakang rumah mereka. Mengapa semua orang membutuhkan mobil? Angkutan umum bisa sangat murah, ramah lingkungan dan menghasilkan jutaan lapangan kerja di bidang manufaktur, perawatan dan operasi. Namun Amerika telah memilih keluar dari ini. Mengapa ada yang membutuhkan ponsel terbaru, pemutar musik, kamera dan TV Greed. Semua orang menjadi serakah, lebih dari yang lain. 24 Mei 2010 pukul 21:28 Orang sangat prihatin tentang kapitalisme yang menjalankan bisnis8221. Tapi sepertinya tidak ada yang peduli dengan keadaan kapitalis realisitor328221a state8221. 26 Mei 2010 jam 1:16 saya tinggal dengan dua orang teman. Saya dimarahi. Dan saya menghasilkan sekitar 7k setahun. Itu yang terbaik yang bisa saya lakukan dan bersekolah. Apa lagi yang harus saya lakukan Bagaimana orang-orang di kelas 3 bisa hidup dengan diri mereka sendiri ketika ada orang-orang seperti saya dan orang-orang yang bahkan lebih buruk lagi. Saya bukan orang yang buruk, saya hanya berusaha memperbaiki diri dan tampaknya semakin jauh tertinggal karena tidak ada yang bisa saya mulai. 7 Juni 2010 di 05:20 Artikel bagus Suami saya dan saya bekerja fulltime dan menghasilkan kurang dari 50k. Yang menyedihkan adalah kita berdua memiliki gelar. Saya memiliki master dan dia memiliki bujangannya. Kami telah bekerja sangat keras hanya untuk sampai ke titik ini, dan tidak berniat berhenti. Bukan pesta sayang, hanya kenyataan. Kami benar-benar perlu mengevaluasi kembali nilai produk dan segala sesuatu yang masuk ke dalam penyediaannya. Orang-orang tidak akan membutuhkan gaji yang tinggi jika produk itu mahal harganya. Kenyataannya adalah bahwa kita hanya akan terus meningkatkan biaya untuk meletakkan kantong bisnis dan meminta masyarakat untuk mengeluarkan lebih banyak uang. Tidak ada yang menginginkan perubahan sejati. Mereka hanya menginginkan lebih. June 28th, 2010 at 11:39 am Mengomentari orang yang menulis di artikel awal tentang asuransi PMI. Memiliki rumah adalah hak istimewa bukan hak, jika Anda tidak mampu menurunkan lebih dari 20 persen daripada Anda mencari rumah lain yang lebih murah atau menyewa sampai Anda cukup menabung untuk meletakkannya. Bukan satu-satunya masalah di negara kita tapi salah satu yang besar adalah orang-orang seperti Anda sendiri, yang tidak menyadari bahwa jika Anda tidak mampu membeli sesuatu, jangan lakukan itu. Saya tidak berasal dari lingkungan yang kaya, dan saya ingat orang tua saya mengatakan kepada saya, jika Anda tidak pernah memilikinya, Anda tidak akan pernah melewatkannya, hal itu benar jika Anda tetap berpikiran yang benar. Saya bertahan dengan pekerjaan 25.000 dolar setahun, dan menghemat banyak uang untuk pekerjaan 100.000 tahun plus satu tahun. Selalu tentang apa yang Anda butuhkan untuk tidak melakukan apa yang ingin Anda lakukan. Jika Anda melakukan apa yang Anda inginkan, sebagian besar waktu dalam kata uang itu sama dengan hutang yang besar. 3 Juli 2010 pukul 6:26 am Artikel tersebut membuat asumsi yang mungkin atau mungkin tidak sesuai dengan kenyataan. Situasi setiap orang berbeda. Artikel itu tidak mendekati menganalisis situasi brilian saya, jadi izinkan saya untuk memberi tahu Anda tentang New American Dream. Ini bukan rumah, mobil mewah, mesin pemotong rumput dengan lampu depan. Its8217 Waktu luang. Itu itu. Mimpinya yang sebenarnya adalah memiliki waktu luang untuk menghabiskan waktu bersama keluarga, pergi berkarier, menerbangkan layangan, memanjat pohon, dan hal-hal menyenangkan. Begini caranya. Untuk memulai, pelajari sesuatu tentang teknologi, komputer itu. Selanjutnya menjadi seorang ahli dalam satu aspek tertentu dari teknologi komputer (untuk saya adalah pembelajaran e-Learning). Dapatkan pekerjaan menggunakan keahlian itu, lalu berhenti untuk pekerjaan yang lebih baik, lalu berhenti lagi untuk pekerjaan yang lebih baik. Dan seterusnya, sampai pukul 30.30 Anda telah bekerja di selusin perusahaan dan sekarang menjadi ahli tidak hanya di mata Anda, tapi juga mata dari yang lain. Anda sekarang seorang konsultan. Anda bisa pergi ke perusahaan dan merekomendasikan hal-hal yang mereka lakukan, daripada melakukannya sendiri. Anda sudah bekerja keras dan ini telah memakan waktu bertahun-tahun, tapi sekarang Anda diberi imbalan: Anda bekerja enam bulan dalam setahun, menagih sekitar tujuh puluh lima dolar per jam, membayar pajak Anda, tinggal di sebuah motel (dengan kolam renang) sekitar delapan ribu setahun 8211 Pajak real estat, perawatan, pembersihan, dan kertas toilet semua masuk Layanan Anda diminati, jadi, jika Anda mau, Anda bisa mengikuti American Nightmare dan dapatkan rumah, mobil mewah, TV besar, barbekyu barbekyu seharga dua ratus dolar dan bekerjalah semua Tahun untuk mempertahankan hal-hal itu, atau Anda bisa mengejar New American Dream 8211 tinggal di motel dan menikmati hidup. Berikut adalah bagan saya sendiri untuk tahun lalu: Pendapatan: 78.700 (bekerja dari Februari 8211 Agustus) Total beban pajak penghasilan (ya, saya membayar pajak negara bagian dan lokal): 16.400 Auto 8211 a 2009 Scion (asuransi, pembayaran, bahan bakar, pemeliharaan8230) : 6.000 Makanan (saya makan dengan sangat baik 8211 sushi, makanan lezat8230): 8.000 Motel (rumah manis dengan HBO gratis): 7,200 Waktu untuk saya 8211 52.400 Saya menyimpan dua puluh K untuk usia tua, dan memiliki waktu yang baik dengan Istirahat termasuk dua perjalanan ke Disney World, satu perjalanan ke Bahama, perjalanan lintas negara (saya menyetir dengan baik dan lamban), dan banyak perjalanan akhir pekan. Saya tidak membayar perabotan, televisi kabel, tidak memiliki tagihan utilitas langsung, tidak menggunakan atau memiliki kartu kredit, meminjam uang hanya untuk mobil, menggunakan uang untuk segala hal (mendapatkan banyak diskon), tidak ada mesin pemotong rumput.830 Saya berenang setiap Malam selama musim panas tanpa membayar sepeser pun untuk sebuah kolam8230 Oke, Anda mengerti. Yang kita butuhkan adalah meninggalkan cita-cita lama menggunakan waktu kita untuk bekerja untuk orang lain sehingga mereka menjadi kaya dan kita bisa melewatinya, dan memberikan waktu itu kepada mereka yang sangat menginginkannya, keluarga, teman, dan diri kita sendiri. Itu dua sen saya. 24 Juli 2010 jam 8:02 pm Jika Anda hanya tahu. Berkata: Saya ingin melempar sesuatu ke sini dalam hal pemerintahan 8220bailing8221 keluar B dari A. Mudah-mudahan Anda akan mengerti bahwa pemerintah sebenarnya diuntungkan dari upaya ini. Faktanya adalah bahwa B dari A meminta jumlah tertentu, namun pemerintah memaksa bank tersebut untuk meminjam lebih banyak uang daripada yang diminta atau diminta. Yang perlu kita pahami adalah bahwa ketika B dari A membayar kembali uang yang telah dilakukan, mereka membayar bunga yang signifikan terhadapnya dan juga lebih seperti investasi untuk pemerintah jika ada. Kami bertindak seperti pemerintah kita yang hanya menyerahkan uang sambil tidak mengharapkan imbalan. Betapapun bodohnya menurut perkiraan pemerintah kita karena telah membuat keputusan ini, salah Anda. Dalam REALITAS, pemerintah benar-benar menghasilkan uang dari kesepakatan ini. Bangun orang, kesepakatan ini adalah situasi win-win. Pertanyaan yang harus kita tanyakan adalah di mana semua keuntungan pemerintah ini diterapkan. Sebaiknya kita terus mendukung ibu tunggal yang memilih untuk memiliki 3 anak (hanya karena mereka menyukai pengembalian pajak yang besar) dengan menyediakan semua kesejahteraan ini. Sebagai contoh, saya menghasilkan pendapatan kelas menengah rata-rata, namun berjuang untuk membantu kesehatan, gigi, penglihatan, dll. Namun, baik untuk wanita pengangguran (hanya karena dia kurang memiliki motivasi) untuk memiliki anak dan menjadi Disetujui untuk kupon makanan, bagian 8 perumahan, asuransi kesehatan gratis tanpa biaya tambahan, transportasi umum gratis8230etapi saya adalah orang pekerja keras yang menghasilkan pendapatan rata-rata dan dolar pajak saya diterapkan untuk kebutuhan wanita pengangguran ini. Pada catatan ini, lihat di lemari pakaian saya dan Anda akan melihat bahwa saya juga tidak mampu membeli makanan, namun saya tidak dapat disetujui untuk bantuan karena saya menghasilkan banyak uang8221. Nah, di sinilah saya pikir pemerintah salah. Mari ingat, populasi terbesar adalah kelas menengah (siapa yang paling banyak berjuang karena kurangnya bantuan) Secara pribadi, sebagai warga kelas menengah, saya pikir Anda seharusnya bisa menerima sesuatu yang telah Anda bayar. Kesejahteraan telah lepas kendali, saya melihatnya dengan mata kepala sendiri. Dan itu membuat saya jijik dengan jujur. Remaja-remaja ini memiliki bayi dan diberi bantuan yang akhirnya saya bantu bayar tapi tidak bisa menerima myslef. Seseorang tolong bantu saya memahami bagaimana saya dipaksa membantu orang yang menolak untuk menolong diri mereka sendiri. Apalagi saat orang seperti saya bekerja dan berusaha memenuhi kebutuhan dan tetap bisa bertahan. Saya hanya membutuhkan bantuan, tapi gaji saya mendiskualifikasi saya. Ini menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada sesuatu dalam kehidupan ini adalah 8220FAIR8221. I8217m obligated to pay to put food on someone else8217s table out of my taxes yet at the end of the day I8217m the one thats hungry without food. What8217s wrong with this picture August 8th, 2010 at 11:11 pm Fred in NH said:Olsteen, you are a genius Move to a motel here in NH, we have no state income tax. August 10th, 2010 at 6:29 pm CHRIS, YOU ARE NOT ONLY AN ARROGANT ASSHOLE, BUT A BLIND FOOL TO BOOT. 5 YEARS AGO i WAS MAKING 100 TO 125k PER YEAR WITH A 5k SQ. FT. HOME W A POOL AND 3 CAR GARAGE. i LIVED IN A NEIGHBORHOOD IN A 400k HOME AND MY NEIGHBORS WERE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES AND BUSINESS OWNERS. DON HENLEY OF THE EAGLES LIVED 1 MILE AWAY IN A BEUTIFUL HOME ON ABOUT 10 ACRES. i DROVE AN SUV AND MY WIFE DROVE A LEXUS8230..NOT BAD FOR A GUY WITHOUT A COLLEGE DEGREE IF I SAY SO MYSELF. WELL I THOUGHT I WAS PRETTY SPECIAL TOO, UNTIL I HAD A SMALL STROKE THAT HIT MY BRAIN IN A STRATEGIC SPOT THAT TOOK AWAY MY SHORT TERM MEMORY. I NOW LIVE ON APPRX. 2000.00 MONTH, MY WIFE LEFT AND HAS MY CHILDREN. IN SHORT AHOLE, INSTEAD OF BEING AN ARROGANT JERK, WHY DON8217T YOU CONSIDER WHERE YOU8217D BE IF JUST ONE LITTLE BLOOD CLOT WOULD BLOCK AN ARTERY OR A VEIN WOULD POP, GOD FORBID AN ARTERY WOULD RUPTURE. YOU SEE JERK, THAT YOU DONT OWN OR CONTROL ONE VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF YOUR LIFE AND THAT IS YOUR ULTIMATE OUTCOME. rIGHT NOW YOU MAY BE A REAL WINNER IN EVERYONES EYES, BUT BELIEVE ME THAT EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE AND HAVE CAN BE WIPED OUT IN NANOSECONDS. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY AND HOW YOU REACT TO THOSE LESS FORTUNATE OR LESS CAPABLE THAN YOURSELF823082308230THEY MAY BE THE VERY ONES THAT WILL SPOONFEED YOU AND CHANGE YOUR DIAPERS SOMEWHERE IN YOU FUTURE. YOUR FLAMING ARROGANCE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND THE FACT THAT YOU WOULD MAKE A PUBLIC STATEMENT THAT CONFIRMS WHAT AN ASSHOLE AND JERK THAT YOU ARE SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT YOUR QUALITY AS A HUMAN BEING. DO THE REST OF US POOR, INFERIOR PEASANTS A FAVOR8230..PLEASE DON8217T BRING ANY OFFSPRING INTO THIS WORLD82308230WE HAVE ENOUGH ASSHOLES WALKING THIS EARTH. M. T. KANSAS CITY August 30th, 2010 at 2:19 pm For all of those who are complaining about the article being 8220incorrect8221 about average home prices, keep in mind that those are NATIONAL averages, not averages for each individual state. There were numerous posts from people in Texas about this. I don8217t know if y8217all have schools, but learn to pay attention to detail Yes the average house in CA is going to cost WAY more than the average house in TX. That is why people came up with a 8220national8221 average. Funny thing about averages: they may not be close to what the actual number is for the given situation. Another issue I have discovered is that many people do not know the first thing about money management. I thought it was common sense, but apparently not. I have learned that if you are planning on buying a service or product, do your research. Find the best value for the best price. Consumers post about everything. There are many books and web sites available as sources. Don8217t forget to add your own intuition to your decision September 15th, 2010 at 3:51 pm adela naji said:who ever agrees with the article needs to go back to school. The average person is making 11.00 or less per hr-thanks to this country.11 times 2 per household is 44,000 yr-both working(max).Thanks to this country we boast no.1 in unhappyness,1out of 2 americans are unhappy. so you can throw your money in the garbagedont you agree September 16th, 2010 at 11:56 am Reading the posts, I can see some of what the problems are. lack of education. The simple grammatical errors 8211 like using 8220Lone8221 instead of 8220Loan8221 or 8220There8221 instead of 8220Their8221 or leaving words out completely. I have a speech issue which may contribute to my being more careful about my wording and spelling, but seriously, you can8217t expect to be take seriously when you can8217t spell or write properly. I am in a situation similar to 8220If you only knew8221 but I don8217t blame the poor woman with kids. I know there are people who take advantage of the system and are just lazy scum, but some people really try, but still need assistance. I place the most blame on Corporate Greed. I look at it this way 8211 a company makes a product or provides a service. The person who 8216runs things8217 and makes decisions should not be entitled to 250 times or more the amount of the average employee who actually makes things work. Corporate Greed has funneled all the money up to the top and the middle has nothing left to fund their profits with. Roughly, the top 10 of the population controls 90 of the money (but only pays 60 of the taxes, does that seem fair to you). Solution. Decrease CEO and Executive Pay to increase employee pay and you maintain profitability while ensuring your consumer base will have the ability to continue to fuel your profits. (Flat tax on all income 8211 earned and unearned 8211 would help from the tax and government aspect as well) October 27th, 2010 at 8:27 am Hi All I8217m young and trying to understand these dynamics please assist. Bail outs : For the GM bail out. i read it was paid back with TARP money which was borrowed as well For the B of A bail out. they also paid it back with more borrowed money and didn8217t actually spend the where they were supposed to now they are being charged with Fraud. But this is from February so im not sure what happened. washingtonpostwp-dyncontentarticle20100204AR2010020402146.html Taxes As far as taxes go: Income. its my understanding that the Federal reserve isn8217t ran by the gov8217t but a group of private bankers and investors, and we borrow money from the fed on interest and our income tax goes to pay that interest back so by natural cycle we always owe more interest so our income tax goes to international and domestic bankers. TF Regulation: Devils Advocate approach : ANTI REGULATION : People are mad that the Gov8217t tries to regulate corporations amp Business. but when corporations go unregulated by nature they take advantage of their workers and in some cases send work over seas to expand their margins. Or in the case of Wal-Mart they pay workers here very little. skimp their full time to avoid benefits. What about hazardous work conditions. if it costs money to regulate your own company why would you do it when it lowers your bottom line. Board members want profit but to what expense.. PRO Regulation: People want the government to be involved in business regulation. But when the government is notorious for inside dealing and illegal transactions with big business how can we trust them to do the right thing. Big business guy wants to reduce emission control so he can increase profit so he pays EPA guy and crew to pass bills legislation. Social Regulation: i do have an opinion on this: People have continued to vote against gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana and abortion rights. Those same people generally vote against government regulation and taxing. How can people say less government yet regulate what people want to do with their own bodies. For gay marriage I am married with a kid on the way. though i don8217t think it should be a traditional marriage why not a union of sorts. if they want to be linked for life wouldn8217t we want that instead of encouraging people to feel ostracized from their community. If they have been partners for ling periods of time why shouldn8217t they be allowed in emergency rooms and fall under couple tax brackets. Government : Late night ear marks. no bid contracts. seems like the same people in the Govt go back and forth from Govt to big business. Clinton. Bush. Cheney. So how do we determine who8217s in govt for their own gain or the gain of the people. Voting and Anger: Our own country against itself: only 12 of the population even votes supposedly. Of that 12 there is a almost even divide. So if 100 are in a area and only 50 vote. and 20 people vote one way and 30 people vote the other. how can the winner say they represent the majority of anything i know more people should vote but doesn8217t that tell the people voting that even if there candidate wins they still may not even represent the majority. So where does so much arrogance come from when talking between party lines. My grandfather was a WWII vet before passing. my wife8217s grandfather also Served in WWII the pacific. They both say things like there is a difference between what you need and want. The older generation loves their children for the most part. and follows ideals of family and responsibility. The baby boomers took that progress and turned it into 8220IM AMERICAN SO I DESERVE THE FOLLOWING8221. consuming the best goods. saying what i want when i want. and assuming the US is the best country hands down. But those principles were not a part of the 8221 greatest generation 8221. and yet we say we want 8221 our America back 8221 To me 8220Our America is community. small business. and our government fearing its people not the other way around8221. Its people working together for a common goal which is not the current case. The above graph even if off by some points here and there show me that its not about hard work and responsibility its about class separation. If they can keep us mad at each other as a community then we lose whatever power previous generations gained. Only a little time ago there were still kings queens and peasants. Humans in some areas still live under those rules. We should respect and appreciate how far we have come and take responsibility for moving farther down the path of progress. lastly why would some one spend millions of their own money to be elected to office. In my mind a good business person would only do that if they had some gain in the road ahead. Some of those were questions some obviously were opinion. if you have facts and insight into the areas that i was actually able to articulate a question please do so. November 4th, 2010 at 3:42 pm I live in West Virginia and I am 22 years old. I make 28k a year working at a home imprvement store. I just purchased a house that was a foreclosure for 41k, that sold back in 2007 for 137k. The house that I just purchased being 3 bedroom 2 bath 2 story a basement sitting on 1.5 acres. completely remodeled back in 2007 with all new windows siding roof drywall and flooring. I am living a happy life out in the country. My house payment is only 300 a month and about 150 a month for utilities. Only a year ago I was living in a city paying 800 a month for rent, 300 for a gas bill, and 100 a month for electric just to live in a dump. I was working 70 hours a week to pay my bills and I was hating life. Moving to a cheeper place to live was the best thing that I have eaver done. There are houses for sale for 20k here. I mean really who can not afford 150 a month to own your own house. There are places hiring everywhere most of them are lower paying jobs but the cost of living is also much lower. You are in controll of your life. If you are not happy change it. There are allways cheeper places to live. You will allways make new friends and you can allways visit your family. In my opinion people in California pay way too much for there houses. I see a house for sale for say 700K in california on tv. I see houses around here for 200k that are bigger and I think are nicer. It is crazy the inflation in some areas. I can see if the house was on the ocean or something but there not. Why is everyone complaining about money when there not doing anything about it. The economy is changing you need to change with it if you cant afford it. It is going to get worse before it gets better. So everyone out there having a hard time, Take control of your life work hard and change it. It wont be easy. And for all the haters out there you can go shove it. I know I have random sentences threw in there (lol its my thought process)and its not perfect. I dont care Im happy just telling people my story and how I feel. BTW Chris I also have a 608243 plasma that is payed for ) November 7th, 2010 at 11:06 pm Funny, the spelling nazi above made a spelling mistake of his own 8220you cant expect to be take seriously8221 November 8th, 2010 at 8:40 am Madhu Krishnan said:well, i live in india and lead a reasonably comfortable life earning 3k() after tax. my wife earns 2k after tax. We live in a decent neighbourhood in a 3 bedroom house with a cook and a servant. i am up for an immigration interview to move permanaently to the US and i was hoping for some practical advise. 1) Will we have a similar lifestyle 8211 i know the perception in the west that india is a poor country with call centers. i would define it as a vibrant growing economy 2) Is the job situation very bad, will we be able to land jobs that at least support a decent lifestyle. I am a hospitality professional currently managing a call centre here and my wife is a HR specialist with an american company in Bangalore. your frank thouths, ideas and advise will be welcome. November 11th, 2010 at 2:44 am I got on this website trying to figure out what the average income of a 22 year old was in this economy. I have a double major in Electronic Media broadcasting and Communications with an area of concentration in Entreprenuership. I speak Spanish and Chinese fluently and I am an Emergency Medical Technician. I have an education, I have applied for many jobs, and I make 15,000yr, gross pay. The only job I can find is one as an EMT at a transport company and even there I only got a part-time position. I have tons of work experience in many different areas and so far I make more money facepainting at Birthday parties than working a real job. I am one of those 8220losers8221 that has an education but still has to help those 8220poor peasants8221 for close to minimum wage. I just wanted to say that, yes, life is tough and I live at home8230again8230and I can8217t afford to do anything because my job hours are inconsistent. Although, the other day I was driving home from work and I saw a woman who crashed her car into an excursion carrying a man and his 7 year-old daughter. The man and his daughter were fine, but the woman was not. She was driving a brand new Escalade. all white, tricked out. She was probably in her mid 40s and she had 4 children. She was drinking and was the only one in the car. Her leg was so shattered that it was almost like touching jello. Rather than talking about herself, all she could think about was how angry her husband would be that she wrecked the car. Then she told me that last time she messed up she had her face knocked in and was put in intensive care for a month. I guess the point I am trying to get across is that I see people on the worst day of their life all the time, and there are times when money doesn8217t help you. MIKE had it right, I have seen instances where peoples lives are changed in seconds. Some people even get angry at us for saving their lives because they know that life isn8217t going their way. It is hard for me to make sense in this comment because there are so many things running through my head at the moment but i jsut want people to realize that life is worth living and there are ways to make it work without money. I guess I just needed to read this blog to remind me. Life can be good with or without it and I have been on both sides. May family is wealthy, but for the past 6 years I have been on my own until now. I am lucky enough to come back because I had a child and my family wants her to have a good quality of life. Just be nice to the people around you because you never know when you may need their help. Also, remember that it is easier for someone to pull you down to their level than up to it, so surround yourself with good people. November 14th, 2010 at 12:14 pm For all of you who keep saying you would like to see it broken down into government wages compared to non-government wages8230..I would love to see all of the unreported wages included. All of the under-the-table or cash money earned. To get a truly honest figure of wages, I believe we would have to have all of that included, and honestly, we also have to have certain benefits included. Such as housing allowances, food allowances, etc. given to certain workers, also, the value of food stamps, etc. and the value of bonuses and other benefits. THEN we should figure dollars on the same work week. Why should one person be looked down on because they make more money than another, when they are actually working their off. There are 35 hour work weeks, and there are people who work over 45 hours every week. I don8217t like to see people who are working hard attacked. It is the ones who work easy and make a lot of money that I would have a problem with. Also, I always say, the problem is not that some people are making too much8230it is that a lot of people are not making enough. Anyone who is working hard and putting in their 40 hours or more should not have to suffer from poverty. Perhaps when they first start working, but they need to have something to look up to. For hope for the future. November 15th, 2010 at 7:27 pm To make myself clearer (after I read my comments after posting I thought I could be misunderstood), when I talk about unreported income, I am talking about those who perhaps are self-employed. This could be a home business, or someone who has a business but does not report all income. Also, the tax breaks they get. I hear of people who own a business who take the WHOLE family to Disney World for a 4 day vacation, and write it off as a business deduction. There are a lot of people who are not honest about their true income. Many people have learned to use the tax system to make their incomes appear lower than they actually would be, also. That is part of the reason why we cannot just take for granted that certain people make better earnings than others. When I was young and going to have a baby, I worked with a few others who were in the same situation as me, and we both worked the same job, and our husbands both worked the same jobs. So we both made the same income. They MUST have lied about their income, since they somehow qualified for WIC and I did not. Hmmm. Under reporting their income. It happens all of the time. November 15th, 2010 at 7:34 pm I have a hard time with a lot of these comments. A lot are not realistic. For the most part 8211 most can8217t even spell which is really ridiculous. So what does the average American people make - take home pay. Is their home paid for, car etc. How many are completely debt free November 17th, 2010 at 10:20 am If government is of the people, by the people, and for the people, and: 8220gvernment isn8217t the solution, government is the problem8221, it is apparent who the G. O.P. thinks is the problem. They are saying the people are the problem. I respectfully disagree. It took government to make education available to kids of working people, The fourty hour work week, and eight hour day, safe workplaces, and to stop child labor. The G. O.P. wants to extend tax cuts for people who make over 250000 dollars a year. They want to do away with minimum, wage, and child labor laws. Seems to me they are four square for no one but the top two or three percent of americans. It aint big government that scares me. It8217s big buisness and the G. O.P. November 18th, 2010 at 8:23 am XD If I could afford to live in Cali, I probably would live there already. November 26th, 2010 at 4:01 pm The median household income is 46K but that is not the median income of homeowners, as the bottom household income category (poverty, working poor) don8217t buy homes but live in much cheaper rentals. I would say the average household salary of homeowners is probably substantially higher, around 65K per year, leaving more like 4400 per month after takes, minus 1400 for mortgage that8217s 3000 per month. Still not a lot, but enough to pay bills and save a little. November 30th, 2010 at 7:36 pm From the article: 8220What we need is a focus on jobs and our economy, not bailing out banks. That defeats the entire purpose.8221 Tired of hearing Tarp was a hand-out. The treasury no more gave money to Goldman Sachs than you give money to your local savings amp loan. We bought them, okay. We now own a large share of equity in the banks and if the banks survive - which they should with the large capital infusion that was Tarp, we8217ll sell our equity share with a handsome return to the tax payer. Yes, the final outcome remains uncertain but the alternative would have been a sure-fire collapse of the banks, their creditors holding the bag (you, me and china), and a scarcity of capital that would have pushed interest rates through the roof, collapsed our employers, driven up unemployment and turned our homes and 401ks to ash. TARP has been unpopular, but Bush (starting it) and Obama (executing it) have made the right calls. We are in a bad economic state my friends - raising taxes, cutting federal spending and obstructing the fed will only delay a recovery. The response needs to be large, but temporary. Get out of the way and give it time. December 4th, 2010 at 3:25 pm I have wife and 5 kids. My wife does not work outside the home. I make between 120k 8211 135k per year living in Southeastern Wisconsin. We don8217t by any means lead an extravagant lifestyle. We have worked hard to get where we are at and don8217t expect some folks to understand when I say 100k is not huge amount f money. My goal is to be making 200k before I am 50 years of age. December 4th, 2010 at 10:12 pm Everyone talks a bunch of 8220hit8221 but still votes for republicain8230 Thats what you get. December 6th, 2010 at 1:08 pm Simeon Mahov said:Mr. Richard Bankers, I am certain that you suffer by some form of mental sickness, which unluckily hasn8217t stopped you from becoming literate. I think you rather hold bankers as Gods instead of Jesus, for those who created the religion of Christianity must have not conceived of social shortcomings such as you, if you are Christian. I cannot understand why profession serves as a definition of a person8217s worth to you. Anyhow, I think that managers have the sanity not to promote persons such as you, if that8217s what you were trying to do8230 :)) People, I think the govt is doing what they can and hold its actions to be reasonable. Under pressure of an economical crisis, decisions must be spontaneous and that does not necessarily mean effective right-away. The middle and low class of the nation need to understand that a recession is not something you simply watch on the news. No govt in the world has the capacity to regulate an economy through microeconomic gauges. This is why they are trying to regulate economy on a macro-level through relationships with the most significant businesses and other measures. In a global recession, it is unrealistic, if not silly, to expect an average American to be able to buy a house as if they were buying a car8230 Let8217s keep out of populist moves, because they are dangerous in the long run and are lacking in competence. Don8217t get the wrong impression, I myself am in a household with income of less than 50k. December 13th, 2010 at 4:04 pm Good analysis, but I wish I had the numbers of the households in the top 5 and what portion of the taxes they pay for the rest of the nation. Also, it8217s time for this country to stop believing in fantasies like the 8220myth8221 of the 8220American Dream8221 stop buying homes with a mortgage. You pay twice as much as the purchase price of the home due to interest rates. It8217s patently pathetic that Americans think it8217s some 8220adult rite of passage8221 to buy a home so that they can entrap themselves for bank profits Rent save your money buy a home with cash. Stop willingly stepping up onto the treadmill of debt servitude. Renting allows you to be flexible in your career choices it saves you the cost of upkeep and the loss of wealth, which you could be saving, in order to create your own financial security. December 18th, 2010 at 8:26 am Chris worked in the banking industry in 2009 when he made the post. I think he got laid off by now living on unemployment and is about to lose his home, his keg and Plasma tv. December 19th, 2010 at 11:45 pm dennis smith said:They don8217t want to here this comment Most people in the USA are socialists. Not their fault really. Most people started out being free thinking individuals and died on the block either from competition or bad luck. Most took jobs from established system runned tax paying failures who took bribes from political elite individuals gauanteeing success at the expense of the next generations. This being their payback to corrupt system failures that have control over your life by bending over to their oppressors. If people in general were really interested in getting off the dole they would not go see another movie subscribe to cable channels, or go to another professional sports game. Most money generated from these super hero8217s go to the power elite through taxes to invest in non producing assetts not fit for Muslim terrorists. The whole institutional way of investing is made up of derivative hedges backed by government regulations which creates more money which creates more inflation which devalues your dollars. Prices go up and the free thinking produceing competiter is bought out by the non producing paper pushing system non competitive corporation owned and run by your elected leaders on a bribe. Your Central Planning bank backed by your congressional members except for one or 2 elected by your representatives are the owners of your own destruction. Instead of prosperity you have systematic collapse happening all around you in the form of overbuilding to meet real demand and over printing to satisfy wastefull spending and resource depletion. All of this deranged chaos leads to wars created by crooks in control of your World. Where you control the money supply you control the populace and the police state who is corrupted on free gifts to give order to the masses who were programmed to be slaves through the corrupt system. Wall street has nothing to do with this. Wall street is a place that entreprenuers come to to gain capital to invest in worthy projects and create jobs. Only Central bankers destroy economies for the benefit of socialist masters and communist believers in Utopias that do not exist except for their own beneficial masters. Wall street as a free private business will in its self police itself or another private group of investors will take its place. Only regulators in communist syphathizeing organizations will destroy your freedoms. January 2nd, 2011 at 9:02 am dennis smith said:Don8217t know how old you are Jaeke but when I first started working you were not expected to earn more that 200K in your lifetime. Unless you worked extraordinary hours at a different job. Which brings me to defending my last comment. No one should have to pay taxes. We should however pay a national sales tax on consumption. There in being there would be an encentive for savings and investment. Whenever the economy gets hot it is a good thing until you tax the producers. Well producers do consume and when you have no encentive to conserve your resources you won8217t. The amount of resource waste in the whole world is destroying your systems. The terrorists that you proclaim to be so against you are definitly likeing that. Most of these people who are against conservation are against free markets and are for things like Genocide. A free market individual does not want to kill his next potential client. Government regulators are not responsible people. Law enforcers of natural law should be. You do know the concept of natural law don8217t you printing money brings on false demand and over populated societies. Before medical developments came to being people did not live as long. Present demographical emplications are bringing on a return to conservation and if not carefull the so called terrorists best dreams will come true. January 2nd, 2011 at 10:03 am My wife and I will earn 200k this year. Corporate greed is alive and well..I see it everyday. I have no idea how a family is expected to live the American dream on 50k a year. Anyone remember a time when most households survived on one income Don8217t let people tell you it8217s your fault, that you live beyond your means. That is simply rich people who want you to feel guilty for wanting a house, car, retirement and a annual vacation. If you work 40 hours a week you should NOT be living paycheck to paycheck. Most of the people struggling these days are not lazy. January 3rd, 2011 at 9:12 pm I agree with Jim. In general, people who are struggling out there aren8217t lazy. It8217s simply what our society has come to. This was EYE OPENING. I was looking this up, as I feel my husband and I are lacking in something we8217re doing financially. It appears there are SO many people out there with SO much money. Come to find out, we end up around the top 5 of the population. I8217m baffled. We drive modest cars (a Prius, for heavens sake) and own a home that8217s at least 50 less than what most mortgage calculators say we could afford. I still feel as though we don8217t save enough, invest enough, don8217t go out to eat a lot, don8217t get to travel as much as we8217d like, etc. How is it that there appears to be so many people living in 1 million dollar homes and both driving luxury cars I guess there really are a lot of people living outside of their means. As for the idiot Chris, who came to this board to boast about his salary, something must be missing out of your life. I am not saying this out of jealousy we actually have a household income higher than yours. That being said, I realize that could end tomorrow. Grow up and don8217t compensate by trying to make people feel bad in order to stroke your ego and feel better about yourself. I am so glad I read this article. I will go to bed more thankful than I usually am. Our country really needs help, and while we live in a free country with opportunity, it isn8217t always that easy for some. Some people work harder than the top 1 and can barely pay their bills. Such a shame. January 6th, 2011 at 9:06 pm Michael Lubensky said:I liked the article and loved the following comments. A to the author for raising up the discussion. Usually I have no trust for the numbers that are taken from 1 source only but many specific comments are awesome. Ladies and Gents, you don8217t realy know how happy you are with your 50k salary and 22 houses in 1M city suburbs with garage for 90-380k and the ratio of 2-9 year income (depending on a state) for the home where you can live. You can sell it for much more after 15-30 years. 5 years ago I have been living in Ukraine where the medium salary is USD 150 per month. Most of a nation can8217t make 2k per year A house or 2kk flat is a dream for them so they live with parents or pay rent. You could buy one in 1M city for 150k and 80k for a parking place. Down payment is 50, interest rate is 17-30 per year. The situation in India and many other growing countries is pretty similar, I believe. As a successful sales executive and an entrepreneur I have been making more than average, moved to Eastern Europe (Prague) 4 years ago and now I am at 30k again, making much more than locals. BTW, the same 22 house in suburbs would cost around 300k. I do plan to go for the US. Sales exec at the same level as me is getting 100k but I am aiming at higher mgmt position and willing to open the business there in a year. Try to see more opportunities instead of arguing. If all the commentors to that post can sell their houses, together you may buy a small county like Moldova for sure and become the government ))) I wrote this for comparison how poor are the 50k Americans and how poor the real poor are. You have the choise, many people don8217t. So cheer up life is fantastic January 8th, 2011 at 1:55 pm Debt is a huge problem facing most Americans the problem is it is very easy to get it and very difficult to get rid of it. I myself am a single 25 year old software engineer 8230 I8217ve been working since I graduated at 21. My main source of debt is student loans and car loan which are unavoidable unless I was a marathon runner and enjoyed flipping burgers for minimum wage to pay for food and shelter. I currently earn 55,000 before taxes which is slightly below average for my field and experience level. In reality after taxes, benefits, 401k contribution, my actual earnings are about 40,000 per year. I made it through college by taking out a massive amount of loans which I will be paying back at a rate of 1000 a month for another 6 years at the least. My 534 sq ft apartment rent in Arizona is 600 a month. My car payment, insurance, gas, maintenance comes to about 720 a month so I can get back and forth to work on time. My other bills include electricity, internet, food, phone, etc and total about 750 a month. So all told that leaves me with about 3,000 a YEAR for myself while the software I create generates millions upon millions in sales revenues and contracts for the company I work for. I8217m a missing something This really doesn8217t seem to add up I basically have no life, live in a box, and the only entertainment I can afford in the few hours a day when I can do what I want are video games and watching movies. I don8217t know if I can do this for another half decade or more without going insane 8230 my entire youth and vitality of my twenties wasted making money for other people and trying to dig myself out of debt. Girlfriends hah forget it I can8217t afford to date ever since getting the new car and the only thing women seem to want is money anyway I8217ve had enough of that for one lifetime even though I could count the number of women I8217ve been with on my fingers. So I thought well I can8217t really cut costs easily so I need to earn more income. I started my own LLC company for software consulting and IT, tried developing online games through the same with no luck. I8217m also into music which is my real passion since I was 8 years old but despite playing in many bands I8217ve never made any money from drums or music. In short none of these 8220self employment8221 attempts generated any income some even cost me additional money which I clearly don8217t have. So what gives I8217m not greedy. I just want a small house someday with a music room and hopefully an honest girl who is as much a friend as anything else. I8217m going to be almost 40 years old by the time I get out of debt if I don8217t buy a house or get sick or hurt. Am I really suppose to wait half my life to have anything for myself January 15th, 2011 at 9:41 pm Adam I feel for you hella I dont know when I will ever have money again. I live in vegas and only make a crappy 22k a year8230 I8217m 26 and I dont see myself getting out of debt anytime soon. Last year I was unemployed for awhile and I maxed out my credit cards and went over drawn in my bank account and I didnt have the money at the time to pay the bank back. I also got a few sig loans because at the time I had great credit. Nowadays I use either cash or prepaid debit cards. To this day I havent paid any off them off because I had to settle with a low paying job and all my money goes to rent, car, phone etc. I will be lucky if I own my own home before im 40 ffs. January 30th, 2011 at 2:03 pm Tyra Tanks said:If you make any attempt at reading investment and financial books, you will begin to realize that investing is now the name of the game (dont bother with the I need a raise approach to wealth). Blue Chip Companies are probably one of your best bets to achieving prosperity (think about it what has your job done for you lately). And, while unemployment is still high, large companies are thriving How can that be The lower and middle classes dont have any money. The huge profits that large companies make are a combination of products sold in huge volumes cheap labor cheap materials and lack of regard for their dominion of easily replaced workers who often do the work of more than one. Complain about anything and youre history 8211 8211 your single-skilled talent is easily replaced by a younger and financially hungrier novice. Few are the days of quality high-tech workers 8211 8211 we live in an environment where products, perfected or not, get into the market and onto store shelves to earn money for the company any short-comings will be endlessly battled in court at the tax payers expense (again). The profits are given to shareholders and to select executives for keeping payrolls to a minimum (lean and mean). What youll get instead is a COPIER printed Certificate of Appreciation or other such useless acknowledgement. Try offering one of those certificates to your creditors: Most Valued Creditor Award. I think they would prefer cash payment as well. Ironically, if companies (across the board) were not taxed and instead took those savings and increased their employees pay, then lower and middle class workers would, in turn, follow their natural behavior: consume and spend a happy worker is a free spending worker. Companies would have greater profits investors would be happier workers would be loyal and productive because they would have better lives (real or not because they would have more discretionary cash). All of these results would occur in a natural and balanced manner 8211 8211 unlike today. It would be and has been (in days past) a win win formula. The rising cost of healthcare is another part of the battle insurance companies are not the main problem. What little cost-of-living increase you get, healthcare washes it away. Aside from our unwillingness or insufficient income to not make the best nutritional choices, hospitals pharmaceutical companies medical equipment makers and trial lawyers cause healthcare costs to rise. Look at the face of the issue as opposed to its eye catching pimple. We should look in the mirror as well. For example, somehow, companies like Apple, RIM, Google and others produce what could be defined as non-essential elite products (at least for most people) and yet their profits are soaring Lower and middle class people are buying these products (when a basic cell phone would do in most instances). We need to share the blame for our financial hole. When you become a subscriber of a product, youre giving away your potential investment money. Achieve a level of wealth first then spend it without guilt. How mucg debt did you have already as you bought thay new large-screen screen Lower and middle class citizens live in a lesser world just as small businesses do. Both struggle while larger companies are approved to merge to form mega-companies with few or too-small-to-matter competitors. Mega-companies have become so powerful (too big to let fail) that they dictate what others should charge them for supplies and control pricing instead of letting the market (natural supply and demand) guide it. Like government expansion and spending, they are a cancer that is spreading and deforming our economy. While it might seem nice to be able to buy products at seemingly discounted prices from huge companies, the price you pay is greater in the long-run. Fewer job opportunities, lower wages, less competition, and low quality imported products equate to higher taxes to subsidize the fall-out. And so, your taxes rise to offset the problem and so another company copies the success of the other and soon you have no discretionary cash because your wages are no longer keeping up with inflation you pay higher taxes and so the vicious cycle gets worse. More companies merge less jobs are available wages get lower due to inflation and taxes rise. So, when you buy and dont think first then you lose. Once our fragile economy stabilizes, oil prices WILL rise (if gasoline could, it would go to 5gallon but ultimately lower and middle class society impede the rise in price down the road, inflation will cause 5gal. gasoline to be reality). Reduce buying and it will lower. Its no longer about competition between like companies but rather competition huge mega-companies that proabably do not have any common or similar products. Good or bad, thats the current paradigm. The act of buying gasoline is a need, but the volume of your purchase is a choice in many cases Taxes 8211 8211 the hard earned income of the masses 8211 8211 are given to the government. Our government once represented the mind-set of the people but now has a mind-set of its own. Our government is driven by re-election. Promises of more money for education and less pork barrel politics are the norm. Our taxes (your money) should go towards maintaining our security, our infrastructure and maintaining other needed public institutions and services that benefit the majority of the US and not special interests. Religious organizations and other non-profit entities can take care of the rest. We are good people and wish for no one to suffer. The government should not be deciding which special interest programs our hard earned money should go towards. Our government needs to return to the basics. As long as our government keeps creating money games, our ability to prosper will continue to fail. Run and hide when politicians offer to spend more on education. That shell game has been going-on for the last 40-years (have you seen any good results yet of this rhetoric). Giving more to education means giving their public education bureaucrats raises. Let local communities decide you know better how to spend within your own community. To further the case, the cost of your child going to a college is compounded by government backed loans. Colleges have learned to raise tuition to continue the gravy train. Remember, its nearly impossible to default on a student loan and the schools just keep raising the price and the government keeps paying. Sorry, I meant to say that YOU keep paying. Its nice to have guaranteed payments for services rendered. Remember what I said earlier, taxes are your money and the government simply acts as a DISTRIBUTION and ASSESSMENT center when it comes to taxes (must be fun playing with someone elses money). If we start using the word TAXES, but only for money being sent to the government and use the phrase INDIVIDUAL amp FAMILY INCOME, when referring to money spent by the government, then politicians would be less likely to approve House Bills that spend our money so freely because then you really could ask What did you spend my Family Income on and how will it benefit me or my family The individual components of our U. S. economy, that once worked as a machine to benefit all of us, has now been divided into mini-machines that serve a compartmentalized select few. Its a game of spending money and receving contributions to get re-elected. And so there you have it. Re-think the problem and attack the root cause. When people have money they spend it. But when discretionary money is hard to come buy, and only a few have enough to buy above their basic needs, then companies will continue to (incorrectly) pay more attention to their shareholders and executives and run lean and mean. They will make every effort to extract what little (discretionary) income that you have left via repetitive advertisements. While this negative cycle is in play, your best chance to get ahead is to become a shareholder. Think of it as giving yourself a raise and moving closer to upper-class life If our large companies dont stop mimicking each other, the U. S. consumer pool will dry-up. 46,326, in this environment, is simply the result of a cancerous growth of misguided corporations. Earned money (not borrowed money) needs to circulate to move the lower and middle classes higher. But for some reason, large companies and the government just dont see it. If you think things are bad now, get ready for a worse economical dip within the next 10 years. We will survive it, but life will not be the same afterwards 8211 8211 the middle class will be the lower class and previous lower class will convert into into a miniature 3rd world society. February 8th, 2011 at 11:46 pm If you are living in Louisville, Kentucky will will need to deduct State Income Tax, City Tax, and a School Tax from that 46K. The budget just got smaller. February 13th, 2011 at 9:40 am Something you all need to think about is why the job losses are happening, the problem is not the exchange rate with China 8211 India or wherever else the politicians try to blame. It is simply that people in some countries are prepared to work harder for less pay than others in say the USA or Europe. It doesn8217t matter how you try to cut it, if you are working 40 hours for 100 units pay and somebody in say China is prepared to work 80 hours for 50 units pay you can mess around with exchanges rates for ever but you wont beat them. It is obvious that the global financial system is going to bring the low earning countries up and the high earning countries down until there is some kind of level playing field. That will be nice if you are a low earner but a real bummer if you are starting high and ending up low. February 16th, 2011 at 10:09 am Capitalism hits home when I read these comments and realize that social stratification, economic disadvantages, and historical factors have no recognized resonance in the ability to be rich in this forum. I would like to ask what is this richness so desired This 8216preservation of wealth8217 What truly is your wealth What is your worth besides an economic net I am not implying that this worth is nothing, this is the absolute opposite of what I am asking. I only ask for a personal evaluation of ones self. The use of human reason to be self reflective. No doubt I understand money controls our social systems. I find this regrettable that paper has replaced people. I hope before the end, we prove otherwise again and we all (including myself) may be released from this play of imagination we have turned into reality. February 16th, 2011 at 10:07 pm Happy American said:How about corporations sending work to China, Mexico India etc. We all know why they do it. So instead of 200M in profits its 500M or more. Im 27 years old and have ranged in salary from 30k 7 years ago to 60k presently. While of course my way of life between these periods are different, I have always more than 8220gotten by8221. Meanwhile I watch fellow co-workers and friends more than struggle yet having the same job and salaries. It8217s about decision making. The freedom for the buisness owner to risk everything, work his ass off and benefit from those decisions or the average American to stick with the comfort and security of steady income while working for the man at middle class incomes is part of what this country was founded on. Why on earth should a person be criticized for hard work and the success that follows. You work hard to and should be rewarded too right If you8217re not change it. Take action for the things you can change. If you don8217t like it, change it. And when that hard work pays off and success finds you like it did Chris, be thankful and humble and not an arrogant prick. February 17th, 2011 at 9:19 pm I see a lot of info on here about home prices and average salaries in Texas, California and middle united states. But here in Northern Virginia and the DC Area, these figures are way way off. To start you cant even find a 1 bedroom condo (outside of the ghetto) for as little as 200,000, maybe more like 350K. Rent for a two bedroom (800 sq ft) apartment is between 2200 amp 3000 a month in Georgetown (DC, and thats not luxury, that is basic without even a washer or dryer The average home price (for non-section 8 or low income housing) is around 500,000 For real And thats for a small town house (1100 sq ft) to get a house out here (3-4 bedroom 2-3 bathrooms) may cost you over a million. Seriously Whens the last time you saw a 30 year old row house (small thin townhouse) in Kentucky going for 2mil 8230 well you can easily pay that here Thats like several times what you are saying Texas prices are. And guess what, the salary is far from being several times that much So if you want that little 3 bedroom house with a 20 foot yard and a white picket fence here, you will be paying close to 4000 a month for it minimum, not including taxes or utilities. It is unbelievable that house and rent prices are as high as they are. Your mortgage should be around 13 your take home pay. That would mean I need to be making around 270,000 a year to live in dc with the same comfortable living as in Texas. That is quite difficult to do The way I see it, to live here you are either in debt or doing something illegal8230 more than likely youre both. Heres a breakdown of the basic expenses here in dc, For a family of 4 with 2 kids ages 1 and 3 2500 a month rent (cant afford the 4k a month to buy) 700 a month health insurance (basic health for family of 4, premium health is around 1200 a month) 300 a month car insurance (two cars no accidents) 850 a month food (without eating out or dinning, it is 150, thats 30 a meal, just to take the family to a local restaurant downtown I cant afford that yes I know there is McDonalds, but do you get shot stabbed, rapped or robbed at the McDonalds by your house8230 well you do here in dc) (if you wanted to get drinks at a decent bar downtown get ready to pay 15 a drink, yep thats for a rail whiskey and coke) 400 a month gas for cars (you drive 5 miles to work it takes over an hour by the way) 700-1000 a month utilities (gas, water, electric, renters insurance, sewage, trash, parking, community fees) I have seen some condo fees that were 1400 a month on top of your rent and that provides you nothi ng but a community pool and your 2 feet of grass mowed 150-200 (TV, internet, and phone) 2400 a month day care. I kid you not its 300 a week everywhere here, times 2 for two kids. 750 Kids college savings 20,000 a year for 4 years times 2 for 2 kids broken down monthly over 18 years thats a total of 160,000 18 12 1000 Retirement a month (you should be putting in around 1500) 200 a month for life insurance on both adults 200 a month personal property tax (2400 a year) 10 pre tax tithes (whatever that comes out to for you) Those are the basics and that comes to about 11600 a month after taxes, Now if you had 2 car payments you can add 500 8211 1000 a month for that If you ate out once a week and had drinks once a week, you can add 1000 to that also If you go on a date with your spouse once a month to a spa or hotel thats like 300-1000 Emergency fund (unexpected damages or replacements) you could add 200-500 a month Like to play golf in dc8230 add anywhere from 500-10,000 a month for a membership Dont bother having enough money to pay of credit cards or school debt that will never happen You want dippers and formula and clothes for your kids Well at this point yo u are probably the guy robbing people at McDonalds Unless youre making a quarter million a year minimum you are probably in serious debt. Yet the average pay here is only 120,000, which is about 80,000 after federal state and local taxes Or just under 7000 a month, so how do they do it here, 1.Dont have health care 2.Dont have insurance, 3.Dont go to college and dont send your kids to school, or just go in debt for school for life, 4.Open 15 credit cards, to pay for all the stuff you couldnt afford to buy in the first place 5.Lower your tithes and offerings from 10 to 10 cents flat. 6.Dont give anyone a penny for anything. Who cares if they are homeless or sick. 7.Sue the crap at of everyone you can, for any reason 8.Dont pay your taxes 9.You get in an accident speed off as quickly as you can, you cant afford to have your insurance raised. 10.When you get sick, go to the emergency room, and dont pay a dime ever 11.Finally, Dont have any retirement, plan to just kill yourself after your last day of work8230. Work is all you ever do anyway8230 Starting to see a pattern8230 go to DC and you will see all this taking place (well not so much of number 11). This area is horrible. No wonder everyone is on anti-depressant and anxiety medication here This whole area has lost its mind8230. What ever happened to the husband only having to work from 9-5 to provide for his family of 6 and his wife not having to work outside of the house at all8230 Now I work from 530AM to 5PM and my wife works from 7AM to 6PM Monday through Friday oh and Saturdays to (with 2 additional hours of drive time each)8230 together we put in well over 100 hours a week to pay for less then what use to be paid for with 408230. and dont even dream about having more than two kids8230 you might not even be able to afford 18230 plus you only get to see them for 15 minutes anyways8230. something is seriously wrong with this picture sorry about the vent8230 I am so stressed out if you couldn8217t tell March 9th, 2011 at 12:33 pm Hello everyone, I8217m a 20 years old french student in France, the country with one of the best social security system 8230 NOT (but that8217s not the issue) I also am a US citizen (I have a US passeport). I8217ve been in the US many times to visit my family in Iowa and in Indiana and I will go visit them this summer. I would like to say a few things about the current situation in France and what I read and hear about the one in the US. Please bare the following numbers in mind. In France, 50 of the popuation have an income less than 1500 (2150) a month, that makes 18000 (25800) a year, and half of the population earn between 1120 and 2600 (1600 and 3700) a month, with 30 of the population living with less than 1120 (1600) a month and 20 of the population living with more than 2600 (3700) a month. That means that 80 of the population in France earn less than 31080 (44400) a year According to a Franch organization called IFRAP, in 2006, 17 of all the salaried employees in France earn the minimum wage salary, whereas, in the US, only 1,5 of all the salaried employees earn the minimum wage salary. In 2006, 13 of the population over 25 years old earn the minimum wage salary in France against 1,7 in the US. All the countries suffer from the crisis (some more than other) and are facing huge national debts (except Norway, I think). The strain on middle class has grown a lot in the past decade (in France, gas prices have increased by 50 in ten years, reaching an historical price of 8.11 a gallon for regular gas) and restriction measures must be taken by both people and governments. Times are tough for most people but it is not the end of the world (compared to what a lot of Japaneese are going through right now). It is just a phase and some powerful people along with governments must do their best so that a financial crisis like the one human kind just experienced never occures again (or at least must limit its impact). So my point is that the middle class all over the world is going trough a rough patch. But if most of the middle class people just took a step back, they would see that their personal situation is not so bad. You are a 22 years old student with a degree who has to return to mom and dad8217s house and work part time What8217s the big deal. You8217ve got your whole life ahead of you. What8217s that You have a loan to pay back Everyone has loans to pay back. You have to struggle a bit at first but one day it will pay, especially in the US. And when times are difficult, be reasonnable. Enjoy simple things and don8217t purchase things you can8217t afford. My family is part of the middle classes in France. My father doesn8217t earn as much as he you used to but we are doing fine (we also have loans to pay back) because we are reasonnable people and put things into perspective. I think that people should act the same in these difficult times. April 14th, 2011 at 5:15 am Hi I am a Japanese living in Tokyo. If you earn 46K in Tokyo and try to make living8230that8217s going to be very hard. I imagine 46,326 ave salary a year in US could relativily better than having same amount of money in Japan. Cost of living is high here, for example, 1 litre of gasoline(not gallon) cost 160JPY (2 ) And Japan8217s average salary is approximately 37K. Many young guys do not buy vehicle, people goes outlets, burgain sale etc. And top of that, quake hit us hard. May 6th, 2011 at 2:04 am Who are all you people I live in central MN and ALL the people I know have a hard time breaking 25K a year8230 200-300K homes Are you kidding. The divorce rate is 5050, government is steadily chewing up any future money we could have ever counted on and only 47 of Americans hold full-time positions anymore, mostly those who have retained them. There is absolutely no incentive for businesses to bring back full-timers, they are making too much money and foreign labor is CHEAP. So get ready to quarter your all-ready high numbers for your new revised part-time edition buddy. May 11th, 2011 at 2:22 am I worked for 20 years making very little, started several small businesses that did not pan out. I now own a business that my first year made me 8000 for the whole year. I almost gave up. 13 years later, I make close to a million dollars a year and employ 30 people who I pay well. I was once poor and now I8217m not. The 1 per centers used to be the poor also, in most cases. I never resented those who made a lot, but was thankful I lived in a country where I had the chance to succeed. Where were you people who are so angry when I worked 80 hours a week and risked everything to try. I already pay more than my fair share, and give freely besides. For those who are beat down don8217t give up. For those who are unwilling to try and want someone else to pay the freight, you will always be living on someone else8217s scraps. By the way money doesn8217t buy happiness, Jesus does. October 29th, 2011 at 12:07 pm poverty is going on every where:( October 31st, 2011 at 9:11 am The author forgot to mention the utilities, car maintenance and gas prices, tuition fees for a child and so on and so forth. Doing Russian-English written translations from my Moscow home, I make 60,000 net (we never quote 8220gross8221 figures here) per year. The problem is that my household counts five people, including me, my wife (housewife), my 85-year-old Mom, my elder 23-year-old daughter (a school teacher) and my younger 4-year-old daughter. My Mom makes 20,000 on top of my 60K (pension 6,000 plus apartment rent 14,000 8211 she cannot live alone there and so she rents it out and lives with us). Me elder daughter brings another 20,000 into the family treasury. So the total is 100,000 or 20,000 per family member per year. We spend half and save half. But bear in mind: we are landlords (two private apartments plus a small holiday home in the country) and so we do not have to pay a mortga ge. November 7th, 2011 at 9:48 am I agree with the first sentence in that last post: Who ARE you people Our household income is less than 25000, and that8217s after TEN YEARS on the job We bought a 70,000 dollar house because the mortgage payments were about what we were paying in rent, so we felt we could AFFORD this house. Of course, property taxes have been steadily increased over the years, so we are financially probably no better off now than we were when we were only getting 18000 a year. I8217m reading these posts on here and I had the same reaction as Scott up there. I think we8217re pretty average, and we have one vehicle (an old beat up car, but it runs), we don8217t have cable or 8220smart phones8221, or i-pads, etc. We do have internet, but it8217s thorough the phone line (slow, but you see, it is what we can AFFORD). We do know a lot of people who are making roughly the same amount of money who are thousands of dollars in debt, because they think they are 8220entitled8221 to things like cable tv, cell phones, i-pads, new cars (one for each person in the family, rather than share one vehicle), steak for dinner, etc, etc 8211 you get the picture. Things we used to call 8220luxuries8221. Things our family still considers luxuries. The problem in this country is not free trade, and it isn8217t really even that some people have lots of money and some don8217t. The problem is that people insist on living beyond their means if Joe Shmoe next door has three cars, a pc in every room of the house, TiVo, and a designer dog, then, by golly, I should have that too Nobody is happy with what they have anymore, that8217s the problem. Jealousy, covetousness, and the general idea that we are entitled to things, whether we earn them or not, is destroying this country. There will always be rich people. There will always be poor people. There will always be those middle-class workers who keep the country going. Have some pride, people. A little self-respect, and a whole lot of self-control, couldn8217t hurt. November 9th, 2011 at 7:13 am my assumption that 2 people live in he average household might make average per person income 23,000 a year or enough to buy 3 average priced houses in 1967 before fractional reserve banking and affordable banking and housing schemes8230. November 10th, 2011 at 11:49 am If you start making money and working hard the government will try to take everything. I estimate my total taxes at 65 last year once you add up everything. What you don8217t realize is the majority of your cell phone bill and home purchase is tax and thats not even counting property tax or the tax you see on your statement. So I figured why complain about all this tax. I just need to join the people reaping the benefits. So I just bought my first home that sold at 1.1M 3 years ago for half price. Purchased with a 2 interest rate thanks to the government buying mortgage backed securities and keeping rates down. Now after my tax deductions and savings going to principal on my new home I will be paying less for a ridiculous glass house on a hill than what it cost me for my old 800Sq ft 1bedroom apt. Thats why we buy expensive homes, this is the American Dream everbody Don8217t fight it, join the club with benefits. November 11th, 2011 at 8:36 pm Well first off they would have never obtained a loan for a 200,000 house. An average DTI Debt to Income is about 28-35. The odds that they could save 10,000 for a down payment is highly unlikey. December 17th, 2011 at 1:55 am I feel for everyone but you guys are so fortunate to be born in USA. As an Indian I can assure you that. Appreciate what you have people. December 28th, 2011 at 1:44 pm Tim is partially correct (two posts up). The guidelines for conforming 30-year fixed loans might be that low, however, it8217s very easy to get an 8220exception8221 on your loan, even with your DTI close to 50. You just need to have some compensating factors, such as a good credit score or a large amount of assets. January 24th, 2012 at 3:58 pm How can you earn less and spend more said:This is a world wide problem. And the banks and multi-nationals scratch their heads and wonder why people are not spending. How can you make less and spend more February 11th, 2012 at 7:07 pm I respectully disagree with Tim Im a student at Texas AampM and just finished a budget for a family with an income of just under 50,000. saving 10,000, or even 20,000 for a down payment on a house isnt as difficult as it might seem, but the trick is building your assets starting in college. Even paying my way mostly through college, i intend to have closer to 30,000 in liquid assets to put towards a down payment by the time i finish grad school, which would put me at 25 years old. On another topic, i feel that the article points out one of the major issues with the american economy, namely the government8217s involvement in the money cycle. right now, the american government8217s economic policy is stuck somewhere between complete socialism and capitalism, with the edge definitely still leaning towards capitalism. the problem is that when the government imploys socialistic principles into a capitalist market, the logic behind both systems is incariably flawed. Greed is good in capitalism, it promotes enterprise and entrepeneurial practices, which in turn make jobs. the checks on this system are boycotts and competition, which have both worked for more than a hundred years with relatively few hiccups, but When the government starts trying to give handouts or redistribute the wealth, all they really accomplish is killing the small businesses that drive the economy. The money that the government takes is then lost in the bureaucracy, never to be seen by the people for which its intended. The sad fact of the matter is that when government gets involved in what should be a laissez-faire economy, the only significant outcome is curruption. Next time you vote, think about who you would rather have your money, small businesses that create jobs, or corrupt politicians who like to line their pockets. just my 0.02. P. S. sorry about the rant, it was a long day February 15th, 2012 at 12:33 am btw i like what jon said like 9 comments up, you can make all the money in the world, but without Jesus its all for naught. February 15th, 2012 at 12:41 am money is about a valuable as a shiny yellow chunk of rock8230oh wait we have assigned that a value too February 18th, 2012 at 11:08 am Grateful in Minneapolis said:Pretty interesting to read through the blog when originally posted to now. There are some interesting and articulate posts here, some, I sincerely hope are being sarcastic (such as Richard Banker, and Chris from CA). Given who we8217ve elected previously, I fear these folks are for real. I myself, and eternally grateful after reading these statistics to say that I am by all accounts a high earner, and I do mean earner, I did work hard to get where I am, and yet I do not feel entitled or more worthy than the next person. It would do my income bracket good to see more tax cuts, but I care much more about the greater good of all. I will never understand the wealth not understanding that if we all don8217t have money or means to spend and save, they will not retain their wealth. Makes no logical sense to come to any other conclusion. I remain grateful for where I am at today and in hopes that everyone thrives. Alas, I am also a realist and know as long as there are people, there will be greed. To the greedy I say, just think of how well your bank would be doing if more people had the means to get a loan, save money, invest. Silly to not think of it yourselves. February 19th, 2012 at 8:19 pm I agree very interesting to read back. So many people feel they have entitlement to things. Like owning a car, house, or sending their kids to college. Not everyone deserves opportunities you need to earn them. Thank God for what you have. I find it so funny that people can8217t pay their bills but they sure can afford a trip to Disneyland. Stop living the chapagne life on your beer salary. February 24th, 2012 at 9:50 pm Harsh times we live in. I was born poor in Ohio8217s rust belt, my father rarely worked, mom struggled to keep a roof over my brother8217s and my head. I started working when I was 12 and never stopped. Went to the cheapest state university on partial scholarship and ended up with a relatively low amount of student loan. Took me 6 years to graduate as I self-financed and lost a year due to illness. I8217m now 34, married with a child and one on the way. Through the recession, my husband and I both went through job loss and watched our house we8217ve lived in for 8 years depreciate 30k despite our improvements. Our neighborhood has gone down the tubes as home-owners up and left. We now drive 1 hour plus to work and find we are not financially able to move from our depreciated area. We make a combined income of 92k, putting us in the top 20 of earners. I8217m grateful we can afford our home and good child care, but it sure doesn8217t feel like that money stretches far beyond that at the gas pump or grocery store. I8217d like to be able to save money so my children have a better start, but the truth of the matter is, even with what we make we still have trouble saving. I know what it8217s like to be poor, and I work hard to keep my family out of poverty. That said, I think it8217s callous to belittle people who are in a tough spot because they overspent and have found themselves in financial crisis. You can8217t always foresee a financial roadblock, health issue, job loss, etc. I8217ve never felt as though I should have something I didn8217t work for and earn, but I don8217t think any American should be without a place to live or food to eat. These are harsh times that we live in to not think people deserve basic needs. I can only hope maybe 2013 will be an improvement as I think many are at a breaking point. May 4th, 2012 at 12:30 pm Ok you guys jobs arbet hard to find when u have a good resum jut work hard J make bout 160k a year and I have web laid off 6 times in 4 years but every time I went to a new business I would earn more money until now im a (vice vice C. E.O of Sedgwick) so just work hard as I love my government but the global economy is bad so try to get a good resum early in life and things will be ok. May 22nd, 2012 at 11:18 pm Reply to Josh out of Texas AampM Your budget model for the family earning 50,000 only works if they don8217t have any issues along the way, like a sudden medical condition, job loss, or even the birth of a new child. Anything can derail you from your goal. It can be even more catastrophic after the purchase of a home. And don8217t forget my favorite, Divorce We all wish to live comfortably, and a family with average pay should not have to perform an epic struggle to make that happen. Our economy generates enough revenue for everyone. But an unregulated free market is unsustainable. Middle income earners (who drive this economy) can only supply so much into the revenue stream due to stagnant wages(corrected for inflation of course). The very nature of the banks and corporations at the top of the stream, is to increase the revenue stream, while capping or reducing cost. Which would include wages. So, while product cost to the consumer goes up, wages stagnate or go down. Without sufficient regulation, purchase power of the consumer will continually shrink. The introduction of credit into the cycle initially increases the revenue stream and buying power, but overtime shrinks buying power more significantly. The section of the revenue chain that holds the most credit will suffer the greatest reduction in buying power. In the current situation that would be the middle class. As that buying power shrinks you can afford less and less. It was said earlier in this blog, you can8217t make less and spend more. All markets will have to shrink to suit the revenue base(the middle class). If not, the revenue base itself will shrink. In short, healthy profits include wage increases, price controls and strict (regulated) issuance of credit. Annual GDP is around 15 trillion. The GOV collects about 2.7 trillion in taxes. Yea, they spend 400 billion over that. But that still leaves 11.9 Trillion. Where is it I don8217t have it, I assure you. The wealth of the middle class was not stripped out by taxes or Gov spending. It was stripped out by ever increasing profits and ever decreasing wages. Without regulation, a free market will do this every time, without fail. Every time free market emerged it produced a bubble that eventually burst. It is part of its nature. It is UNSUSTAINABLE. May 23rd, 2012 at 12:11 am While I am below the average being single I am able to live on 40,000 a year, but it doesn8217t leave much room for saving. Really interesting figures and facts. June 13th, 2012 at 2:35 pm Combined income for our family of six is 1778 a month that is 21336 yearly. we live in a two bedroom apt, we set aside from that amount 725 for food and the rest for bills, needs and non needs savings. if we can make it on that living comfortably and NOT in debt plus have a cushion having all of our needs including medical, clothing, etc covered many others can to. We don8217t drive but use public transportation saving us insurance payments and the biggie gas prices. We don8217t get assistance. we have a high coverage medical plan, we shop local buying from farmers and farmers markets or at grocery8217s that are not like walmart, are that have better quality often for cheaper. yes they do price match at crap mart but i save far more shopping that way and get better for my money. its all about budgeting and living within your means with some set aside for leisure and fun. we have cable, phone and internet. I currently know people who make far less, but still make it. i am just great full to live in a country where things are possible if you make the effort. There are people in this world who have nothing, no clothing on their back, no home, and eat dirt and bugs even garbage to survive and no one to turn to, that is true poverty. and people are in disbelief that people can make it with far less then 46,326 its possible, everything is possible if you set your mind to it. There are apartments for rent for 30 a month right here in the USA ( just did a search for affordable housing, many states have homes based on your income) company8217s will work with you, tell them your budget, they will offer you things based on the money you can pay, they would rather have a customer who can pay then not pay. thrift stores, salvage stores, so many ways to find cheaper and often better. i think we Americans have our priority8217s skewed, a car is not a need, a movie is not a need, that extra piece of cake is not a need, its an indulgenceluxury. If a family of six can do it with no assistance with far less and still get the non needs inluxury8217s on 1778 a month so can many others and on far less. i have seen true poverty but its certainly not happening in America at this time but we will be heading that way soon if something does not change for the better . June 25th, 2012 at 5:17 pm I8217m drake and probably most of you kno me and I8217m just gonn cut it short as u know I started of off as nothing but know I make millions a year so appreciate what you have and work harder8230 July 11th, 2012 at 1:08 am Americans, please come to terms with yourself. If you think that income is all about your excessive consumption think again. The rest of the world is suffering too. consider Africa, South America and many others. Too bad, if you can8217t afford all the designer clothes, all the drinks, cars, trucks and luxury items that television advertising says you simply must have. Rather, I am concerned about our elderly seniors surviving on a fixed income while prices soar, children with one parent, or parents with no jobs. They are the ones that need help. But how do we help them I am old now, live well and have a paid for home and a nice stack of physical gold etc but it took hard work. I never had a 8220new8221 car, closest I got was 4 years old. My favorite brand is 8220clearance8221 and I have no idea what Starbucks coffee tastes like. More importantly, my wife has stayed with me more than 30 years (another factor in wealth preservation). Our children are grown and they are as successful or lacking based on their personal choices. Certainly, what did we expect when jobs left the country. Its amazing that its taking this long for the country to collapse. Still, we have a war machine that has killed 500,000 children in Iraq. In time, we can expect a revolution here and what kind of carnage will this produce The second civil war Yes, it would be nice to get out of here but where do we go July 13th, 2012 at 6:38 am Yeah8230 defiantly becoming a pro wrestler8230the really bad ppl make 2 million per year8230SIICCCKKKK August 4th, 2012 at 1:35 am I mortgage a 40,000 small fixer-upper in Milwaukee. You can find homes in every state that cost far below market value. You just have to be willing to settle. If you make 46,000 or less (like I do) you shouldn8217t think you can have the best of everything. If you live within your means you will have extra money and a happier life. August 16th, 2012 at 1:01 pm Most of you are way off the mark. The rich run the country. They further their own agendas with their money. 200,000 dollars a year would be nice, but it isn8217t shit compared to the top. The gap has widened too far and it continues to do so because the money pulls the strings. If corporations are pulling in billions of dollars in profit, paying ceo8217s millions and adding bonuses of millions on top of it and paying their employees like crap something is wrong. It8217s plain as day. They are charging too much, paying to little, and evading far too much tax. Don8217t get me wrong, I make a decent living and I8217m happy, but I want to see the future that we8217re capable of and it is being stifled by this bullshit. That is my frustration. People in power (people who have money) win by making little people like 8220Chris8221 who makes 100,000 per year, think that they are almost one of them. They sell you on their con by spreading the belief of bullshit. For example, republicans and democrats, liberals and conservatives. If you consider yourself one of these, you8217re still being duped. Few things in life are black and white. This system basically says you have to believe these types of things within this framework or you are an 8220independent8221. What the fuck is an 8220independent8221 It8217s a single word for anybody who doesn8217t fall in line under their control scheme. It8217s not a conspiracy theory, wake up jack asses. That is precisely what they want people to think, misinformation is a powerful tool. The crap has been going on since the first greedy asshole discovered it could be done. It8217s the real greatest con in history. Make the population believe this is how it8217s supposed to be. Those that figure it out will be powerless against the 8220educated8221 believers that truly believe the lie. It8217s like religion, but even more insidious. As a child, I thought that adult8217s really had it together. I knew there were very smart people and not so smart people, but in general I thought they were taking care of things. Now, here I am at 30 years and I still feel like a child. A child surrounded by adult-infants. I am disappointed in that discovery. I thought being an adult meant something, but it8217s just more 3rd grade tomfoolery. Anybody hear about the ketchup vegetable thing How does a moronic idea like that get as far as it did If somebody mentioned that to me, I would say, 8220Tomatoes are a fruit you fucking MORON, and that aside it8217s still a stupid idea.8221 Or how about election time. It8217s a rigged popularity contest. The real power isn8217t in that seat anyway, it8217s spread out (and mostly controlled by, you guessed it, money) throughout many positions. Obviously enough of them are corrupt to guarantee control. The system is flawed, it has been taken advantage of. Communism, socialism, republicanism and democratism are all methods of governing people. They aren8217t ALL the methods, just the top four that get the most attention these days. There8217s a stigma that comes with communism and socialism, while the good ol republic and democracy (and capitalism) are conveyed to be superior. The only thing that ever made any of these forms of government bad is corruption, bad people in office taking advantage to the fullest extent of their capability. It8217s not the form of government that is wrong, it8217s the people. The republic is just as vulnerable to this as communism and socialism, as we (those who actually back up and take in the big picture) have learned. The U. S. isn8217t actually a pure republic either (and not a democracy), there are many socialist programs integrated into our government. This isn8217t necessarily a bad thing, but bad people can fuck up any form of government. All of these issues are interwoven, and this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Many of these issues are simply symptoms of a greater problem. Remember this, it8217s important: Symptoms are the effects of a problem or multiple problems. Soothing the symptom does not solve the problem. In order to solve the problem, the problem itself must be addressed. What is the problem Corruption. Remove the corrupt individuals, simplify the law books, redistribute wealth and put law in place to ensure nobody can take advantage of our nation in that way ever again. I8217m not a republican, a democrat, a conservative, a liberal, a conservative, a socialist, communist, I8217m an American. For the sake of our nation, for the future we will inevitably leave to the generations that follow, let8217s show these assholes what it means to be an American for they have lost touch with what our land of the free is all about. (It8217s not about being a greedy douche bag and enslaving the nation) September 19th, 2012 at 6:32 pm European citizen said:Hello to everyone. I apologize in advance for grammar but I used google translation. I watched a lot of blog posts and some I recognize and frankly my American dream was shattered everything. (Not really) Yes admit that I grew up with a small lot of movies created by you for the first time in my country but I was already history and other issues and made me believe in certain things and others have created styles and more after American lifestyle . But now if you draw a line out from the multitude of things you can do live, eat, laugh, see we are in the same bucket. For example, a ceteatean of my country with a salary of 1416 a month afford an apartment with a bathroom, a kitchen and two rooms without furniture utilities only. Bank gives him credit for 30 years with an advance of 2000. Of salary after paying rates remain at home, your car, utilities, phone bills, 300 enough or not 8230 For us to have a house and pay her 30 years tomorrow because tomorrow is a luxury you can have bad luck losing your job or worse to have other health problems. With all the hard years of school in the country where the economy is supported only on taxes. not an economist is a small custom furniture entrepreneur working alone but the crisis has affected us all (those without the 60-inch plasma keg beer, etc.). I8217m glad no lack of tomorrow and that work is appreciated and it8217s bad it8217s paid elsewhere. Regards from another country PS: I still have the American dream in my head and I hope to reach the U. S. can recovers all. October 2nd, 2012 at 12:58 pm Un employeed said:Even without a high school diploma after being kidnapped and adondended in a 3rd world contry, I chose to drop out of usa high school and take only electives. WHO THE F CARES about history, film, music georaphy to make money. I make over 140K per year making sure zero lazy americans get into my company. And yes I was in the USMC. I fought for your stupid rights now I press my thumb on u. Come on aboma care, i need a reason to lay off more and hire H1B visa holders. November 16th, 2012 at 1:15 pm Since the united states is texas8230.I guess that stuff about texas is all true. Until you guys wake up. Realize, texas and utah are bubbles of ancient unchangef developement marks. And that unless your in a really devalued horrible to live pkace, the average home goes for over 300k. If it is below 200k your neighborhood is rated poor in every state. Or elsr some hodunk hustler would have already developed the land like the rest of the usa. Texas is the new strange. They pretend the word, ESPECIALLY WITH THE SUBJECT OF CURRENCY AND VALUES, 8220CONTEMPORARY8221 isnt a word. Well that8217s why normal is hard to grasp in texas too. Because its a contemporaty w ord November 23rd, 2012 at 5:46 pm I live in a low income housing, my girlfriend who cannot physically work, is on disability and her wages are cut because social security believes we are holding out as husband and wife. Sooo not true, i pay 592 dollars a month in rent, i make 9.14 an hour and work 30-40 hours a week. After taxes that8217s about 1400 a month if that. I have internet, phone and a few other small things i pay for on top of that. With Food and other expenses, not to mention my daughter. I can barely scrape by month to month. I cant afford to go back to school, plus while living here there8217s only one member of the household allowed to be a full time student, and that is my daughter. Messed up i know, but i cant find a place anywhere around here that is as cheap. So to all you out there that have it 8220rough8221 think again. December 28th, 2012 at 3:54 am Need to put life into perspective Google-jimmy johns how much is enough January 25th, 2013 at 9:44 am I am tired of all the people who want a share of my income for saying hi to me. They act as if they deserve a cut. It is the middle-man companies I am talking about. Why should you get a bonus for filing a simple 100 page document that states an agreement between two parties You think you deserve a couple grand as your cut especially Chris who makes 145k per year which makes approximately 12k per month. All you do is swindle your way into peoples8217 pockets and convince them you deserve it. You are just as bad as the Politicians filled with lies. As for the people who make less than 36k per year can barely afford rent let alone anything else. In my area for one room the rent goes for 400 per month with all utilities included which you share the house with another. For instance to rent a full house by yourself starts out at 600 per month. The average living expenses in Southern California are around: 2k per month which includes: mortgagerent vehicle loan insurance electric water natural gaspropane fossil fuel for vehicle and internettelephone. Just this alone takes up 24k from the 36k per year. Not including Fed amp State Taxes which take out almost 800 per month a total of 9,600 annually. That leaves you 2,400 for food and other expenses per year which comes out to: 200 per month. Who can live off of 200 per month Bringing in 36k per year means you are getting paid: 18.75 per hour. In reality people here make at most 10 per hour. That is 19,200 per year People who make less than 20k per year: drive broken down cars rent broken down homes wear hand-me-down clothes and apply for food stamps just to get denied Then they are expected to have health insurance Then the car industry wonders why they can8217t get rid of the old vehicles still on the road today. The economy crashes because no one has the money to buy things and circulate cash It8217s the employers who think people can live off of 10 an hour who kill the economy. It is the middle man8217s cut is what kills the economy. For example (prices are approximate): take solar panel system costs: Manufacturer sells to the distributors who sell to the installation companies who then install the system for the consumer. By the time the consumer ever sees the equipment the labor fees cost over 2k where only 25 of that is actually labor. It goes back to the company profit margin of 60 (OwnersShareholdersInvestors) The other 15 goes to bills I had to break this down because I was looking into installing solar panel systems. I was able to get a 3,200 watt solar panel system to cost 10k still using the electric company grid as back up. Every business owner I talked to said I need to push my profit margin to at least 40 from the 10 I calculated They acclaimed a 60 profit margin would assure company success Think of it: the cost of the equipment runs about 8k for a 3,200 watt system. This system runs my house which my equipment runs at 75 loaded I still use the electric company to charge the batteries at night. I don8217t feed back into the grid either The reason why I decided not to go into business: I had too many 3rd party companies trying to get a share of the income forcing me to push the profit margin to at least 60 To include the State of California with their minimum franchise tax fee of 800 per year I haven8217t made any income yet and already owe 2,400 in back taxes Plus the manufacturers referred me to 3rd party companies to buy their products which increased the cost by at least 10 I had to pay the middle man until I could prove that I would be purchasing over 200 parts per month Think of it: if we could buy direct from the manufacturers the cost of equipment would be at most 6k if not less It is these people who kill the economy Business Owners and Shareholders Their defense is 8216we help the economy by providing jobs8217 Yes, they do but then they take the cost amp taxes out of their customers and still use the costs as deductions so they can pay fewer taxes So what do they act ually do Nothing They cheat the tax system and cheat their customers Though, they provide jobs About 90 of the job positions pay less than 15 an hour As I stated above 15 an hour barely cuts it Of course I attack the middle-man when I should attack the source of the regulations that force businesses to meet standards and charge them for outrageous fees to operate This will be left for another day February 4th, 2013 at 3:32 pm Nice article and contributions. My comments are for the young8230 as I approach retirement (and have not done too badly at all despite all the curves that life threw at me) Left US 30 odd years ago with a MS in Engineering on full scholarship I was not even a US citizen. US was a land of opportunities. The nation was extremely hard working, big dreams, go get it all attitude back in late 708217s. Somewhere things have changed. Folks wanted to take and take and speculate and gamble and not just work hard. Politics got dirty and drugs took over old world values of integrity, industry and family ties faded away. Things can be reversed. I remember a mayor of NY took a zero tolerance approach to crime and cleaned up the place. I found most Americans are giving and large hearted but nave too. They have allowed their crooked politicians to run the country at the expense of its honest citizens. The greedy business guys have looted what belonged to the citizens( because you let them). Churchill said once 8220every country gets the government it deserves82218230may be changing your ways will improve things. Take back the control through democratic means. Get public healthcare back. get tough on crime and lawlessness, give hope and opportunity back to honest people. It can all be done. Get educated8230 Start work young, go to night school if you have to8230 many business guys are happy to fund your education. live within your means8230 buy the cheapest roof you can and don8217t let others laugh at you8230 you will have the last laugh. Pay cash for things8230don8217t fail to dream big. Network with good people and you can overcome anything. Find out how you forefathers became prosperous8230 emulate them. There is no short cut to prosperity. You have some of the best universities in the world. learn and become leaders again. My heart reaches out to all the honest folks in the US. You have a very powerful justice system. get class actions going8230 I am sure you can find honest, lawyers who would champion your aspirations8230 defeat the clowns who have let you down8230 clean up your act at home and in communities and then the country. The way business funds politics is a sure recipe for disaster8230 try changing that first. It does not matter how much you make (it will grow with time). what matters is how you make it. Teach yourself financial wisdom through mentors8230 Just watch Warren Buffet who donated 30 B to Gates foundation8230 he still drives a beaten up old caddy. The truly wealthy don8217t spend on depreciating assets8230 Fortune favours the bold8230 Good luck. February 10th, 2013 at 5:22 am They compare the median income in Texas with the median home price in California8230 That doesn8217t work realistically8230 People with incomes that low don8217t buy houses that expensive. And that8217s expensive for Texas (I know cause I live here) 200,000 dollars will get you a HUGE home in Texas. 40,000 will get you a smaller home. 80,000 is probably closer to average here. Like this guy said earlier in the comments 8212-gt The median family did not purchase a 200,000 home in Texas. They started with a 80,000 home and traded up as they built equity and the home appreciated. If you are going to be realistic, be realistic. February 13th, 2013 at 1:39 pm And this guy 8220Will8221 must not live in Texas cause if he did he would know that housing here is much cheaper than housing elsewhere. He thinks that you live in a piece of shit neighborhood if you paid less than 300,000 dollars for your house8230 He should move to Texas He could save a lot of money There are whole neighborhoods in nice areas full of houses for less than 100,000 dollars. Since the united states is texas. I guess that stuff about texas is all true. Until you guys wake up. Realize, texas and utah are bubbles of ancient unchangef developement marks. And that unless your in a really devalued horrible to live pkace, the average home goes for over 300k. If it is below 200k your neighborhood is rated poor in every state. Or elsr some hodunk hustler would have already developed the land like the rest of the usa. Texas is the new strange. They pretend the word, ESPECIALLY WITH THE SUBJECT OF CURRENCY AND VALUES, CONTEMPORARY isnt a word. Well thats why normal is hard to grasp in texas too. Because its a contemporaty word))))))))))))))) February 13th, 2013 at 1:44 pm In fact if you8217re interested, go to har and search for homes with a maximum price of 100,000 dollars. You will find many spacious homes in nice neighborhoods. Make sure you do the advanced type search where you check only homes and not residential lotscountryacreage February 13th, 2013 at 1:55 pm February 13th, 2013 at 1:59 pm John Unwin said:Hi from Australia. Our taxes are crazy. I make 80000.00 pay 30000.00 in tax straightaway Then gst on everything 10 percent Water bill 1600 a year, electricity 2000. A year, Gas for heating 1800 a year, gas for car 6000 a year, car rego 600, insurance 800, Huh8230 If you buy a house in melbourne medium average 455,000.00. Food bill for a family of 3 minimum 350.00. Lately I8217m seeing a lot of people lose there jobs. I might bitch about my position. But starting to understand, we expect to much and credit is not the answer. My heart goes out to you guys in America. But it is getting really bad here too February 17th, 2013 at 1:50 am i know im gonna get hatemail and people belittling me but im going to give my opinion anyway. in the 50s you could work a factory job and have a wife,3 kids, nice house, car, and money to save. Nowadays the american dream is out of the question for alot of people and alot of it is based on the huge wage gaps between degreed people and non-degreed people and yet there are many factors keeping one from making it to college. i will give you my story and you can down me all you like, i know that i made some wrong choices but i want to make some decent points. so before i begin i want to show you a breakdown of payments people 8220just trying to get by8221 are paying. 18211500 for cheapest apt out there even though you are making only 9 or 10 an hr 2821160 gas per week 38211 150 electricity 48211150 groceries 5821160 for any miscellaneous stuff etc So a grand total of 920 a month. I dropped out of college at 18 because i wasnt sure what to be and i didnt have 7,000 to spend every semester if i didnt know what to major in. so i ended up at red lobster at 19 saying to myself 8221 i will save up 30,000 and just pay for college when i figure out what to be8221 I made 8 an hr running around 12 hrs a day and getting nowhere. left there and got a job lifting pallets and making crates for 10 an hr but the cost of everything especially housing was taking so much of it. i ended up working job after job working hard and doing my best and 12 years went by and i wasnt able to save because i wasnt ever making enough. getting a job here in america over 10 an hr is impossible and even making 12 an hr isnt liveable wage. So for all the hard work and effort if you make a piddly salary you will never get out from it. so i hear people talk about hard work and it kinda pisses me off because most of the hardest working people are the poor people. i dont hold a grudge at college educated people or think that they shouldnt be compensated but i think that the gap is too absurdly wide. i love my brother and im happy for him but he doesnt seem to understand what its like for me or the working poor. i will work swing shift at 9 an hr working 3 days working at12 hrs a day 2 days off etc and i will take home a check of 275 that week whereas my brother who is a programmer and coder spends 8 hrs(literally) working on a webpage graphics and shows me a check for 7,000 dollars. the most ive made over the past 12 years turned out to be 12 an hr and yet the companies i worked for made millions. the one company i come to think of made 254 million every year and were open for 40 years and yet the employers made you work as a temp for a year with a 8220chance8221 of employment. then when you got hired you made 10 an hr with bad health insurance. why where did 254 million dollars go why are all the employees just getting by but upper managment and the president of the company are taking 6 vacations a year and driving lexus to work We need to understand that we are all necessary and all connected. yes some people have more technical and complicated jobs but everyone is needed in providing a duty being done or a service so why not pay everyone a decent wage and stop squeezing people to death just because they arent a doctor or a lawyer or some bigshot. thats all i have to say. March 25th, 2013 at 5:51 pm by the way i made 13,000 as a temp last year and i live with my parents. Watch Zeitgeist:Moving Forward and you will see how this economic system is wrong and messed up from the get go. i really believe that in the 50s a man really could work hard and get somewhere with his life but when i hear baby boomers go on their entitlment diatribes for my generation it makes me laugh because it doesnt matter how much you work nowadays you dont get anywhere beyond that months rent payment. i hear about my generation 8220feeling entitled8221 and yet it was the baby boomers who were able to earn a living and work normal hours to achieve alot(house car savings by age 23-24 etc) and its my generation that cant afford a decent car or buys a real cheap house at age 34 or gets married at 30 all because the 8220entitlements8221 are impossible to get any time sooner. men nowadays are working twice as hard for less money and yet we are considered lazy BECAUSE WE EXPECT DECENT WAGES. its time this country wakes up. you can fuck a man for decade after decade and watch his generations become poorer and poorer but sooner or later a mans sons arent gonna take it anymore and revolts and force are going to be the order of the day. and when that day comes just know that you deserved what was coming. March 25th, 2013 at 6:07 pm In the early comments on this blog, it was noted that in the 19608217s a man could work 40 hours and support his nonworking wife and 2 kids. Now both husband and wife have to work to make ends meet. WHEN, and more importantly, WHY did that change Why does it take two people to earn what only required one before And if two are needed now, then would that not mean that we are even more financially poorer than the median numbers reflect March 29th, 2013 at 8:35 pm Most responsible people will not buy a 200k house when they8217re only making 45k. Also, the difference between the interest you listed and the actual interest we are seeing on the market makes a big difference. Why do we need a double-income household Because we have to buy everything that has a button on it. Toys are expensive and kids dispose of them. There8217s nothing at all wrong with that lifestyle 8211 if you can afford it. But as the charts indicate, very few people can afford that. I8217m a DINK (Double Income No Kid) and my wife and I make about 300k and we8217re paying off our student debts and live in a smaller house. I don8217t know many people who make as much as we do and spend as little as we do. We have a smaller home than average, lesser car payments than average, lesser credit card debt than average and we make quite a bit more than average. People live way outside of their means 8230 period. With as much as we8217re told not to 8211 I don8217t understand why so many people are. It is RIDICULOUS and with the spending that people do, it8217s absolutely no shock that our gov8217t spends the way they do. We have a broken entitlement mentality July 16th, 2013 at 4:27 pm These comments span several years. The situation has not changed much. Part of the tax and burden issue is not seen through food and insurance budgets, net pay from FED taxes, housing costs and debt payments. Part of the burden on americans is the daily bombardement of government agencies and popoular societal movements to strip dollars away through higher local taxes, lawful assessments, child support fees, electronic camera speeding tickets, school fees, frivolous law suits and overly cautious people who HAVE that do not help those who NEED because they are forced to be ovely generous in all other aspects of their September 1st, 2013 at 12:46 pm Michael George I8217m sorry your life hasn8217t gone as well as you would like, however I must make some observations in your statements. Did your programmer brother have more opportunity than you If not, why is he doing so well and you aren8217t Is he working for himself Since your approach at success isn8217t working out, maybe you should try a new approach I think they key to success IS the free market, lower taxes and less penalty on business8230 I never went to college, i couldn8217t afford it, and didn8217t want the debt, it8217s a colossal waste of time. That said, a doctor who made it through 8 or 12 years of college with hundreds of thousands of dollars debt certainly deserves a fat income All through my 208217s, I took whatever work i could get. computer repair, construction, mechanic, welder, wire puller. and like you, i wasn8217t getting anywhere. I worked hard and have scars and back pain to prove it. 3 years ago, when i was 29, I started a business. It now has 15 happy employees whom for the most part, make more than I do. I still drive a 22 year old truck wo ac that leaks in the rain and I8217m fine with that. This, is my pursuit of the American dream (or whats left of it). my income is The only thing I see potentially standing between me and the American dream, is 8220redistribution of wealth.8221 Why should I be considered 8220Greedy8221 for wanting to keep what I8217ve worked hard for If anything, others should be considered greedy for wanting to take what I8217ve earned as theirs. Everybody above has noted that people are working twice as hard as they did in the 508217s for the same income (adjusted for inflation) Why is that Maybe it8217s because half of america is out of work and the working half has to provide for them too. Stealing from peter to give to paul just makes everybody poor. April 17th, 2014 at 4:30 pm It doesn8217t matter what side you take. The only truth is once the majority of Americans realize they can no longer maintain the quality of life they had. We will face another civil war or some states will secede. We won8217t sit by and watch 70 of us live in utter poverty as some parts of the world. There will be war and resource and redistribution. Sadly I don8217t see a way out of this cycle. Similar to 8220heat death8221 goverened by laws of physics. Human civilization will end due to simple resource exhaustion. Good thing, there are welathy people who has realized this and decided to try mining asteroids or other planetary excursions. July 18th, 2014 at 9:21 am Keep this in mind as you read this8230the wealthiest 85 people in the country own more wealth wealth than the bottom 130 MILLION people. Take these 85 people out of the equation..and the REAL household number looks a little more like 36 thousand and some change.. We have been robbed, pure and simple February 5th, 2015 at 12:26 am As someone who lives on minimum wage, I think it8217s hilarious. Living on anything less than 40,000 a year is hilarious. Daily life is like an episode of aqua teen hunger force. September 29th, 2015 at 11:38 pm This is totally not the net income we8217re talking about. I am a mechanic in San Diego and only net 2000 maximum a month. January 18th, 2016 at 11:42 am The problems are alot deeper then most people can even imagine. First youve got to ask what your taught in school. Are you taught to work for someone else or to work for yourself and start a business. Are you taught financial responsibility or that you should get into debt trying to go to college to learn again how to get a better job working for someone else. Its ok because everyone goes to the same schools anyway and have the same chance as the next guy right. No, the rich, and poormiddle class go to completely different schools growing up and are taught completely different paths in life. The rich are taught how to run business8217 s, use debt to buld wealth, leverage other peoples money and man power, where to invest, when to invest. They are honed from a young age to be wealthy. They do not go to public schools like the everyday joe and dont put there kids in normal state colleges. No theyre kids go to the elite colleges, harvard, yale stanford all funded by theyre already wealthy and established parents. While the everyday joe is trying to work 2 jobs to pay for the college loan they unknowingly took out to pay for their tuition. The problem with america is that true education for life, the education that matters, financial education is being taught to a select few that already run things while the rest of humanity tries to compete with these mega monopolistic corporations. So no people are not lazy, its not the 508217s anymore, things have changed drastically and the people of today are left to do what we can with the broken pieces. Infact the real question to ask is who started the current school system that teaches the poor and middle class to work for the rich and not become rich themselves. When you start to figure out our schools werent set up by the government but by the richest american family to ever live, you know the same ones that monopolized the entire oil industry and had to be broken up by the court system because of it. You know the same ones that Hate competition and bribed people to let them drill for oil by saying they will set up schooling for their kids and educate them. Hmmm, so our great, great, grand parents handed our education over to a monopolistic corporation that hates competition to educate us on how to become employees instead of owners, Indians instead of cheifs, while they continued to teach their own kids how to be owners instead of emplpyees, how to be the cheifs instead of the indians. And now the average american is overworked and underpaid to the point of only being able to to go on to work the next day and nothing else. The best slave is one who does not know hes enslaved. But no, people believe what they are told on the surface and do not dig for anything anymore, they deny what they dont like and accept what fits their own jaded views. Do your own research and tell me im wrong, and during the process you may just start to wake up to reality. April 6th, 2016 at 9:17 pm Clinton Toney said:What kills me is that people truly believe that 38000 or 15 am hour etc is a living wage. It8217s not. There isn8217t a magical number out there that8217s going to make it easier to live granted it is more than 8 an hour. Here is a secret find something that you want to do that8217s not an entry level job. Work hard everyday, go to work everyday even when your sick, have a good attitude, have the want to be a professional to the point to where you are a pro at what you do. I will promise you that your money will come up. If not you will hear of a better paying job and move to that job. Really good dedicated hard working people are the hardest thing for employers to find. Be talented. Great things will happen in your life. Hard work is how millionaires are made. If it was easy everyone would be one and then it would be as important. September 13th, 2016 at 7:49 pm LEAVE A COMMENT