Are Americans Really That Dumb?

**Stumpy** · 08-04-2011, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by Koojo

median family income in US is $45,000. Not bad for a bunch of uneducated peasants.

That means abslotely nothing. it equates to $3,750 a month, or 866.50 a week for a family.
Take taxes right off top. mortgage payments, insurance, school fees, energy fees and all the other costs associated with feeding and clothing a family, not to mention gas and where are you?
Not stashing anything in the bank for a rainy day I can tell you.
It means nothing if you're earning 45,000 but you need 50,000 just to stay afloat.
I suppose they could move to a trailer park, ditch the insurance, sell the car and buy a 20 year old clunker.
Another thing, all median figures indicate is that the top figures are extremely high.

What are the median families outgoings, any figures?

The american dream as portrayed by the media.

Fedral Tax (32%)
State tax (8%)
Sales Tax (8%)
Mortgage payments? - 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 4 garage suburban macmansion ( $1500 to $3200 ) Way more more in California ( $3500 to $6000
Land taxes (1.5% of assessed property value)
Utility bills - gas, electric, telephone, cable, broadband (~ $1000 including 4 cell phones)
Food ( $ 600 )
petrol: (To broad as people commute a long way for work but use $400 a month)
two car repayments ( figure $1000 a month ) This is probably low. Most car payments are $750 or more a month
House, life, car and medical insurance - two adults and two children ( ~$600 a month )
School fees (totally depends on Private Vs Public School)
Clothing (~$300 to $500 a month) Way more in Metro areas like NY, Calif, Etc. Have to keep up with Joneses)
Holidays - 4 business class air tickets, 5 star Caribbean hotel family holiday, skiing in Colorado for same, during winter( N/A, Cannot afford. If most do go they Charge it and put on Credit card and pay 28% interest)
Visits to "restaurants" twice a week - family (~ $400 a month)
Alcohol/drugs

OhOh,
If you add up the above mentioned monthly costs (excluding Drugs and Alcohol), the avg American lives check to check and most are really are underwater. In the the US the stats are based on DINC( Double Income) Meaning both parents HAVE to work. This is especially troubling as the children of these DINC's are latch key. Most have no supervision, no parental guidance. The parents have decided that owning a big house in a gated community, having a couple new cars like BMW's or high dollar SUV's, is more important then raising their children properly. Now I am not saying you need a stay at home parent but most parents go to work before their children go off to school and are home long after they are home. I personally believe this is why US education system is failing. Teachers are not asked to teach, they are asked to babysit snot nosed undisciplined children.

**Panda** · 08-04-2011, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by JPPR2

OhOh,
If you add up the above mentioned monthly costs (excluding Drugs and Alcohol), the avg American lives check to check and most are really are underwater. In the the US the stats are based on DINC( Double Income) Meaning both parents HAVE to work. This is especially troubling as the children of these DINC's are latch key. Most have no supervision, no parental guidance. The parents have decided that owning a big house in a gated community, having a couple new cars like BMW's or high dollar SUV's, is more important then raising their children properly. Now I am not saying you need a stay at home parent but most parents go to work before their children go off to school and are home long after they are home. I personally believe this is why US education system is failing. Teachers are not asked to teach, they are asked to babysit snot nosed undisciplined children.

Same problem the world over these days since the Feminist Revolution, not just USA. Family incomes are now based on "double" incomes and producing kids interferes in that. It means we can afford bigger houses and better cars, but when the kids come along it all goes to shit. 75% of cases its the women who bail out and cash in the hubby. Then it all starts again on the parents without partners scene looking for a better deal. A social shift I dont necessarily disagree with in principle, but one that has created some unintended consequences.

**Norton** · 08-04-2011, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by Panda

A social shift I dont necessarily disagree with in principle, but one that has created some unintended consequences.

Quantity over quality. Suppose most countries are or are moving that direction but Americans lead the pack.

**OhOh** · 08-04-2011, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Panda

Same problem the world over these days since the Feminist Revolution, not just USA

Not feminism, capitalism. Entice the sheeple with ads, government and bank decree get them hooked on the opium of perceived success.

Originally Posted by Norton

but Americans lead the pack

The UK has followed the same model to it's obvious detriment, not withstanding Prime Minister/Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown "saving the world" in 2008.

**rickschoppers** · 08-04-2011, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by Panda

Same problem the world over these days since the Feminist Revolution, not just USA

Not feminism, capitalism. Entice the sheeple with ads, government and bank decree get them hooked on the opium of perceived success.

But keep them just broke enough to work until they die so that they can feed the capitalistic machine and pay taxes. Live paycheck to paycheck and never get ahead since not working is considered a taboo.
I got caught up in this rat race and am finally getting out in 8 months. Many will not be as lucky.

**Stumpy** · 08-04-2011, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by OhOh

Originally Posted by Panda

Same problem the world over these days since the Feminist Revolution, not just USA

Not feminism, capitalism. Entice the sheeple with ads, government and bank decree get them hooked on the opium of perceived success.

Originally Posted by Norton

but Americans lead the pack

The UK has followed the same model to it's obvious detriment, not withstanding Prime Minister/Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown "saving the world" in 2008.

^ Truth be told, Capitalism... Enjoy it as my Avatars states. Feminism is based on women wanting to be better then the man or as they call it "Equal".

In the end people in US have not learned how to live with less. The US is a country of relentless consumerism. People do nothing but strive to "one up" their neighbors and have better clothes, nicer cars, children in better schools etc. Why do they have a nice 1500 to 1800 sq ft, 3 bedroom median size home in an avg neighborhood with a very affordable mortgage that suits them perfectly yet will sell it to go massively in debt to buy a 5 bedroom 3500 sq ft home in a gated community and now have to fill it with top notch designer home furnishings. Shortly after that the sedan, that was paid for, is no longer acceptable. They need a BMW, Mercedes Benz SUV to play the part. Now it takes 2 incomes to just survive. What happens when one loses their jobs? Yep, where the US is today. National 22% car loan default and 13% home vacancy. I pity most of them. They simply do not get it. To me it tells me they really do not know what happiness is as they live for what others THINK of them rather then what they think of themslves.

**superman** · 17-04-2011, 10:21 AM

It speaks volumes.

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Not since the 1918 inverted "Jenny" stamp, which features a Curtiss Jenny airplane in flight, mistakenly printed upside down, has there been such a weird oversight on a stamp This time, the US Postal Service did not use a picture of the real Statue of Liberty in N.Y Harbor on a stamp celebrating Lady Liberty’s anniversary. Instead, they used a picture of a similar statue in Las Vegas.

The postal service thought the “Lady Liberty Forever” stamp featured the real thing. They found out otherwise when a stamp collector got suspicious and contacted Linn’s Stamp News, the essential magazine for stamp collectors and went postal. There are obvious differences. For one thing, the Vegas statue is half the size of the real Statue of Liberty. Also the hair is different and the Vegas replica’s eyes are more sharply defined. And there’s a rectangular patch on the replica’s center spike. The postal service is standing by the stamp but changing the information material about it.

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