The long slow spiral down…

The sad state of affairs that is currently presented to every worker here in the U.S. is a situation that we as individuals are woefully unprepared for. We are told to be like everyone else, keep up with the Jones', make sure we have that 2.3 kids, SUV, home with the white picket fence, etc, blah blah blah...

But as corporations, who don't give a damn about employees other than looking at them as overhead, throw us out on the street due to downsizing, outsourcing, bankruptcy, stealing, cheating and lying on their part, we as Americans are supposed to just pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, put nose to the grind stone and everything will be just fine...yeah right.

In reality, regardless if a person has a college degree, GED, some college, some high school or luck of the draw, a persons life is then regulated to minimum wage jobs when all else fails. We are then put in situations that make the person thankful for that low paying job and will put up with all sorts of bullshit just to keep it.

Working two jobs or like that woman that commented to moron* about how she had to work 3 jobs, and morons* response was something to the effect of, "that's the American way"; he couldn't be closer to the truth. More Americans live in poverty now then when he* first was appointed to office. The level of college educated adults has dropped. However, during this same time, personal debt has climbed to its highest levels ever and personal savings are at historic lows.

Could the two have a connection? Damn straight they do. As more and more people try to make ends meet in our "booming" economy, more and more have to work 2 or more jobs to make it. And this is not just for one person in the house. Many married couples work 2 or more jobs each, all the while trying to raise kids they never see.

These families are one heart beat away from disaster.

One of the major causes for bankruptcy in this nation is health care costs. Suppose that one of the people gets cancer or has a major accident? Does their minimum wage jobs health care cover the costs? Hell no. Just the deductible alone is enough to destroy them.

With the killing of the old bankruptcy law, many families now are under a form of corporate indentured servitude, They have lost any hope of getting back on their feet and are now under the credit cards companies thumb. (This is why I hate Biden) I’ve heard comments along the lines of, “well the credit card companies have to make money too”. And losing our constitutional rights also appears fine with them. That is just plain idiotic. In morons* administration the right of the corporation supersedes the individual.

Why are these people using credit cards in the first place? They shouldn’t if they can’t afford it. I truly love that argument by the repukes. Most of these same repukes are just one paycheck away from being homeless themselves but don’t even realize it. When the medical bills get so high, it's a choice between paying the bill or eating. So they charge their food or charge the medical bill.

And what makes matters worse is the credit card companies hand out the cards like candy, so as a result we are all living in a fiat economy based solely on calculations on a tabulation form. It’s the monster in the room everyone is trying like hell to ignore, even while it’s eating your children. The credit card companies have set up this enormous system that is based completely on debt. It has become so pervasive in our society, that it now runs it. Trying to remove it is like trying to remove the heart so the body can live. The money exists on paper only, but not to the people who have to pay it.

On top of that, God help a person if they are late on a credit bill. Then the Mafia-like interest rates kick in. 25% to 35%. Loan sharking becomes legal.

Then it becomes a game of just paying off the interest alone. Just like our national debt.

Our nation is plunging head first into a situation where the middle class is disintegrating and the poor are growing at an alarming rate.

If you study history, this situation only culminates in to only one result. It's not going to be pretty.

K & R!

Does anyone see how the rich pit each of us against the other, using any kind of catalyst they can (money, fear, religion, politics, culture, values, etc)? This goes for every nation now, thanks to job offshoring. I would think that more people who live under the hanging rock of a major financial disaster or alongside the loose cannon of Bad Luck would realize this.

everyday,I guess Bush's economy is good. Maybe, those who are using the credit cards don't know what they are in for or they love working 2 and 3 minimum wage jobs to get by.

but what gets me, as history has shown, when people are put into a position where they have nothing more to lose, ones life becomes less and less valuable and more and more an option for sacrifice to the cause of rebellion.

The middle east is a perfect example of that.

We are a long way from being like the middle east but when you think about what our standard of living is like as opposed to those who live in the ME, we as a nation maybe on the short road to that situation, considering that material possessions here are put in such high regard, that if suddenly, a whole section of the population is left desperately without, what would be the next logical step in a land where the government cares not a whit about them?

Prior to FDR, there was a very strong socialist movement in the states. People were hungry and without jobs and were looking for other options. Socialism isn't necessarily the answer but given the circumstances, can anyone blame them?

Back then there was one difference as opposed to today, when the crash hit, rich as well as poor lost everything, today, it's just the poor and the middle class, while the rich get richer. This is the breeding ground for soviet revolution type of situation. We are not there yet by a long shot, but given the economy, the housing bubble, the war, outsourcing, etc, it won't take much to set up a frame work for just that kind of reality.

Personally, I would love to see the adjusted numbers for our deficit when the cost of the war is added into it. I think it would paint in black and white, to the American public just how dire the situation actually is.

on DU all the time. WHile do beleive that many people follishly use credit cards to live beyond their means, it is nevertheless true that many people use them because of sudden emergencies or health care catastrophes. Yet the people who say, "Don't use credit cards if you can't afford it," will hear of no exceptions at all. I can't help but wonder how sanctimonious they will be if they find themselves in such dire circumstances one day--and in this society that could happen to almost anyone.

do it to live beyond their means, I believe they are using them because they have to or they don't have any cash...

especially young people who have never had to postpone gratification (or work full time). Instead of saving up for that XBox or HDTV, they put it on credit. Or they spend more than they can afford to buy an impressive Valentine's Day gift for a new sweetie. I do see it all the time.

But using credit cards for extravagant consumer spending is very different from using it to survive when you are unemployed or underemployed or when you have a medical expense or your car breaks down so you can't get to work without getting it fixed.

The problem is that a lot of the sanctimonious posters here on DU make no distinction between credit used to buy goodies and credit used to survive in a ruthless, unforgiving economy.

I believe that putting a trip to Disney World, a $4,000 engagement ring or a fancy wedding on credit (which people often do) is an irresponsible extravagance that people should avoid like the plague. But using credit to pay maedical expenses, or to get your car fixed or buy gas so you can go to work is usually a necessity for the people that do it.

There is a whole section of todays society that have been taught nothing about fiscal responsibility. (Moron* is classic case in point.)

Given the fact that credit card companies hand out cards to anyone now, it has, as I stated in my original post, given rise to a fiat economy.

There are people out there that have to make the heart breaking choices of choosing between rent and food, however, there are people who think nothing of pushing their limits in regards of personal budgets. The concept of saving for that something or someone special has virtually vanished from fiscal landscape.

I keep remembering what my parents would tell me, "sure I can by it for you, but since it's something you want, I want you to save for it, then it will mean so much more to you, because you will have earned it".

Earned it. What has happened to that phrase in todays disposable society?

We live now in the closing times of an era of immediate gratification. In the not too distant future, when resources are limited, that concept will be a laughable term. What scares me though is; what will the blow back, the fall out when such a concept is no longer available to those people who have built their lives around it?

Will they suddenly be forced to look upon themselves in a hard light and how they have managed their lives? Maybe. More than likely they will become the new whiners of the future. Where once self entitlement was in their lives as the norm, they will be faced with the idea of survival for survivings sake and not wanting just for the sake of wanting. They, since they probably were; non-producers, non-workers and the non-contributors, will be the new burden on society (not that they weren't to begin with), but in a future of limited resources, they will become an anachronism.

As a nation, we need years of therapy to overcome our concept of "ME" and turn it back into "WE" as it once was.

(I could expound on this endlessly, but there is not enough time in the universe. lol)