"I'm the victim". The American Way.

[IMADreamer]

You guys are dealing a whole lot of truth here. I don't know that solution, but I know when I say people suck I generally get made fun of but damn it people suck. It's all ego, and it's all keep up with the Jones'. Even people who believe they are middle class probably aren't. They probably owe 2 or 300k on a house they didn't really need. They probably have a car loan or two and credit card debt. It's largely society and ramped consumerism's fault, but you have to be able to tell yourself no sometimes.

I'll take my friend Kirsten as the perfect example. She has an ok job and makes ok money for where we live. She should be doing just fine. He parents paid for her school so when she was set out into the world she had no debt. However she just had to have that new car. Bam 30k in debt. Then a few years later she just had to have that other new car because her's had 60k miles on it and well gee it's not new any more. More debt. Now flash forward to us being age 33. She still has a really good job but she wanted a nice house. Not just a normal house but a nice house so she goes and buys a 200k dollar house. Then she goes and fills the house with useless junk.

Now she goes around complaining about how the govt is taking too much of her money. Her insurance is going up because of Obama care, blah blah blah. She can't get through her head that a decade of poor financial decisions is why she is where she is. It's easier to blame Obama though.

[wart57]

You guys are dealing a whole lot of truth here. I don't know that solution, but I know when I say people suck I generally get made fun of but damn it people suck. It's all ego, and it's all keep up with the Jones'. Even people who believe they are middle class probably aren't. They probably owe 2 or 300k on a house they didn't really need. They probably have a car loan or two and credit card debt. It's largely society and ramped consumerism's fault, but you have to be able to tell yourself no sometimes.

I'll take my friend Kirsten as the perfect example. She has an ok job and makes ok money for where we live. She should be doing just fine. He parents paid for her school so when she was set out into the world she had no debt. However she just had to have that new car. Bam 30k in debt. Then a few years later she just had to have that other new car because her's had 60k miles on it and well gee it's not new any more. More debt. Now flash forward to us being age 33. She still has a really good job but she wanted a nice house. Not just a normal house but a nice house so she goes and buys a 200k dollar house. Then she goes and fills the house with useless junk.

Now she goes around complaining about how the govt is taking too much of her money. Her insurance is going up because of Obama care, blah blah blah. She can't get through her head that a decade of poor financial decisions is why she is where she is. It's easier to blame Obama though.

Yea, she shoulda just never got a job, gone out and had a bunch of kids, and have the government pay for her to live, she would have been much better off.

[pioneer98]

I had a conversation with a friend of a friend who is a journalist who has been laid off. Things aren’t going real well for them and I totally get why they would be upset and frustrated. But then they start in with ripping the area. “The economy sucks here!” Well, the local economy sucking for journalists is not a unique thing, and overall the economy here is still better than a lot of places. But yeah, if it's not working for you personally, then it is little consolation. He also said we’ve had “no gentrification” here. I didn’t know how to reply to that. It’s just plain false. His real complaint is probably that it hasn’t happened in his neighborhood.