Gone with the Globalization, that is the US Middle Class

[SK in CV]

[quote=sdrealtor]
I ask the last 3 posters (Araya, patb & SK in CV) are you more successful, more educated and living a fuller life than your grand dad or are you the new underclass?[/quote]

I’m not sure that’s a material question. My grandfater was born in 1883. He escaped czarist Russia and came to the US somewhere around 1914. He spent his life as a merchant in a tiny town in the midwest. I doubt he ever considered whether he was rich or poor. He kept his wife and kids fed, but never made enough to retire. But he was almost 60 years old by the time the post WWII middle class in this country began to emerge. If somehow he’d had the financial wherewithal to participate in a middle class lifestyle, I suspect he would have declined the opportunity. Probably wouldn’t have fit in very well with his political anarchist/communist philosophies.

[drboom]

[quote=walterwhite]Gosh I feel torn. I agree with arrays but I also agree with temekuguy. Can they both be right in som way? Does it come down to how you view the proper measure of happiness societally?[/quote]

Success, a reasonable proxy for happiness, boils down to “doing better than the other guy”.

If the Flying Spaghetti Monster appeared in the sky and magically made us all equally rich, we’d find or invent another definition of success because that’s the human thing to do.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.
–Epicurus

[drboom]

[quote=walterwhite]Gosh I feel torn. I agree with arrays but I also agree with temekuguy. Can they both be right in som way? Does it come down to how you view the proper measure of happiness societally?[/quote]

Success, a reasonable proxy for happiness, boils down to “doing better than the other guy”.

If the Flying Spaghetti Monster appeared in the sky and magically made us all equally rich, we’d find or invent another definition of success because that’s the human thing to do.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.
–Epicurus

[drboom]

[quote=walterwhite]Gosh I feel torn. I agree with arrays but I also agree with temekuguy. Can they both be right in som way? Does it come down to how you view the proper measure of happiness societally?[/quote]

Success, a reasonable proxy for happiness, boils down to “doing better than the other guy”.

If the Flying Spaghetti Monster appeared in the sky and magically made us all equally rich, we’d find or invent another definition of success because that’s the human thing to do.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.
–Epicurus

[drboom]

[quote=walterwhite]Gosh I feel torn. I agree with arrays but I also agree with temekuguy. Can they both be right in som way? Does it come down to how you view the proper measure of happiness societally?[/quote]

Success, a reasonable proxy for happiness, boils down to “doing better than the other guy”.

If the Flying Spaghetti Monster appeared in the sky and magically made us all equally rich, we’d find or invent another definition of success because that’s the human thing to do.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.
–Epicurus

[drboom]

[quote=walterwhite]Gosh I feel torn. I agree with arrays but I also agree with temekuguy. Can they both be right in som way? Does it come down to how you view the proper measure of happiness societally?[/quote]

Success, a reasonable proxy for happiness, boils down to “doing better than the other guy”.

If the Flying Spaghetti Monster appeared in the sky and magically made us all equally rich, we’d find or invent another definition of success because that’s the human thing to do.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.
–Epicurus

[patb]

“are you more successful, more educated and living a fuller life than your grand dad”

i had 2 grandfathers.

My paternal GF stayed in asia, but he got a PhD (cheap), raised 6 kids, had a 5 plex house in a nice area.

he lacked consumer goods but he had a great career
and great life.

my maternal GF came here after the war as a state employee in meat inspection, he bought a house, raised 5 kids, had a disabled wife, died in a hospital.

my dad had 5 kids, decent houses, paid very little for medicine, never had health insurance.

me no kids, cheap apt, some cool toys,
but i’ve never been able to afford a house.
the prices are astronomical.

my dads first house was 14K, my first car cost that much and it was a chevy.

Dad started 4 companies but could always work as a programmer.

me IT is all offshore.

[patb]

“are you more successful, more educated and living a fuller life than your grand dad”

i had 2 grandfathers.

My paternal GF stayed in asia, but he got a PhD (cheap), raised 6 kids, had a 5 plex house in a nice area.

he lacked consumer goods but he had a great career
and great life.

my maternal GF came here after the war as a state employee in meat inspection, he bought a house, raised 5 kids, had a disabled wife, died in a hospital.

my dad had 5 kids, decent houses, paid very little for medicine, never had health insurance.

me no kids, cheap apt, some cool toys,
but i’ve never been able to afford a house.
the prices are astronomical.

my dads first house was 14K, my first car cost that much and it was a chevy.

Dad started 4 companies but could always work as a programmer.

me IT is all offshore.

[patb]

“are you more successful, more educated and living a fuller life than your grand dad”

i had 2 grandfathers.

My paternal GF stayed in asia, but he got a PhD (cheap), raised 6 kids, had a 5 plex house in a nice area.

he lacked consumer goods but he had a great career
and great life.

my maternal GF came here after the war as a state employee in meat inspection, he bought a house, raised 5 kids, had a disabled wife, died in a hospital.

my dad had 5 kids, decent houses, paid very little for medicine, never had health insurance.

me no kids, cheap apt, some cool toys,
but i’ve never been able to afford a house.
the prices are astronomical.

my dads first house was 14K, my first car cost that much and it was a chevy.

Dad started 4 companies but could always work as a programmer.

me IT is all offshore.

[patb]

“are you more successful, more educated and living a fuller life than your grand dad”

i had 2 grandfathers.

My paternal GF stayed in asia, but he got a PhD (cheap), raised 6 kids, had a 5 plex house in a nice area.

he lacked consumer goods but he had a great career
and great life.

my maternal GF came here after the war as a state employee in meat inspection, he bought a house, raised 5 kids, had a disabled wife, died in a hospital.

my dad had 5 kids, decent houses, paid very little for medicine, never had health insurance.

me no kids, cheap apt, some cool toys,
but i’ve never been able to afford a house.
the prices are astronomical.

my dads first house was 14K, my first car cost that much and it was a chevy.

Dad started 4 companies but could always work as a programmer.

me IT is all offshore.

[patb]

“are you more successful, more educated and living a fuller life than your grand dad”

i had 2 grandfathers.

My paternal GF stayed in asia, but he got a PhD (cheap), raised 6 kids, had a 5 plex house in a nice area.

he lacked consumer goods but he had a great career
and great life.

my maternal GF came here after the war as a state employee in meat inspection, he bought a house, raised 5 kids, had a disabled wife, died in a hospital.

my dad had 5 kids, decent houses, paid very little for medicine, never had health insurance.

me no kids, cheap apt, some cool toys,
but i’ve never been able to afford a house.
the prices are astronomical.

my dads first house was 14K, my first car cost that much and it was a chevy.

Dad started 4 companies but could always work as a programmer.

me IT is all offshore.

[sdrealtor]

So SK is living a far better life than Grand Dad. How about Dad?

patb you sound like you are fairly young comparing yourself at this age with what your grand dad/dad accomplished over their entire lives. When, Where and what was Dad’s 14K home? How about when they were your age? Could they afford cool toys? Maybe they chose buying a small home in an area you wouldnt consider instead of cool toys at this stage of their lives? I’m sure they adjusted to changes in the world during their lives. With IT getting offshored maybe its time to adjust also. Why not go back to Asia to get a cheap phd, live in 5 plex and have 5 kids? Not that you said it was but life isnt supposed to be easy.

[sdrealtor]

So SK is living a far better life than Grand Dad. How about Dad?

patb you sound like you are fairly young comparing yourself at this age with what your grand dad/dad accomplished over their entire lives. When, Where and what was Dad’s 14K home? How about when they were your age? Could they afford cool toys? Maybe they chose buying a small home in an area you wouldnt consider instead of cool toys at this stage of their lives? I’m sure they adjusted to changes in the world during their lives. With IT getting offshored maybe its time to adjust also. Why not go back to Asia to get a cheap phd, live in 5 plex and have 5 kids? Not that you said it was but life isnt supposed to be easy.

[sdrealtor]

So SK is living a far better life than Grand Dad. How about Dad?

patb you sound like you are fairly young comparing yourself at this age with what your grand dad/dad accomplished over their entire lives. When, Where and what was Dad’s 14K home? How about when they were your age? Could they afford cool toys? Maybe they chose buying a small home in an area you wouldnt consider instead of cool toys at this stage of their lives? I’m sure they adjusted to changes in the world during their lives. With IT getting offshored maybe its time to adjust also. Why not go back to Asia to get a cheap phd, live in 5 plex and have 5 kids? Not that you said it was but life isnt supposed to be easy.

[sdrealtor]

So SK is living a far better life than Grand Dad. How about Dad?

patb you sound like you are fairly young comparing yourself at this age with what your grand dad/dad accomplished over their entire lives. When, Where and what was Dad’s 14K home? How about when they were your age? Could they afford cool toys? Maybe they chose buying a small home in an area you wouldnt consider instead of cool toys at this stage of their lives? I’m sure they adjusted to changes in the world during their lives. With IT getting offshored maybe its time to adjust also. Why not go back to Asia to get a cheap phd, live in 5 plex and have 5 kids? Not that you said it was but life isnt supposed to be easy.

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