[lifeisgood]

I never said that H1-B’s didn’t want to come here. I said they could care less about America other than the U.S. being a conduit to a better life. If they had the same opportunities in their own country, they wouldn’t move here. I just read an article that Disney hired 200 H1-B’s and had their employees that are being replaced, train them. To say that big companies aren’t abusing the system is naïve. “Google” H1-B abuse and you will find MANY articles of BIG companies abusing the system. My ONLY problem with the H1-B system is that I truly believe that immigrants are being hired over Americans who have the same level of skill but won’t take less pay for the position. It’s common sense to hire immigrants who in the long run will deliver the same product at less long term cost to the company. I do believe that a lot of companies out there don’t abuse it, but there are a crap ton that do.
I’m also willing to admit that people who come from sub par countries most likely work harder than our entitled society. So some of this problem is on the U.S.

[lifeisgood]

We all know that todays economy and job market are not as good as it has been in the past. Wouldn’t it be a realistic argument that today kids should be better prepared for failure than any other generation in our history? With that said, shouldn’t we as parents tell our kids the truth when it comes to their abilities? We as parents should instill a sense of reality into our children to ensure that they understand that they can’t have or achieve everything that they want. Being realistic is one of the hardest things to overcome as a parent. My mother had three boys and we were all different regardless of the raising that she gave us. She tried her best to tell us that the real world sucked and that no one cares about you as much as your family. To this day I still remember this. I don’t expect anything to be given to me, only to be earned. I hear a lot of kids that have a hard time finding a job complaining about the salary that was offered. What ever happened to working from the bottom to earn a way to the top? American kids today have a sense of entitlement and as long as that continues, we will see more and more chinese and indians being hired by companies like Qualcom and others. The Chinese and Indians will work long hours and not complain. I don’t feel like American children would do the same thing without complaining. It’s almost like you can’t blame the big companies to hire outside of the U.S.

[lifeisgood]

It’s interesting to see a post like this from a few years back. Many believed that it was stupid to buy a home in the middle of 2009. I’m sure glad that we did. I once posted on what the housing market in 4s ranch would do after we bought in March of 2009. Many posters responded that it would go down in value. We bought at 205sqft and now homes are selling for 260sqft +. I hope we keep the tough lending standards up so that we don’t have another unqualified buying frenzy.

[lifeisgood]

I think there is an argument to be made for having HOA and not. I live in 4S and love it. My wife and I looked at many properties before we decided that 4S made since to us. The homes that we looked at, that were comparable in square footage and amenities, were 100,000+ more than we paid. The cost in our mortgage with the added fees kind of balanced out with this in mind. We do pay mello-roos/HOA and would rather not, but we justify it because we would pay the same amount for a used house that is comparable. To speak to HOA, I am for it. We already have neighbors that are pushing the boundaries but I’ve seen worse in other neighborhoods. I do believe that another persons decisions towards their house could adversely affect our home value. I don’t want anything to do with that. Just my opinion.

[lifeisgood]

We looked at both properties when they were for sale. I wasn’t concerned at all after reviewing the repair work that the builder performed. After speaking with a geological engineer, I was informed that the soil issues that these homes were experiencing were quite common in San Diego. He told me that all the soil in San Diego is exspansive, but some is worse that others. It is a mixtrure of moisture and the clay soil that we have here that causes the damage. Some soil expands more that others causing more severe damage. If engineers can remove the moisture from the soil then the problem is solved. This property and the ones directly adjacent had curtain walls placed around the foundation to keep the moisture from entering below the foundation. They did these repairs 4 or 5 years ago. It looks like the repairs worked and there will not be any future problems. Obviously the buyers felt the same way, due to the homes selling above asking price. To each his own. This type of problem is why there are so many construction defect attorneys in San Diego. San Diego’s soil sucks. I believe that these homes are like fortresses after the repairs that were performed. Much stronger than other homes. My two cents.

[lifeisgood]

flu wrote:
But I think the point here is…This isn’t a generation thing. This is an “american people spend more money than they have” thing which doesn’t skip generations.[/quote]

Love this!

[lifeisgood]

This post has officially been hijacked into what to do in Arizona. Funny!

[lifeisgood]

I’m actually glad that someone is taking a stand in our neighborhood. It’s about time someone made these service providers accountable for their actions. I believe that most people who are unhappy never speak up. If they did, then the level of work would certainly go up. Even the landscaper we hired had a sense of entitlement once the contract was signed. Where’s the service after the sale?

[lifeisgood]

I assume that the poster has given factual information. Went by today and the signs were ripped down. Either way, the landscaper would first have to prove who put the signs up in the first place. That to me would be the hardest thing to prove.

[lifeisgood]

[quote=poorgradstudent]Honestly, the people who waste money on their kids aren’t people we need to worry about. They’re the top 10% and 1% of income earners, people who will be able to afford to send their kid to whatever college and will have reasonably comfortable retirements. It’s not the poor families having modest birthday parties at Mission Bay on the weekends that are buying fancy clothes and diaper bags for their babies.

I disagree. This is exactly what I’m talking about. These poorer people are the people buying fancy clothes and diaper bags for their babies. Again, most people on this forum do not fall into this category. You have to admit that this city and many other have a keeping up with the Jones’ mentality. We CAN raise our children cheaper, without keeping them from growing mentally and physically, if we really wanted to.

[lifeisgood]

First of all thanks for everyones comments on this topic. As suspected, most people that utilize this forum do a bang up job with their hard earned money and make good decisions when it comes to buying stuff for their children. I’m not saying that you can not have different priorities as to what you feel is important to splurge on, but that I think that a lot of parents in this city and many others do not think like most of you. I think there is sometimes an unrealistic standard that a lot of parents feel they need to live by when raising their chidren. My wife and I have many friends from many different financial situations. It’s very apparent that there is some competition amongst many of them when it comes to selecting items and activities that they deem important. As far as sports and other activities, I also believe in letting my children try things out. Some parents do not know when to remove their uniterested child from these activities. I would not let my child sit at home on the couch and do nothing all day either. After two years of little league, it was apparent that my son was just going through the motions. He did not play the next year where many of the other uninterested children were forced to by their parents.

[lifeisgood]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=Rhett]…On the other hand, if Tulsa is ahead of us on that list, it is a head scratcher.[/quote]

Rhett, you would have to visit yourself to believe it. Tanning salons in practically every strip mall. That is … to cater to the “portion of Tulsanians” that actually need a tan, lol!

Very much a “keeping up with the Joneses” environment going on there :=0[/quote]

I would have to say that there is a keeping up with the Joneses attitude in all the cities listed. I was a Marine Corps recruiter from 2004-2007, and I was incredibly surprised how todays youth have a since of entitlement. It isn’t their fault. I believe that children have to be taught what is expected out of life by their parents. To me it all starts with teaching kids to earn what they get. I believe that most people on this site teach their kids how to earn. It’s the rest of this world that we live in that are missing the boat on this very important life lesson.

[lifeisgood]

[quote=Rhett]I get what you’re saying, and if I knew then what I knew now, I’d buy a lot more hand-me-downs, but the stroller is a bad example. We used a stroller every day, at least a half hour if not an hour a day, for almost the first three years of our daughter’s life. We started out with a Graco set (with a matching infant car seat), but quickly saw the value in a Peg Perego. We also got a good umbrella stroller (a MacLaren), because we needed something that was easily foldable yet durable. Total cost of both at the time – maybe around $350? Worth twice that much in my opinion.

This may sound like a picky point, but it’s not. At some point, you get a lot of value out of certain items, and it isn’t worth skimping. I’d cite an infinite amount of toys and games that never got used more than once or twice (or in some cases, never were used at all) as much bigger wastes than a stroller.

Let me guess – you pretty much drive everywhere so the stroller is not used that much?[/quote]

No, I use a stroller frequently. I just think that you are not the person that I was talking about. You know as well as I do that you can get good value for many items that cost much less than the brand name merchandise that is the norm in many uppity cities around the country. You can even get those brand name BOB’s and others on craigs list and other online auctions for much cheaper that are barely used. My main point is that I don’t think that parents are as thrifty as they should be. It’s everyones choice as to how much it costs to raise children. I just believe we can do it for less and get the same result.

[lifeisgood]

What I was speaking to was that I couldn’t justify spending a ton of money on a private school. I just haven’t seen any data that proves that it is worth it. I’d rather save the money for the piece of paper that means something to the future employer of my child. I do not expect to be able to save the entire cost of college tuition for my children, but at least help a bit.

[lifeisgood]

You said that if you don’t have money, you don’t have to do these luxury things. Is it not OK to have money and still not do those luxury things? I think that you can still raise your kids cheaply even if you have the funds to buy all of the things that you have pointed out. Most of the time parents put their kids in swimming lessons, piano lesson, and other various sports whether the kid wants to or not. You always see the kids playing soccer that actually want to be there and the ones that don’t. I think that society has driven parents to do certain things because they are socially accepted. Almost like they want to one up other parents. Shouldn’t we let kids decide what they are interested in? As far as private schools, I would like like to see the data that shows that a child going to a private school is worth the cost. Why not save that cost for tuition to a college? Isn’t that the diploma that counts anyways?

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