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kane · 09-22-2009, 02:29 AM

The middle class has kind of brought some of this on itself. It seems like when I was a kid (in the 80's) if you were an average middle class family (and I wasn't - I was raised by a single mom who worked her ass off to support my brother and me and we were below what would be considered middle class) you made sure that you bought a house you could afford, a car you could afford and you lived within your means. I remember when VCRs came out and they were about $1200. My brother and I wanted one so we could rent movies, but we couldn't afford one. About 4 years after they came out and the price was down to about $600 my mom saved up and paid cash for one as a family Christmas present and it was made clear to us that the VCR was basically all we were getting. The idea of financing it or charging it wasn't even considered. Now it seems like everything is charged or financed. It also seems like parents don't deny their kids anything these days. I know so many parents that buy their kids anything and everything they want and spend a small fortune on it. The kids don't even appreciate what they have and never learn the value of money.

It almost seems like a lot of people have decided they have to buy the big house, nice cars and expensive toys and overextend themselves, spending every penny they have, so they can appear to be better off then they really are. It is kind of sad.

And the market has responded. If people want to overpay for houses, there will be people there to sell them. If people want to spend 45K on an SUV they don't need, there will be car companies there to sell them to them. And if there are people who want credit lines to get big screen TVs, surround sound and expensive vacations they can't really afford, there will be banks willing to loan it. All of this eventually drives the cost of these things up and makes them less and less affordable which makes the middle class then spend more and more money.

09-22-2009, 02:29 AM
kane Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: portland, OR Posts: 20,684	The middle class has kind of brought some of this on itself. It seems like when I was a kid (in the 80's) if you were an average middle class family (and I wasn't - I was raised by a single mom who worked her ass off to support my brother and me and we were below what would be considered middle class) you made sure that you bought a house you could afford, a car you could afford and you lived within your means. I remember when VCRs came out and they were about $1200. My brother and I wanted one so we could rent movies, but we couldn't afford one. About 4 years after they came out and the price was down to about $600 my mom saved up and paid cash for one as a family Christmas present and it was made clear to us that the VCR was basically all we were getting. The idea of financing it or charging it wasn't even considered. Now it seems like everything is charged or financed. It also seems like parents don't deny their kids anything these days. I know so many parents that buy their kids anything and everything they want and spend a small fortune on it. The kids don't even appreciate what they have and never learn the value of money. It almost seems like a lot of people have decided they have to buy the big house, nice cars and expensive toys and overextend themselves, spending every penny they have, so they can appear to be better off then they really are. It is kind of sad. And the market has responded. If people want to overpay for houses, there will be people there to sell them. If people want to spend 45K on an SUV they don't need, there will be car companies there to sell them to them. And if there are people who want credit lines to get big screen TVs, surround sound and expensive vacations they can't really afford, there will be banks willing to loan it. All of this eventually drives the cost of these things up and makes them less and less affordable which makes the middle class then spend more and more money.