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What motivates people to live above their means?
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:22 am
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:22 am
My wife comes home almost daily and tells me about co-workers who live paycheck to paycheck and yet, they continue to splurge on eating out for lunch as opposed to bringing a cheaper bag lunch. They also feel like smart phones, cable tv and things like tanning beds are all necessities.
One particular woman is single and has a teen daughter and on Monday, was already broke until Friday's paycheck. She claimed she had no food in the house, but bought a cheese burger, 2 fries and a large drink for lunch and 5 candy bars from a vendor hawking worlds finest chocolate.
How did we get to a point where
people are willing to sacrifice real necessities just to pursue some fictitious standard of living that is perceived to be necessary?
I can guarantee that I would lose my smartphone, Internet, cable, etc. before going hungry or having my lights turned off.
One particular woman is single and has a teen daughter and on Monday, was already broke until Friday's paycheck. She claimed she had no food in the house, but bought a cheese burger, 2 fries and a large drink for lunch and 5 candy bars from a vendor hawking worlds finest chocolate.
How did we get to a point where
people are willing to sacrifice real necessities just to pursue some fictitious standard of living that is perceived to be necessary?
I can guarantee that I would lose my smartphone, Internet, cable, etc. before going hungry or having my lights turned off.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:28 am to Revelator
people don't like to think about bankrupcy until it bitch slaps them, same goes for the small unit that is a family all the way to the large unit that is the country
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:32 am to Revelator
It is a mystery.
Its been said aplenty, the poor in the USA have luxuries that the world's poor could only dream of.
The root of the problem is simply the "Its all about me" mentality, which leads to a sense of entitlement. Sometimes the entitlement is "the rules don't apply to me" and sometimes the entitlement is "the government owes me."
But the root problem is the same. Narcissism. Very rarely do you see someone who truly thinks of someone else. Even a lot of charitable giving is motivated by self desires. "This will make me look good," or "This will give me a tax deduction."
I'm as guilty as anyone else.
Its been said aplenty, the poor in the USA have luxuries that the world's poor could only dream of.
The root of the problem is simply the "Its all about me" mentality, which leads to a sense of entitlement. Sometimes the entitlement is "the rules don't apply to me" and sometimes the entitlement is "the government owes me."
But the root problem is the same. Narcissism. Very rarely do you see someone who truly thinks of someone else. Even a lot of charitable giving is motivated by self desires. "This will make me look good," or "This will give me a tax deduction."
I'm as guilty as anyone else.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:34 am to Revelator
quote:
She claimed she had no food in the house, but bought a cheese burger, 2 fries and a large drink for lunch and 5 candy bars from a vendor hawking worlds finest chocolate.
Good lord. How big is this broad?
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:34 am to Revelator
Keepin' up with the Jones's
---eta---
which I guess is essentially ego.
---eta---
which I guess is essentially ego.
This post was edited on 4/25/14 at 9:36 am
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:36 am to Revelator
Gotta get the new J's brah
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:37 am to Revelator
quote:
She claimed she had no food in the house, but bought a cheese burger, 2 fries and a large drink for lunch and 5 candy bars from a vendor hawking worlds finest chocolate.
WOW! She's got to be carrying some weight!
To your OP, I see this as having to do with a lack of discipline. They were either not taught properly or grew up with an adult who wanted them to have the things they (the parent) didn't have.
If I can't pay for something outright then I don't buy it. My parents taught me this because they grew up this way (depression era). Hell, my folks still use the everyday china they got with green stamps when I was a kid. Some of the best plates I've ever seen.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:42 am to Revelator
It is very simple. You can enjoy more now or enjoy more later. Isn't complicated at all.
Some would like to enjoy life more when they are younger. Some want to enjoy it more when they are older. That is what it comes down to and it is a spectrum where people will fall at all different points.
It is funny to me how all the responses are all sacrifice now for later because that is PERCEIVED as the "right" answer.
Some would like to enjoy life more when they are younger. Some want to enjoy it more when they are older. That is what it comes down to and it is a spectrum where people will fall at all different points.
It is funny to me how all the responses are all sacrifice now for later because that is PERCEIVED as the "right" answer.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:42 am to Revelator
Sadly it's become the American way. I thinks it's a learned behavior that one generations passes on to the next. If you grow up in a household like that and that's how you see your parents living you think it's normal.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:44 am to Revelator
quote:
What motivates people to live above their means?
Credit cards. No way to live above your means with cash. When it's gone, you're broke.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:49 am to Revelator
We live in a entitled society. Young adults want today what took years for their parents to acquire. It's tough to think about buying a 1500 sq ft home, when you grew up in a 3500 sq ft home, even though all you can afford is the small home. It's also about keeping up with the Jones's. Parents buy thier kids smart phones so the other kids will not make fun of them. What is considered "normal" today would have been extravegant 40 years ago.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 9:52 am to Revelator
Priorities. People don't have their priorities straight. Luxuries become more important than necessities.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 10:10 am to Revelator
quote:
What motivates people to live above their means?
For most...enthusiasm for the good life, lack of vision just 'where' the good life is, and a lack will power to employ any wisdom they do have.
For some...flat out thievery, justified by the 'everybody does it' meme, as perceived in our highest leaders. Think Obama's first house.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 10:10 am to Revelator
It's a function of Capitalism in today's modern world.. Government involvement plays a major part in our current economic situation and has overplayed its influence. Until people can pull back the over the top materialistic mentality that is rampant within our system, we will witness people living above reality.. Not to say this hasn't occurred in the past but it is at a level across the board that I don't think we've seen. We should be concerned in the fact that we can't keep this up without expanding our middle class..
Posted on 4/25/14 at 10:12 am to Revelator
quote:Greed. Contrary to popular myth you don't have to be rich to be greedy and covetous.
What motivates people to live above their means?
Posted on 4/25/14 at 10:50 am to Revelator
quote:
What motivates people to live above their means?
Pussy
Posted on 4/25/14 at 10:58 am to Revelator
Pride, stupidity and a feeling of invincibility. The American economy seems to be resilient because Americans don't know/don't care when they're poor. Ignorance is bliss I guess.
Posted on 4/25/14 at 11:03 am to Revelator
I have a theory that it stems from the Cold War.
From the period 1945-1990 we were in an economic war with the USSR. To that end we continued to keep our economy on a war footing, but instead of war materiel, we switched back to consumer goods. We were constantly encouraged to purchase goods and at the same time consumer credit was born. We set out to prove that capitalism was superior to communism and our evidence was our standard of living.
Then the wall fell.
So during the recession of 1990 it was made clear when Clinton begged Americans to purchase consumer goods to "grow the economy". So the purpose of having a hyperactive economy designed to win WWII changed to defeating communism and then it turn changed to simply growing the economy for its own sake.
We are CONSTANTLY encouraged to purchase disposable goods - even our durable goods have turned into disposable goods; cars, refrigerators, even houses themselves are now replaced far more often then they were initially designed for. We are offered easy credit for EVERYTHING, from purchasing a home, to going to college, even buying cheap Chinese disposable goods to leveraging the purchase of stocks and bonds. Even our entitlement programs seem designed to simply keep as many people participating in the economy as possible. We deride the welfare recipient who buys expensive rims for his car, yet by doing so he contributes to the economies of those who produce the rims, those who retail the rims, and the whole distribution network in between. Welfare recipients are simply doing what Americans are programmed to do: purchase consumer goods for the sake of growing the economy.
So now it's become an ingrained part of our culture to simply consume for the sake of consuming. Quality has much less meaning as we disregard the mountains of trash from last years Christmas presents to demolition debris from 20 year-old homes. We assume that we deserve resources used for our consumption economy even if those resources are in foreign lands.
What's the end game?
It's broadly recognized that gearing up our economy for WWII is what propelled us out of the Depression. We have maintained unsustainable economic activity ever since. It seems to me that should we scale back on economic activity to a more sustainable level, we would find ourselves staring right back down the barrel of our old nemesis, The Great Depression. I'm afraid the Depression was an expression of fundamental problems in our economic system that we've only masked by maintaining a war-time economy.
[/rant]
From the period 1945-1990 we were in an economic war with the USSR. To that end we continued to keep our economy on a war footing, but instead of war materiel, we switched back to consumer goods. We were constantly encouraged to purchase goods and at the same time consumer credit was born. We set out to prove that capitalism was superior to communism and our evidence was our standard of living.
Then the wall fell.
So during the recession of 1990 it was made clear when Clinton begged Americans to purchase consumer goods to "grow the economy". So the purpose of having a hyperactive economy designed to win WWII changed to defeating communism and then it turn changed to simply growing the economy for its own sake.
We are CONSTANTLY encouraged to purchase disposable goods - even our durable goods have turned into disposable goods; cars, refrigerators, even houses themselves are now replaced far more often then they were initially designed for. We are offered easy credit for EVERYTHING, from purchasing a home, to going to college, even buying cheap Chinese disposable goods to leveraging the purchase of stocks and bonds. Even our entitlement programs seem designed to simply keep as many people participating in the economy as possible. We deride the welfare recipient who buys expensive rims for his car, yet by doing so he contributes to the economies of those who produce the rims, those who retail the rims, and the whole distribution network in between. Welfare recipients are simply doing what Americans are programmed to do: purchase consumer goods for the sake of growing the economy.
So now it's become an ingrained part of our culture to simply consume for the sake of consuming. Quality has much less meaning as we disregard the mountains of trash from last years Christmas presents to demolition debris from 20 year-old homes. We assume that we deserve resources used for our consumption economy even if those resources are in foreign lands.
What's the end game?
It's broadly recognized that gearing up our economy for WWII is what propelled us out of the Depression. We have maintained unsustainable economic activity ever since. It seems to me that should we scale back on economic activity to a more sustainable level, we would find ourselves staring right back down the barrel of our old nemesis, The Great Depression. I'm afraid the Depression was an expression of fundamental problems in our economic system that we've only masked by maintaining a war-time economy.
[/rant]
Posted on 4/25/14 at 12:06 pm to Revelator
quote:It's called, "The American Dream."
What motivates people to live above their means?
Long ago, the elite devised this brilliant marketing campaign to take advantage of our greed, vanity, and naivety to set us on a hampster wheel of debt and addiction to monopoly money we call the dollar.
This post was edited on 4/25/14 at 12:09 pm
Posted on 4/25/14 at 12:08 pm to Revelator
Falls in the "thou shalt not covet neighbor hood(misspelling/grammar intentional)
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