ybc, I read the article and what comes to my mind is that those under-paid individuals need to get better jobs. I know it is easier said than done, but if a person just accepts their circumstances, then they aren’t going to improve. Back in the late 70’s, early 80’s I was working in HVAC, running service calls for a small company. I went to night school and changed my career to computers. Ended up working repairing PCs, then programming. It took a lot of hard work to make the switch. Actually took a cut in pay to get into the computer field. But now my salary is at least double, maybe triple of what I would have been making if I had stayed doing what I was doing. Nobody handed me anything. I had to work my ass off for it.

I just read an article on MSNBC about credit card use is up and refi’s are down. I’m sure that people are now using the CC’s to pay for gas to get to work and really juggling things. The local news has been reporting that pawn shops are doing more business. They interviewed someone in the shop that stated they were pawning stuff to buy gas. The state of affairs does make me nervous.

Finally, I agree with the poster that talked about the ‘want it now’ syndrome. In the past you did save for things. Now, it is extremely rare to see people saving for an item, when they can give themselves a loan right on the spot. It is so crazy. The question isn’t “how much does it cost?’, it is “how much is the payment?”.