Bangoman

One of the guy I played 18 with last week told me this.

He was angry because his kids only call him when they need Daddy to pay their bills or late payment.
They seldom call or see him, except for a couple of "must get together" seasonal celebration like Thanks Giving, Birthday.... On top of that one of his son converted to eating Kosher ( they are not Jewish ), one is vegan, and his wife eats vegetable and seafood. My friend ? He eats everything and enjoys the food.

It seemed the old value for family is not being practiced. The family under one roof is there for convenience until they find a better hang out. Kids call their parents by the first names. We do know some "normal" family, but that's few and far in between.

You know, not many families cook dinner in Hong Kong for decades. I think this mainly because of the necessity having both parents working to pay the bills. Now this fashion had grown to most part of larger cities in Asia and in the last few decades , here in the States, at least in the lager metropolitan area on both coasts lines.

We insisted of home cooking whenever we could, this is the only way for kids to learn and keep a good diet. Something they would benefit for life. Besides, we save from eating out and eat better food. We do go out to eat as a family several times a month, a break from the routine is good.

    swinnea

    Is that because it's so tough to make it today, or because the middle class spends every dollar they make trying to keep up with the Jones'? I'm doing fine with "very" middle class wages, but we drive two paid off older cars and paid our house off at 50. I still have a flip phone because I get it free from work.

        garyt1957

        Your are correct in the assessment of being so competitive these days. when there are more fish in the fish tank, All fish in the tank will compete for oxygen, food and space. Middle class is going to be a past tense soon, or never the same as it used to be since this current administration dug out all the savings the middle class used to have for nest egg. By using the strategy of no interest savings account and discouraging idle funds sitting in the Certificate of Deposit , by taking away or remodeling federal funding qualification.
        Why ? To infuse the economy with the savings. I saw the 60 minutes program on CBS last night and for the first time realized how one person could influence the captain of the ship to steer toward the unknown. No wonder there is no interests in taking over and clean up the mess this administration caused. They kept using numbers compiled unscientifically to claim victory of reducing the unemployment rate ..... lets not be fooled by the numbers in the paper. I don;t see a better job environment around here, maybe in Washington DC they have it better.

        I guess we could call us a middle class family. However, we feel we are sliding into a paycheck to paycheck family with no savings now. One of my car just turned over 140K, and the other 160K. But all paid off. The third one at 55K and still have 3 more years to payoff. Yes, they don't have engines which rate over 300 hp ( seemed to be the required number these days for even the sedan/SUV/Truck to be packed with over 300 hp ) still running. With 2 kids in higher education, we are in the crunch mode.

        Haven't had a real vacation for years, but this year we might do a short trip with the oldest kid whom is going to graduate school this Autumn. Tax return might be used for this purpose, and new tires on one of the car can wait.

        I know I will never match my father's generation for work ethic and uphold the moral standard. Most of them would work harder, and try their best to be a decent man. I remember my father never took a charity when we were in need of help and Mom was crying one day because she ran out of food for dinner.
        He raised all 6 of us through college and I understand now why he would look at a pair of new shoes and walked away ( Mom had to get the kids to go back and purchase the shoes for him ). I'm having difficulty with just two kids.

        Salute to the generations ahead of me. At least I'm doing my best to bring up my kids to be able to contribute to the society. They have good work ethic and a good direction for life.

            I have worked everyday for the last month averaging over 64 hours a week. I haven't played golf in over a year and if it weren't for my company truck, I wouldn't have a working vehicle. My riding lawn mower needs work and I haven't had the time to repair it. I need to do more to right my situation. With my wife Stephanie leaving in 11/14 and my mother dying 2 months later to the day, it has been a struggle, but I am trying. Add to the fact the cost of living is increasing without wages adjusting, just adds to the "fun."

            Life is tough, but there are people who have it far more difficult than I.

              Release Your are correct in the assessment of being so competitive these days. when there are more fish in the fish tank, All fish in the tank will compete for oxygen, food and space.

              152.3 million people living in the United States in 1950.

              324.1 million people living in the United States in 2016.

              It's not competition, it's double the population and then some.

                  garyt1957 Fortunately I currently don't have the "thousand dollar" problem, but it's only because I don't "keep up with the Jones'". Salaries seem to be flat everywhere and things like property taxes take larger and larger bites out of income.

                    PIGDivot

                    You missed the population without status in the States.
                    What did they say ? 25-30 million ?

                        Release You missed the population without status in the States.
                        What did they say ? 25-30 million ?

                        In 1950, or 2016? LOL. I stopped counting honestly. Just take the population of Mexico and Central America and divide by two. That's whats in the USA now.

                            PIGDivot

                            Surprisingly ! we have many from Europe, not just Eastern Europe but places like Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany .... and also from Scandinavia countries. Of course can't forget those from SE Asia.

                            Ever since our last Governor Christine Gregoire (D) openly stated that our State will not actively pursue those with illegal status, we had been flooded with those hoping to find a better life here. Now with the first position to propose higher minimum wage.......... we've open arms to everyone whom wish to have a piece of the apple pie. Nothing wrong with this but many of these don't have a realistic view of the needing to work hard even with breaks from the State. Nothing is free !

                            Our infrastructure is over loaded with the booming of population, roadways/bridges need repair, hospital and schools are over maximum capacity so, up the property tax to support the building of new schools and hospitals... proposed State level income tax and other special assessment.... on and on. So, in view of the changes brought on by the population boom, I really don;t believe the $15/hr minimum wage ( not even fully implemented yet ) will go far. What it does is accelerating the inflation.

                              Raising the minimum wage just forces businesses to adapt their labor to meet the requirement, and if anything, reduces the amount of people they hire on. If actually read some businesses literally closing up because of this sort of legislation.

                              http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/04/30/and-here-is-as-we-said-the-effect-of-seattles-15-an-hour-minimum-wage-on-employment/#b2b1e631063b

                              Sadly, that sort of legislation works against someone like me who has scraped and worked hard for 22 years in this business, only to see my hourly wage be just above what your city proposed and passed into law. What sort of message does that send to someone like me? That the $3.35 I worked for at McDonald's in 1983 was a waste of my time and experience? That the $15 an hour I made after many years in this business means that all that experience is worth nothing?

                              Ironically, in another state that shall remain nameless, my 24 year old daughter just went back to work at Target, and due to her previous experience there, they started her back at $12 an hour. She just asked me for help in buying a car today, to which I replied, "I don't make much more than your $12 an hour, so who is helping who here?" Translation, you're on your own.

                              We've severely devalued experience and hard work in our country now, and when you hand someone $15 an hour to flip burgers or ask someone if they want fries with that meal, then you are telling me that my 22 years of experience isn't worth crap, and I'd be better off working one of those jobs at $15 an hour with less stress and not having to think through complex problems and procedures, that come with this job.

                              At some point the "entitlement generation" will run out of other people's money to float their little life project with. I told that to my daughter today as well. She's nearly 24 years old, and is seemingly running up a pile of debt while she figures out what and where she wants to go in life. I kind of told her that it's past midnight, and your glass slipper wasn't found by Prince Charming. Better get busy working and figure it out yourself. I'm done being your ATM card.

                                PIGDivot

                                You have to remember this, relativity is to be considered before comparing.

                                In our City, Capital hill demands $2300 rent for a 400 square foot one bedroom apartment/condo. Average 2 bedroom apartment anywhere close to the metropolitan area will be over $1200.
                                Anyone need to shell out more than $1000 for rent, better think of getting a better job than minimum wage soon. Some entrepreneur pay "livable wage" I don;t know how much is that but it worked for the owners of Mod Pizza, which had grown so fast, they're going international soon.

                                Others I talked to in the retail service industry told me when the minimum hourly wage went up the manager cut their hours back and stretch the cover by using less workers for the same work load .

                                  Google productivity vs. wages. After WW II productivity and wages rose together. Then around 1973 while productivity kept rising, wages flat lined. It's been that way since (increasing productivity and declining wages). Why? Corporate greed IMO.

                                  Couple that with Supply Side economics that's still with us since the early 1980's (regressive tax policy favoring the wealthy). Globalization where an American worker cannot compete with third world wages. The decline in labor unions where they're only ~ 9 % of the workforce. Transferring to a lower wage service based economy from a higher paying manufacturing based economy.

                                  With all those economic forces against the working class and favoring the donor class it's no wonder why the middle class is in decline and has been for quite some time.

                                  A billionaire hedge fund guy wrote a book awhile ago saying the pitch forks are coming if the greed continues. As the nations wealth continues to be redistributed to the top incomes eventually there will be a tipping point. This presidential election cycle may be a glimpse of what lies ahead.

                                  History shows what happens when a country responds to such huge disparities in class with "let them eat cake". How long will the corporate oligarchy / plutocrats continue to have it their way at the expense of everyone else? Time will tell.

                                  Right now I've just had enough of life. I quit playing, just too depressed. Every time I turn around its another project at home, or more shit breaks, or a car breaks down out of the blue. I write $1000 checks daily it seems.

                                  I need blades for my tractor.....have had the same blades since 1999. Can't get caught up.

                                  Work is another problem,, numbers are down and I've always said that because I work with fools we would be screwed the day we are faced with adversity. Everyday a new direction that I know only puts us further behind......very frustrating and mentally exhausting after 15 years there. I'm interviewing but the thought of leaving scares me.

                                  Just not in a good place right now....I see a lot of u like that as well.

                                  Things could be worse....they are for those people in poor health, or have children with cancer....been there...

                                    Typhoon

                                    John,

                                    Man you need a picker upper ! Kinda need a kick in the arse once you're buried in that sorry mood.

                                    Many of us are in the same shape or worse, you're right about this, and we need to get moving on. A thousand dollar bill is not that bad , actually.
                                    I was being hit with more than $3000 per month 9 month out of a year for having 2 in the higher education. It seemed when I just got the credit card paid off and here comes the next one. Never had a chance to take a break, not yet. Our savings had been going down and down. We don't have any vice in life except that we enjoy good food with the kids. Not restaurant food , just home cooking. Yes, I consider that a vice since we could do without "good food".

                                    I told my wife I'll never complain and will suck it up and keep going, if, no one complains of no vacation or new car or something like that. I'm the quiet kind of guy to do what it needs to be done but I could not do it with people complaining around me.

                                    Although, if someone tells me right now that they could use what I know and learned and pay me more $ ..... I'd jump on it without complain for another 6-8 years. That's the time when my youngest one would be getting out of graduate school.

                                    I looked at the homeless living in the tent city along the freeway and felt lucky to have a chance to work. No matter what reason the homeless slipped down the skeet street, it's a life no one wants .

                                    I will plug along, and so can you John.

                                    It's like the island green at the Sawgrass, we have to play it to finish the 18, scared of water hazard and the slick green will only add misery to the process.

                                      Typhoon Right now I've just had enough of life. I quit playing, just too depressed.

                                      I did the opposite. Started playing again just to escape reality for a few hours. So I try and kill a little white ball, instead of the alternative, or myself.

                                      Golf is therapy (well, unless your swing is off, then you might as well drink).

                                        Sometimes I feel squeezed, but I know the real truth. I work far less and have far more than 90% of people in this world. I'm lucky enough to be blessed with a fairly strong mind, capable body and a willingness to work for my own goals. Do I have everything I want? No. Could I use more money? Yes. I sit in that dying middle class and certainly could use some tax breaks and more time for golf, but overall, I have a good life. If I really want more money/things/stuff etc, I can make more, but to me, time is the real value and I'm not going to use all of mine on work.

                                          DC300

                                          Great that you have this mind set !
                                          Learn to do the best with what we have is the key.
                                          http://www.brianlukeseaward.com/the-secret-of-happiness-is-contentment/

                                          I once have a friend whom had everything, a successful high tech job ( moving up every 2 years ), a great family with a working wife and two kids. A nice house in a sought after neighborhood, 5 new cars in 8 years ( including a H2 and a convertible ).

                                          He went on golf excursions where I had never been and probably never will with his other friends....... enjoy life ?
                                          But he always wanted more. what's on his plate was never enough and never good enough.

                                          I call that a mental issue for I had witness when his family went to an all you can eat buffet , they will get a plate full and wouldn't finish the plate then went back and got mostly the same stuff, several times. It's an all you can eat buffet but the behavior not only wasting food , also showed the family members had issue of not happy with what's on their plate.

                                          Never good enough and always wanted more and more, more than they could swallow......... He was chapter 13 and divorced about 9 years ago.

                                          We should always looking up and wanting to improve ourselves, may that be a personal project or anything you want in life. A goal to keep life interesting. Along the way we should also learn to enjoy the journey.

                                          Sometimes a good cup of coffee ( tea ) and a great book with a few hours of spare time is the best time of the day ...... sitting in my chair reading the book with a hot cup of beverage is very satisfying ( for a few hours ). Stop and smell the roses is a learned process, to enjoy life more and get more out of it. By rejuvenating we could get on with the task on hands.

                                            There was an interesting story in the local paper a couple of days ago. It doesn't directly relate to getting squeezed, but interesting nonetheless.
                                            Nau's Pharmacy has been located in West Austin since at least the 50's. It's still an old time pharmacy where you can fill a prescription and get a burger and shake. Same family has been running it the entire time. Given that everyone goes to CVS and fast food places these days the family is struggling to keep it open. But it is an institution in the community.

                                            Sidenote: Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson hit the Texas Lottery jackpot many years ago with tickets he bought there. He's hit the jackpot twice actually.
                                            The original family home sits a few block away. It's close to 100 years old (if not over) but is in severe disrepair. The family wants to raze it and sell the lot. Lot is worth $1.5M (house appraised at $50K I think). Problem solved! But wait. Neighbors say home is historic and want it declared as such. They think it could be repaired. But in present state no one is interested in buying. Meanwhile taxes are on the order of $35K for the family.