Certain individuals maybe better off but taken as a whole, working people, as a group are much worse off. The problem, the difference between the rich and poor continues to grow which is a problem.
Liriope wrote: Certain individuals maybe better off but taken as a whole, working people, as a group are much worse off. The problem, the difference between the rich and poor continues to grow which is a problem.
Where do you draw the line between poor, rich and super rich?
I think in the past thirty or so years, the lines have become increasingly blurred.
Now as we have seen, with easy credit and a never pay it off mentality, it is very difficult to tell by looking at houses, cars or Rvs who is rich and who is poor.
You can have a wealthy person driving a ten year old classC, that how he got wealthy.
You can have next to him a much poorer person upside down on a nice big classA.
My personal opinion is that the lower income and less wealthy people live more like the "rich" now than any time in history.
Looking at the respoces here a lot of us are retired and I guess better off then when we had to work.
The sad note falls on the middle class that are working for less, have little or no benifits and are in credit card debt to the nines. Those people do not know there was a better time as they don't have a clue about life in the sixtys or the Vietnam war. They might read about the "good ol'days" but they have no clue what it was not to think of what to work at but just where to go to work.
The gap between the rich and poor has never been so large. A long time ago Russia was asked what they would want from the US and the respoce was "the middle class!"
2008 Silverado D/A,CC 4x4 ,3.73,IBC LTZ+
2008 322FKS Jayco
17.5 Nova Craft canoe (49 lbs.)
2 Trek 1500 mountain bikes
Honda EU2000i
It must be time to go, the suns out and I've got a full tank of diesel and an empty charge card!
I have to say NO, and my no can probly speak for about 25 other people I used to work with too.
4 and more years ago the company I worked for was selling product and making profit. All of us were working overtime and being paid bonuses. New employess were being hired. Some of us advanced our positions and our pay rates. Some of us bought houses or new cars. Most of us had some extra money to spend, not alot, but enough to make life enjoyable.
Since then, company sales and profits declined. Employees were laid off. Bonuses decreased. Overtime turned into days off instead. Profits turned into losses. Insurance and gas costs increased. Adjustable mortgages increased. The cost of most things in general increased and our pay didn't keep up with the increases.
Eventually, the company discontinued the products we were making, shut down our location and we all lost our jobs. Company-wide (it's a national company), there have been layoffs and consolidations. The few who have found jobs took a sizeable cut in pay. I started my own business, but times are not easy and money is very tight.
So I would say, not only for me but for all the others who I used to work with, NO, we are NOT better off than we were 4 years ago.
Going by the record percentages of people on unemployment and losing their homes in the last year, as well as all the other businesses affected by the skyrocketing cost of fuel, transportation, manufacturing, etc, I would say the country, as a whole, is NOT better off now than 4 years ago.
We, as a country need to-
-decrease our dependence on foriegn oil
-decrease our dependence on oil in general
-increase use of alternative energy sources that actually work
-control our borders, illegal immigration, and drug trafficing into this country
-control foreign trade with China and other developing nations
-eliminate tax benefits for, and create incentives for, companies to keep manufacturing operations here in the US
-control out of control environmental laws
I could go on and on, but if we concentrate wholeheartedly on the above first, our country will start heading in the right direction and we can start working on the rest.
I think the perspective a lot of RVers have, (including myself) is that we are very fortunate to have embarked on taking the time from our live's to mix in RVing, or camping into them. I believe our families are much richer for it. On an RV Forum, all know the costs associated with RVing, and are willing to forego that expense as a quality way of life issue. For those many reasons, I think we can all agree that yes, we're much better off. Now let's get out and get those marshmallows roasted around the campfire tonight. After all, it's the weekend!
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