Shadow inventory finally being released ?

[CA renter]

Good post, Scarlett.

…………………..

BG,

You’re mistaking technological improvements for “increased wealth.” Though we are taught to think this way (by the elite, who control our schools and economic theories — this makes it easier for them to “justify” the further concentration of wealth), that is not how wealth is measured. Wealth is not measured longitudinally through time, but rather synchronically, by taking a cross-sectional look at the percentage of the world’s resources/wealth one controls at a given point in time.

Most people didn’t have color in the 1950s because color TVs didn’t really exist in any numbers. Advances can be made in technology that can make it **cheaper** to produce a superior product than its predecessor. The fact that we’ve made this progess is remarkable and beneficial, but it does not mean that people are “wealthier” than they otherwise would be.

Wealth is measured relative to one’s peers. Therefore, if a family has less wealth than his/her peers vs. what their parents had compared to their peers in the past, one can say that today’s family less wealthy than their parents, even though technological improvements might have made things more convenient or nicer for them.

[Scarlett]

To add to CA R’s post – society simply changed. You can’t turn the clock back. We are not going to live like our (grand)parents. It’s just that simple. Like color TV. Or High speed internet and computers and cell phones. They are needed, and you are expected to have the latter in many jobs. You are expected to drive (or be chauffeured) to a lot of places, beside work. Sure, you can save some by not buying the latest models, or buy used, or cheaper, generic brands and such.

I am talking macroscopic, as a group, about the average middle class person. I am sure there are middle class families who have to, or really want to pinch pennies, that can squeeze by without having those, or buying expired food, shop only at Goodwill, etc. but let’s face it, they are in a small minority. In the generation past, our parents (again, in general, on average) did not have to go to extreme measure to live happily on one income just the same as their friends and neighbors were doing. It’s not about keeping up with Joneses. The buying power of the”median” was just very different.

[Scarlett]

To add to CA R’s post – society simply changed. You can’t turn the clock back. We are not going to live like our (grand)parents. It’s just that simple. Like color TV. Or High speed internet and computers and cell phones. They are needed, and you are expected to have the latter in many jobs. You are expected to drive (or be chauffeured) to a lot of places, beside work. Sure, you can save some by not buying the latest models, or buy used, or cheaper, generic brands and such.

I am talking macroscopic, as a group, about the average middle class person. I am sure there are middle class families who have to, or really want to pinch pennies, that can squeeze by without having those, or buying expired food, shop only at Goodwill, etc. but let’s face it, they are in a small minority. In the generation past, our parents (again, in general, on average) did not have to go to extreme measure to live happily on one income just the same as their friends and neighbors were doing. It’s not about keeping up with Joneses. The buying power of the”median” was just very different.

[Scarlett]

To add to CA R’s post – society simply changed. You can’t turn the clock back. We are not going to live like our (grand)parents. It’s just that simple. Like color TV. Or High speed internet and computers and cell phones. They are needed, and you are expected to have the latter in many jobs. You are expected to drive (or be chauffeured) to a lot of places, beside work. Sure, you can save some by not buying the latest models, or buy used, or cheaper, generic brands and such.

I am talking macroscopic, as a group, about the average middle class person. I am sure there are middle class families who have to, or really want to pinch pennies, that can squeeze by without having those, or buying expired food, shop only at Goodwill, etc. but let’s face it, they are in a small minority. In the generation past, our parents (again, in general, on average) did not have to go to extreme measure to live happily on one income just the same as their friends and neighbors were doing. It’s not about keeping up with Joneses. The buying power of the”median” was just very different.

[Scarlett]

To add to CA R’s post – society simply changed. You can’t turn the clock back. We are not going to live like our (grand)parents. It’s just that simple. Like color TV. Or High speed internet and computers and cell phones. They are needed, and you are expected to have the latter in many jobs. You are expected to drive (or be chauffeured) to a lot of places, beside work. Sure, you can save some by not buying the latest models, or buy used, or cheaper, generic brands and such.

I am talking macroscopic, as a group, about the average middle class person. I am sure there are middle class families who have to, or really want to pinch pennies, that can squeeze by without having those, or buying expired food, shop only at Goodwill, etc. but let’s face it, they are in a small minority. In the generation past, our parents (again, in general, on average) did not have to go to extreme measure to live happily on one income just the same as their friends and neighbors were doing. It’s not about keeping up with Joneses. The buying power of the”median” was just very different.

[Scarlett]

To add to CA R’s post – society simply changed. You can’t turn the clock back. We are not going to live like our (grand)parents. It’s just that simple. Like color TV. Or High speed internet and computers and cell phones. They are needed, and you are expected to have the latter in many jobs. You are expected to drive (or be chauffeured) to a lot of places, beside work. Sure, you can save some by not buying the latest models, or buy used, or cheaper, generic brands and such.

I am talking macroscopic, as a group, about the average middle class person. I am sure there are middle class families who have to, or really want to pinch pennies, that can squeeze by without having those, or buying expired food, shop only at Goodwill, etc. but let’s face it, they are in a small minority. In the generation past, our parents (again, in general, on average) did not have to go to extreme measure to live happily on one income just the same as their friends and neighbors were doing. It’s not about keeping up with Joneses. The buying power of the”median” was just very different.

[Scarlett]

Back in the 1950 and 1960, the median home price was roughly just below TWO times the median household income – which was then predominantly ONE income.

Nowadays, the median home price is roughly THREE times the median household income – which is at least 1.5 full-time incomes, if not close to TWO incomes. In San Diego that ratio is probably even larger.

The full college tuition at Caltech (relative to the household income) then compared to now….
The cost of healthcare then compared to now….

Now most dual income households have parents that commute close to 1 hr each way. Add cost of gas, insurance and car maintenance. They have to put the kids in camps during vacations and in afterhours during school time. Translation – other expenses.

Need I go on?

How exactly we are not poorer than our parents?

[Scarlett]

Back in the 1950 and 1960, the median home price was roughly just below TWO times the median household income – which was then predominantly ONE income.

Nowadays, the median home price is roughly THREE times the median household income – which is at least 1.5 full-time incomes, if not close to TWO incomes. In San Diego that ratio is probably even larger.

The full college tuition at Caltech (relative to the household income) then compared to now….
The cost of healthcare then compared to now….

Now most dual income households have parents that commute close to 1 hr each way. Add cost of gas, insurance and car maintenance. They have to put the kids in camps during vacations and in afterhours during school time. Translation – other expenses.

Need I go on?

How exactly we are not poorer than our parents?

[Scarlett]

Back in the 1950 and 1960, the median home price was roughly just below TWO times the median household income – which was then predominantly ONE income.

Nowadays, the median home price is roughly THREE times the median household income – which is at least 1.5 full-time incomes, if not close to TWO incomes. In San Diego that ratio is probably even larger.

The full college tuition at Caltech (relative to the household income) then compared to now….
The cost of healthcare then compared to now….

Now most dual income households have parents that commute close to 1 hr each way. Add cost of gas, insurance and car maintenance. They have to put the kids in camps during vacations and in afterhours during school time. Translation – other expenses.

Need I go on?

How exactly we are not poorer than our parents?

[Scarlett]

Back in the 1950 and 1960, the median home price was roughly just below TWO times the median household income – which was then predominantly ONE income.

Nowadays, the median home price is roughly THREE times the median household income – which is at least 1.5 full-time incomes, if not close to TWO incomes. In San Diego that ratio is probably even larger.

The full college tuition at Caltech (relative to the household income) then compared to now….
The cost of healthcare then compared to now….

Now most dual income households have parents that commute close to 1 hr each way. Add cost of gas, insurance and car maintenance. They have to put the kids in camps during vacations and in afterhours during school time. Translation – other expenses.

Need I go on?

How exactly we are not poorer than our parents?

[Scarlett]

Back in the 1950 and 1960, the median home price was roughly just below TWO times the median household income – which was then predominantly ONE income.

Nowadays, the median home price is roughly THREE times the median household income – which is at least 1.5 full-time incomes, if not close to TWO incomes. In San Diego that ratio is probably even larger.

The full college tuition at Caltech (relative to the household income) then compared to now….
The cost of healthcare then compared to now….

Now most dual income households have parents that commute close to 1 hr each way. Add cost of gas, insurance and car maintenance. They have to put the kids in camps during vacations and in afterhours during school time. Translation – other expenses.

Need I go on?

How exactly we are not poorer than our parents?

[Ren]

I was pondering the wealth-through-time question recently. We have more comforts and much cooler toys than a king of 1,000 years ago, even if we have far less “wealth”. I’ll take my flush toilet and memory foam over his treasure room (and his 40-year, disease and infection-ridden life) every day of the week.

I think we can safely throw any two-income rule out the window, as it all depends on the area. We live in Temecula and have two SD incomes, which makes us wealthy compared to many of our neighbors. That extra income is all savings. If we owned a comparable house near the coast, we would be living close to the edge of our means even with the two incomes, which I agree is the worst position to be in. Security first, material things second.

[Ren]

I was pondering the wealth-through-time question recently. We have more comforts and much cooler toys than a king of 1,000 years ago, even if we have far less “wealth”. I’ll take my flush toilet and memory foam over his treasure room (and his 40-year, disease and infection-ridden life) every day of the week.

I think we can safely throw any two-income rule out the window, as it all depends on the area. We live in Temecula and have two SD incomes, which makes us wealthy compared to many of our neighbors. That extra income is all savings. If we owned a comparable house near the coast, we would be living close to the edge of our means even with the two incomes, which I agree is the worst position to be in. Security first, material things second.

[Ren]

I was pondering the wealth-through-time question recently. We have more comforts and much cooler toys than a king of 1,000 years ago, even if we have far less “wealth”. I’ll take my flush toilet and memory foam over his treasure room (and his 40-year, disease and infection-ridden life) every day of the week.

I think we can safely throw any two-income rule out the window, as it all depends on the area. We live in Temecula and have two SD incomes, which makes us wealthy compared to many of our neighbors. That extra income is all savings. If we owned a comparable house near the coast, we would be living close to the edge of our means even with the two incomes, which I agree is the worst position to be in. Security first, material things second.

[Ren]

I was pondering the wealth-through-time question recently. We have more comforts and much cooler toys than a king of 1,000 years ago, even if we have far less “wealth”. I’ll take my flush toilet and memory foam over his treasure room (and his 40-year, disease and infection-ridden life) every day of the week.

I think we can safely throw any two-income rule out the window, as it all depends on the area. We live in Temecula and have two SD incomes, which makes us wealthy compared to many of our neighbors. That extra income is all savings. If we owned a comparable house near the coast, we would be living close to the edge of our means even with the two incomes, which I agree is the worst position to be in. Security first, material things second.

[Author]

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