Good article

[velvetpage]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/43778/

Excerpt: "I wrote this book because I love this country, and I think America is a gift. Its greatest gift is this: people have come here from all over the world, and all they expected to do was work hard. And what they hoped was that their work would be rewarded. What they dreamed about was that their kids were going to do better than they were. That was the American Dream. And despite a civil war, two world wars, recessions, depressions, the American Dream has survived. Until now."

Comments

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

Something that always strikes me as interesting is that "poor" in America is still "rich" to the rest of the world. The poor often have cable, a computer, and broadband internet. I'll have to go find the stats - I just read them the other day. I know several women in Booju say they are on food stams and receive welfare, yet they are on their laptops with cable internet. I'm not saying whether it is right or wrong - I just find it fascinating.

When our parents and grandparents were working, the necessities were food, shelter, clothes. If you were lucky you had a car, and a TV set. Now, food, shelter, and clothes are a gimme, and the "necessities" are cell phone, computer, and two cars. The standard of living has risen sharply, and the bills with it. But if you are willing to live without all the frou frous, you still can make it. I worked a minimum wage job in North Dakota for a year. My apartment was 285 a month, food was 150, utilities, including phone and cable came out to around 100 a montn (basic service on everything), health insurance was 72 a month, and I socked away about 250 a month. I had a used bronco that was completely paid off, no computer, no cell, no frills.

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

Couple articles.

http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/issues/articleid.16414/article_detail.asp

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.24104,filter.all/pub_detail.asp

[pyat.livejournal.com]

This is not a new thing. This is from George Orwell's 1937 book, "The Road to Wigan Pier."

Replace "radios" with "Playstations" and "fish and chips" with "McDonald's", and you get America today.

"... in a decade of unparalleled depression, the consumption of all cheap luxuries has in-creased. The two things that have probably made the greatest difference of all are the movies and the mass-production of cheap smart clothes since the war. The youth who leaves school at fourteen and gets a blind-alley job is out of work at twenty, probably for life; but for two pounds ten on the hire-purchase he can buy himself a suit which, for a little while and at a little distance, looks as though it had been tailored in Savile Row. The girl can look like a fashion plate at an even lower price. You may have three halfpence in your pocket and not a prospect in the world, and only the corner of a leaky bedroom to go home to; but in your new clothes you can stand on the street corner, indulging in a private daydream of yourself as dark Gable or Greta Garbo, which compensates you for a great deal....

Trade since the war has had to adjust itself to meet the demands of underpaid, underfed people, with the result that a luxury is nowadays almost always cheaper than a necessity. One pair of plain solid shoes costs as much as two ultra-smart pairs. For the price of one square meal you can get two pounds of cheap sweets. You can't get much meat for threepence, but you can get a lot of fish-and-chips.

Twenty million people are underfed but literally everyone in England has access to a radio. What we have lost in food we have gained in electricity. Whole sections of the working class who have been plundered of all they really need are being compensated, in part, by cheap luxuries which mitigate the surface of life."

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

Yes, but one big difference between paying for services and paying for goods is that most services ARE a luxury. I don't know prices in other areas of the country, but my cable, internet, and cell add up to around $200 a month. That can buy groceries (GOOD groceries, not junk) for my family of five for a week and a half, or buy good quality shoes for my three kids plus a pair of pants apiece. And that $200 goes out every month. If I were pinching pennies to make ends meet, I'd rather give up my cable, internet, and call, and actually feed and clothe my family.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Yes, you CAN do that. But luxuries are tempting. I was pointing out that this has been true for about 80 years.

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

I think this is the basic problem in America right now. The price of gew-gaws and luxuries has dropped dramatically. However, the price of what I things that matter has risen sharply. If you live in North Dakota, you can readily get an affordable apartment, but if you live in an urban area, housing eats of a huge chunk of your pay check even if you have a large salary. Housing is largely unaffordable at low wages. Education is also damned expensive as is health coverage especially for families. You can get cheap insurance, but how much is it worth really? I had the kind of insurance you mentioned when I was working a couple of dollars above minimum wage. However, when I had a serious illness, I was still $20,000 in the hole when all was said and done.

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

But you don't HAVE to live in an urban area. If you are working a minumum wage job, you can get said minimum wage job anywhere. It's a choice. There are literally thousands of choices you can make about how you live your life that affects how much money you need to sustain said life. Education is free until college, and then there are grants, scholarships, and student loans. I agree about the health insurance problem, though. I was lucky enough to never need it while I was on the cheapie plan.