Our Money has dropped in value ever since the Federal Reserve was empowered to create money out of nothing. If we don't have enough, we print more- this is called "inflation". You're really not supposed to do that. I think almost everybody understands that by now, but just in case they don't, here is an article about the Federal Reserve in action that breaks it down fairly simply: FEDERAL RESERVE KEEPS PRINTING MONEY
It's pretty self explanatory that if the Federal Reserve keeps on printing money to cover cheques that the government writes but then can't cover, prices of everyday things rise. That's why you used to be able to buy a whole cart of groceries for a dollar in 1900, but now that cart costs around $100.
There is obviously a need for money in an Ultra-Capitalism like the USA- money is the only thing that will save you from predators looking to take all your money or use you in some other way, or deny you lifesaving services if you don't have any.
But even worse is the Cult Of Money that has naturally arisen in such a situation. Everyone likes to have nice things. But most people in the USA have a low self esteem about their money. We have been lead to believe that unless we can constantly buy new items we are substandard. We also have been duped into being slaves to the "credit system" which scores us on a 0-800 scale to tell us "how much we are worth taking a risk on", and punishes us for a lower score by charging what? MORE MONEY- to the poorest people who were unable to keep up their score, and giving breaks to the rich who are easily able to keep a high score. Make Sense? We are forced to make payments like clockwork to make sure we are good little consumers who can be counted on to bring in a steady income for our creditor overlords. Any deviation is punished by a lower score unless you call various companies and ass-kiss like mad, begging and demeaning yourself to get "extra time to pay". Sound familiar? The Credit Score will then be used to either accept or deny a human being for all kinds of things like getting accepted into livable apartments in safer neighborhoods, getting loans for cars, houses and other property, and even relationships- yes, there are those people who consider a credit score part of the package.
The truth is that USA citizens have been made to feel substandard if they don't have a high credit score, high credit limits and constant items being bought each week. They are lead to believe that they need a status symbol car, a large innefficient house to put all their stuff in, and that they need to work the hours necessary to have all these things or else they are not a worthwhile human being. That if they don't have these things they are letting everyone down, not living up to their potential and so forth.
Anybody who actually believes this should know several things. The first thing is that most people in the USA are considered BELOW THE POVERTY LINE or LOWER MIDDLE CLASS.
1) In 2011, 46.2 MILLION people in the USA were considered "below the poverty line". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States Out of our 315 Million people, this is one in every six people.
3) Lower Middle Class was considered $32,000-$60,000. So you are still LOWER Middle Class if you earn $60,000??? Depending on where you live, $60,000 could be enough to feed and care for your family, or that could be a modest income like here in NYC.
4) 34% of us are considered Lower Middle Class, at 119 Million people. One out of every three people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class
5) Upper Middle Class is if you make $62,000 and up.
6) The Upper Class is only 15% of the USA.
7) Only 15.5% of people have credit scores in the 700-749 range, and only 18.3 had 800 or better. (So what happens to the REST of the people, those below 700? Do they all just live in bad neighborhoods? Do they pay exorbitant rates for credit, car loans, etc? What are ALL those other people doing to survive since they are effectively cut out of most of the benefits of living in the USA?) This article tries to put a "happy face" on these statistics but falls flat. http://business.time.com/2012/05/14/more-americans-have-fico-scores-of-800/
If you still watch TV, you will be left with the feeling that MOST people in the USA have money to spend on extras. That's simply not true. Lots of people get by on very little, especially if they want to save money. People from poorer countries tend to save a lot of money in the bank, while USA citizens tend to spend money on anything and everything to keep up with the status quo that they feel they should be emulating.
Spending less money will not make you look worse. It will not make people like you less (if you have REAL friends that is). Chances are that the person sitting right next to you, whom you think looks so glamorous, has financed their look that day for a minimum and had hookups to buy all the stuff he or she is wearing on discount.
USA Citizens are in a financial crisis from which saving money is the only solution. We also deserve to be able to live our lives and spend time developing as a person with family, friends, hobbies and interests and do not deserve to spend 80 hours a week working. We obviously are going to have to downsize the amount we are spending- on rent, on utilities, on everything. And as far as keeping up with the status quo? The status quo IS NOT what the media is putting out there. Most of us are struggling.
Money Lust- why this is a Scam:
You will spend your life chasing after trinkets and toys and never develop as a person or form strong relationships with family members, friends or anyone else. You will drive yourself to exhaustion and possibly die early of stress related diseases. And you will not have the energy to affect your community, laws, government, etc because you're struggling to make payments on a nice car, a huge house or a boat. Or something. Meanwhile, those who are on the receiving end of your payments WILL NOT be knocking themselves out- they will be living easy lives and controlling the game.
HOW TO CUT AND RUN:
Set a cap on the amount of hours you are willing to work at ANY job, no matter what happens. Make friendships, family and personal development your highest goal, NOT money. Make rules that if you are sick or feeling terrible you WILL NOT work that day, you will take care of yourself- no matter what. Downsize the amount you are spending per month, even if others in your life think you SHOULD be spending money on those things. Save, save, save. Look into the TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT , Solar Energy for your home (solar systems are cheaper than ever now), going OFF THE GRID, and other ways to stop spending so much money each month. It CAN be done. Everything you buy do not buy on credit, pay cash- you will save hundreds of thousands by doing this. You can put off buying whatever it is until you have saved the cash to pay for it. It's the instant gratification that creditors are selling, and being paid top dollar for, depleting your life in the process.
It's pretty self explanatory that if the Federal Reserve keeps on printing money to cover cheques that the government writes but then can't cover, prices of everyday things rise. That's why you used to be able to buy a whole cart of groceries for a dollar in 1900, but now that cart costs around $100.
There is obviously a need for money in an Ultra-Capitalism like the USA- money is the only thing that will save you from predators looking to take all your money or use you in some other way, or deny you lifesaving services if you don't have any.
But even worse is the Cult Of Money that has naturally arisen in such a situation. Everyone likes to have nice things. But most people in the USA have a low self esteem about their money. We have been lead to believe that unless we can constantly buy new items we are substandard. We also have been duped into being slaves to the "credit system" which scores us on a 0-800 scale to tell us "how much we are worth taking a risk on", and punishes us for a lower score by charging what? MORE MONEY- to the poorest people who were unable to keep up their score, and giving breaks to the rich who are easily able to keep a high score. Make Sense? We are forced to make payments like clockwork to make sure we are good little consumers who can be counted on to bring in a steady income for our creditor overlords. Any deviation is punished by a lower score unless you call various companies and ass-kiss like mad, begging and demeaning yourself to get "extra time to pay". Sound familiar? The Credit Score will then be used to either accept or deny a human being for all kinds of things like getting accepted into livable apartments in safer neighborhoods, getting loans for cars, houses and other property, and even relationships- yes, there are those people who consider a credit score part of the package.
The truth is that USA citizens have been made to feel substandard if they don't have a high credit score, high credit limits and constant items being bought each week. They are lead to believe that they need a status symbol car, a large innefficient house to put all their stuff in, and that they need to work the hours necessary to have all these things or else they are not a worthwhile human being. That if they don't have these things they are letting everyone down, not living up to their potential and so forth.
Anybody who actually believes this should know several things. The first thing is that most people in the USA are considered BELOW THE POVERTY LINE or LOWER MIDDLE CLASS.
1) In 2011, 46.2 MILLION people in the USA were considered "below the poverty line". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States Out of our 315 Million people, this is one in every six people.
3) Lower Middle Class was considered $32,000-$60,000. So you are still LOWER Middle Class if you earn $60,000??? Depending on where you live, $60,000 could be enough to feed and care for your family, or that could be a modest income like here in NYC.
4) 34% of us are considered Lower Middle Class, at 119 Million people. One out of every three people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class
5) Upper Middle Class is if you make $62,000 and up.
6) The Upper Class is only 15% of the USA.
7) Only 15.5% of people have credit scores in the 700-749 range, and only 18.3 had 800 or better. (So what happens to the REST of the people, those below 700? Do they all just live in bad neighborhoods? Do they pay exorbitant rates for credit, car loans, etc? What are ALL those other people doing to survive since they are effectively cut out of most of the benefits of living in the USA?) This article tries to put a "happy face" on these statistics but falls flat. http://business.time.com/2012/05/14/more-americans-have-fico-scores-of-800/
If you still watch TV, you will be left with the feeling that MOST people in the USA have money to spend on extras. That's simply not true. Lots of people get by on very little, especially if they want to save money. People from poorer countries tend to save a lot of money in the bank, while USA citizens tend to spend money on anything and everything to keep up with the status quo that they feel they should be emulating.
Spending less money will not make you look worse. It will not make people like you less (if you have REAL friends that is). Chances are that the person sitting right next to you, whom you think looks so glamorous, has financed their look that day for a minimum and had hookups to buy all the stuff he or she is wearing on discount.
USA Citizens are in a financial crisis from which saving money is the only solution. We also deserve to be able to live our lives and spend time developing as a person with family, friends, hobbies and interests and do not deserve to spend 80 hours a week working. We obviously are going to have to downsize the amount we are spending- on rent, on utilities, on everything. And as far as keeping up with the status quo? The status quo IS NOT what the media is putting out there. Most of us are struggling.
Money Lust- why this is a Scam:
You will spend your life chasing after trinkets and toys and never develop as a person or form strong relationships with family members, friends or anyone else. You will drive yourself to exhaustion and possibly die early of stress related diseases. And you will not have the energy to affect your community, laws, government, etc because you're struggling to make payments on a nice car, a huge house or a boat. Or something. Meanwhile, those who are on the receiving end of your payments WILL NOT be knocking themselves out- they will be living easy lives and controlling the game.
HOW TO CUT AND RUN:
Set a cap on the amount of hours you are willing to work at ANY job, no matter what happens. Make friendships, family and personal development your highest goal, NOT money. Make rules that if you are sick or feeling terrible you WILL NOT work that day, you will take care of yourself- no matter what. Downsize the amount you are spending per month, even if others in your life think you SHOULD be spending money on those things. Save, save, save. Look into the TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT , Solar Energy for your home (solar systems are cheaper than ever now), going OFF THE GRID, and other ways to stop spending so much money each month. It CAN be done. Everything you buy do not buy on credit, pay cash- you will save hundreds of thousands by doing this. You can put off buying whatever it is until you have saved the cash to pay for it. It's the instant gratification that creditors are selling, and being paid top dollar for, depleting your life in the process.
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