How many of you are afraid?

[hamchan]

Exactly. I make more with my manicurist license which took five months to get, and my massage therapist license which took nine months to get, than a whole lot of jobs out there you need a BA to do. The cost for both of them combined was less than 20k. The ROI for many college majors just isn't high enough. Maybe most college majors.

[Petunia]

When I was in my early 20's I was afraid for the future due to who was holding the power. In my case though my fear was nuclear war. Anyone else remember a TV movie called The Day After? I saw that and cried and cried. Tension was running fairly high in the world and it felt like the bomb dropping was imminent. I had that fear for several years. . . time went on, the cold war ended, the USSR fell apart. . . and we are still here.

At that time I was working for barely above minimum wage. I ended up going back to school, finishing my degree, working for a large corporation and having some luck/blessings. We are financially comfortable.

I think there is an awakening to the world that happens when you are away from your parents, done with school and out in the world.

I also have friends with large families (4+ children), who have one parent working and one parent at home. I don't live in a low cost of living area. It can be done.

[J.Apple902]

What possible difference does it make to you who owns how much of anything? This "1%er" nonsense is just that - nonsense. I am frankly tired of hearing this ignorant meme. I'll just give this board membership as an example of why this meme is nonsense, as well as what I think the real problem is with the economy.

Hardly nonsense I think when data reflects we're witnessing the largest wealth imbalance in economic history.

I think it is a given that the people posting on this board have more money in general than the population as a whole. I'm talking about a positive net worth and money left over. What do the people here do with their money? They invest it, mostly in some type of enterprise that will increase their wealth faster than the rate of inflation. Stocks and real estate being the two most common assets held in one form or another, with a percentage also in bonds. We do this for selfish reasons: we want to have nice things and a good retirement. We are not investing for the benefit of others.

What do these three investments have in common, other than a probability that the returns will outpace inflation? They all tend to increase the profitability of what they are invested in. The investments are basically loans to businesses to increase employment, wealth, and income for the business. A growing business tends to need more employees, and also tends to pay more in wages or benefits. Therefore, our investments are helping these businesses, even though our reasons are based on selfish self-interest.

The 1%er's do similar things with their money. They invest it, which causes the economy to grow, just as our investments cause the economy to grow. What they don't do is put it in some secret cave to hoard it, nor do they buy excessive amounts of consumer goods. How many jets do you think Warren Buffet owns? Even a $400 million yacht is only a single purchase. And one only spends that amount on a toy if he has much, much more than that invested elsewhere.

What is ruining the economy is that 25 million people are right now employed by the government either directly or indirectly as contractors. For the most part, government employees have little financial/economic return to the economy. They are not improving profitability. Note I am not saying that the jobs done are not important, but that they are an economic drain on the economy overall. Teachers, soldiers, and law enforcement are necessary drains, but many of the "government services" are self-perpetuating drains that have no purpose other than to do something that keeps them employed by the government. The private sector has to produce enough gains over and above their profitability to support the infrastructure that we collectively call "government." Roads don't pay for themselves to be built, kids don't learn chemistry through research, and unprotected wealth is the major cause of wars. All of this has to be paid for through private sector gains in wealth/profitability.

Secondarily, those who are not contributing by drawing unearned government checks - housing, food, assistance - actually cancel the effect of more than one working person for every person not contributing. It is not the fact they are getting the money (however small the amount), it is the fact that by not working, they are not increasing the overall wealth of someone or something that is hurting the economy. The fact they are not "more than 100%" of their remuneration is the problem.

Your employer gets more value than your remuneration from you, so you are worth over 100% of your cost, otherwise, you would not be employed. This "extra" percentage increases the value of the company, and we call it "profit," which can be kept, spent, or reinvested, but the whole point is that employment is a positive gain for the company's economy. When someone is on the dole in any way, they become a negative gain on the economy as a whole, and therefore cost more than an employee just by not working regardless of the dole amount. We as a nation have lost the positive differential of an employee as well as the subsistence costs.

If you understand the above, then you see that concentrating wealth doesn't hurt the economy. High unemployment hurts the economy, as well as jobs that do not contribute to the economy overall (many government jobs). Therefore, less government is the best government is not a phrase about anarchy or liberty (per se). It is an economic phrase. Also, if you understand the above, you can see that government borrowing means that they are outpacing the private sector's ability to pay for it, and such practices should be stopped.

All this is just a right winged attitude. Kill govt jobs, kill freeloaders. The real problem our government is in, via debts if that's what you want to talk about, is we get involved in spending that we do not necessarily need (international conflicts, crazy big business subsidies, excessive space program, etc) and have not control over interests rates or anything bc the fed reserve is private. Don't get get started on the "load the government takes via unemployment" bc our government doesn't offer **** for services compared to others (health programs, public education, subsidized upper level education, crime rates, etc) all things that most developed countries (examine Canada and most of Europe) all have. We actually pay less taxes than most of these countries too. Everyone like to tisk tisk at higher taxes, but truly we dont get or give jack. Unless you're the super rich here, then you don't give jack either (15% taxes on capital gains). Maybe if the government taxed appropriately, like Canada and Europe, we'd actually have the means to pull out of a $16T deficit. But noooooo, the super right(companies/families) have way too much influence to allow this to change.

I think you may be living in a bubble thinking that dad going to work and mom staying home with 4-5 kids is impossible. One of my sister-in laws has 5 kids and the other has 6 and they both stay home while Dad goes to work. I stay home & we have 2, expecting #3. I can think of many friends in my small town who do the same. Do you really know no stay at home moms of large families?

I think your sister-in-law is an exception. I'd be willing to guess they live in a very low cost-of-living area where Dad makes a pretty solid living, well above average for the area I would guess too. It's not so much the idea of this family setting you speak of, my comments were mostly at the devauled dollar over the past century. The average American family makes $49k a year. I bet this Dad makes nearly double that in order make everything work. also remember average American family is single parent household.

Exactly. I make more with my manicurist license which took five months to get, and my massage therapist license which took nine months to get, than a whole lot of jobs out there you need a BA to do. The cost for both of them combined was less than 20k. The ROI for many college majors just isn't high enough. Maybe most college majors.

It pains me to agree with this, but you a right about many academic degrees today. For the first time every you have hoards of people who regret investing in their education because they are left with 5 and 6 figure loan traps, along with an inflated job market :/ We see this is Europe too, inflated jobless due to easy to get education. However, the different here is that everyone pays for everyone's education - it's govt funded and subsidized. The ugly part here is that many colleges are privately run (even state schools) so they make a ton and so do the student loan holders (mostly banks).

[KTP]

You are 26 so things like government debt scare you.

I just turned 42 so I am scared of things like cancer, heart disease, and missing the latest episode of wheel of fortune (ok, not quite that old yet).

[asmom]

I think you may be living in a bubble thinking that dad going to work and mom staying home with 4-5 kids is impossible. One of my sister-in laws has 5 kids and the other has 6 and they both stay home while Dad goes to work. I stay home & we have 2, expecting #3. I can think of many friends in my small town who do the same. Do you really know no stay at home moms of large families?

To pull something like that off, you would need to live in an extreme low cost of living area and Dad would have to pull in quite a bit of dough. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know about coupons and growing your own garden, but still it would be pretty difficult to pull something like that off without sacrificing somewhere. I wonder if you SILs and your friends have robust retirements or savings? I bet they don't.

I worked part-time or was a SAHM for quite a bit when my kids were young. We had enough to pay our bills comfortably but saving and investing? That was not happening.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I agree with asmom. To pull that off you are living in a extremely LCOLA or pulling in serious dough or combination of both. Living somewhere cheap and making way more than the norm. Can I ask what the dad of 6 does whose wife stays at home?

But unlike asmom I think people can afford to save for retirement while staying at home it's just that they make a lot more than I would ever expect!

[J.Apple902]

You are 26 so things like government debt scare you.

I just turned 42 so I am scared of things like cancer, heart disease, and missing the latest episode of wheel of fortune (ok, not quite that old yet).

Government debt does not scare me at all, per say. Maybe there was same confusion, but it's the nature of the debt of the entire world that scares me. It's the perception of a system that is a bunch of countries that all work together for the better of the world, and that they keep companies in check. This is all totally false, which is the nature of this post.

Being 26 has nothing to do with anything. My goal is to talk about this as much as possible so young people are aware; I am afraid most people are either oblivious, or know a enough to be concerned but ignore the issues. Hearing that you worry about missing wheel of fortune is gross to me because I could not imagine a bigger waste of time. If someone can't invest time to benefit their financial outlook, I'm sure that person could be enhancing their knowledge/skills that would make them a better individual overall. Learning should never cease. Turn off the tv.

[ua_guy]

Government debt does not scare me at all, per say. Maybe there was same confusion, but it's the nature of the debt of the entire world that scares me. It's the perception of a system that is a bunch of countries that all work together for the better of the world, and that they keep companies in check. This is all totally false, which is the nature of this post.

Being 26 has nothing to do with anything. My goal is to talk about this as much as possible so young people are aware; I am afraid most people are either oblivious, or know a enough to be concerned but ignore the issues. Hearing that you worry about missing wheel of fortune is gross to me because I could not imagine a bigger waste of time. If someone can't invest time to benefit their financial outlook, I'm sure that person could be enhancing their knowledge/skills that would make them a better individual overall. Learning should never cease. Turn off the tv.

I find your comment to be off-base, and you have no grounds to judge what people do in their spare time. Your own palms could tell stories of some of the time you've wasted, I'm sure.

You do have some valid concerns. However, the number one killer in the world is still heart disease. Take a deep breath, listen to an old song by Baz Luhrmann, and relax.

[PRICEPLUS]

Not afraid. I don't worry about what others have or make. I only worry about what I get to make and keep.

[YLTL_Dan]

I highly disagree we're living like we did in the dark ages. I'm 31 years old and am doing much better than my parents ever did. In fact, I paid off $50k in debt, saved up money, remodeled a house, sold it, and we're now traveling for 9 months thanks to the proceeds.

We've seen the dark ages during our travel and if you're living in the US, your problems are much smaller than the rest of the world. How about Myanmar where a military regime has left the country in shambles and most its citizens barely scrape by. The only "lucky ones" are the ones who can buy their way into a government job. Don't even get me started on India where the poor will always remain poor thanks to their caste system - and their poor isn't even close to what we consider poor in the US.

The US is still the land of opportunity. You can start a business whenever you'd like, you don't fear the government like you do in China or Vietnam who could take you down at any moment, education is available to everyone (unlike most other countries), and it's safe. I love the USA and am so lucky to live there.

[Snodog]

It is encouraging to see the younger generation aware of these issues so I commend you. The younger generation is generally more aware than the older folks so there is hope. I'm 44 and started learning about these things a few years ago and now sometimes kind of regret it. Ignorance IS bliss! I'm only half joking as the most important thing we can do is to learn these things and tell others at this point. I agree with the comment someone made about Monopoly earlier but the game being played out right now may more closely resemble a game of Risk, but with real people.