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Thread: How the middle class lifestyle became unaffordable.

  1. #1
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    How the middle class lifestyle became unaffordable.


  2. #2
    I tried to read the article but felt like I needed a master in Economics to understand what he was trying to say.

  3. #3
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  4. #4
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I'm not sure I understand the statement you are making with this...

  5. #5
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by U-Ute View Post
    I'm not sure I understand the statement you are making with this...
    I took as about disposable income being gone.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  6. #6
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by U-Ute View Post

    Found the wages vs productivity graph interesting and supports what I and many others have been saying for a long time. Each piece of technology that comes our way is billed as 'making our lives easier' but rarely do and in most instances make our lives harder but does make us more productive.

    For example, imagine 20 years ago if you came home from work and told your family that you wrote 120 notes of varying length and detail and had direct conversations with 40 other people. That would have been known as the craziest work day on record, but your day would have also ended.

    Now what I described with email, cell phones, text and IM/social media is completely commonplace and your day never ends. Emails stream in at all hours of the day and weekends and demand immediate response. Our bosses and or clients have reached into all hours of our lives. 20 years ago say your boss or clients called you on your old land line at home after work hours 3 or 4 times they'd be considered the biggest assholes of all time. Now I think everyone is doing that.

    So we are way more productive (well I might argue that people view shooting emails out at a blistering pace cc'ing everyone in sight is equated to productivity but actually reduces it) but our wages and often our actual quality of life never went up because of it.

    It is interesting to watch my Mom who while she does have a cell phone and does email etc, has kept herself largely out of most of these techs. She'll turn on her cell like once a day if she remembers to see if someone left her a message. She checks email maybe a few times a week. She always looks puzzled at her kids like, "Why are you doing this to yourselves?" We tease her about being tech savvy but she avoids the little stresses that don't matter but dominate our lives and just focuses on the stresses that actually matter.

    I would love if society drew a line where it is understood that when it comes to business nobody is going to answer their phones or emails or anything else after 6pm and before 8am and people will start ditching these devices and reclaim their lives and human interactions with people. This may be a 'first world problem' but I can't help but notice how inhumane life has become in this regard. Even when our species was fighting for each scrap of food that they caught, cultivated or killed themselves, the sun eventually went down at night and the work was done.
    Last edited by Rocker Ute; 05-10-2014 at 05:45 AM.

  8. #8
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker Ute View Post
    Found the wages vs productivity graph interesting and supports what I and many others have been saying for a long time. Each piece of technology that comes our way is billed as 'making our lives easier' but rarely do and in most instances make our lives harder but does make us more productive.

    For example, imagine 20 years ago if you came home from work and told your family that you wrote 120 notes of varying length and detail and had direct conversations with 40 other people. That would have been known as the craziest work day on record, but your day would have also ended.

    Now what I described with email, cell phones, text and IM/social media is completely commonplace and your day never ends. Emails stream in at all hours of the day and weekends and demand immediate response. Our bosses and or clients have reached into all hours of our lives. 20 years ago say your boss or clients called you on your old land line at home after work hours 3 or 4 times they'd be considered the biggest assholes of all time. Now I think everyone is doing that.

    So we are way more productive (well I might argue that people view shooting emails out at a blistering pace cc'ing everyone in sight is equated to productivity but actually reduces it) but our wages and often our actual quality of life never went up because of it.

    It is interesting to watch my Mom who while she does have a cell phone and does email etc, has kept herself largely out of most of these techs. She'll turn on her cell like once a day if she remembers to see if someone left her a message. She checks email maybe a few times a week. She always looks puzzled at her kids like, "Why are you doing this to yourselves?" We tease her about being tech savvy but she avoids the little stresses that don't matter but dominate our lives and just focuses on the stresses that actually matter.

    I would love if society drew a line where it is understood that when it comes to business nobody is going to answer their phones or emails or anything else after 6pm and before 8am and people will start ditching these devices and reclaim their lives and human interactions with people. This may be a 'first world problem' but I can't help but notice how inhumane life has become in this regard. Even when our species was fighting for each scrap of food that they caught, cultivated or killed themselves, the sun eventually went down at night and the work was done.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker Ute View Post
    Found the wages vs productivity graph interesting and supports what I and many others have been saying for a long time. Each piece of technology that comes our way is billed as 'making our lives easier' but rarely do and in most instances make our lives harder but does make us more productive.

    For example, imagine 20 years ago if you came home from work and told your family that you wrote 120 notes of varying length and detail and had direct conversations with 40 other people. That would have been known as the craziest work day on record, but your day would have also ended.

    Now what I described with email, cell phones, text and IM/social media is completely commonplace and your day never ends. Emails stream in at all hours of the day and weekends and demand immediate response. Our bosses and or clients have reached into all hours of our lives. 20 years ago say your boss or clients called you on your old land line at home after work hours 3 or 4 times they'd be considered the biggest assholes of all time. Now I think everyone is doing that.

    So we are way more productive (well I might argue that people view shooting emails out at a blistering pace cc'ing everyone in sight is equated to productivity but actually reduces it) but our wages and often our actual quality of life never went up because of it.

    It is interesting to watch my Mom who while she does have a cell phone and does email etc, has kept herself largely out of most of these techs. She'll turn on her cell like once a day if she remembers to see if someone left her a message. She checks email maybe a few times a week. She always looks puzzled at her kids like, "Why are you doing this to yourselves?" We tease her about being tech savvy but she avoids the little stresses that don't matter but dominate our lives and just focuses on the stresses that actually matter.

    I would love if society drew a line where it is understood that when it comes to business nobody is going to answer their phones or emails or anything else after 6pm and before 8am and people will start ditching these devices and reclaim their lives and human interactions with people. This may be a 'first world problem' but I can't help but notice how inhumane life has become in this regard. Even when our species was fighting for each scrap of food that they caught, cultivated or killed themselves, the sun eventually went down at night and the work was done.
    Pre-industrial workers may have only lived to their 40's, but you can't beat this break schedule.
    2014 utahby5 World Cup Bracket Predictor Challenge Champion. No one who speaks German could be an evil man.

  10. #10
    Would have put this in the "Utah" thread but it was shut down for some reason.

    https://www.ksl.com/article/46390412...g-top-concerns


    Having spent the last quarter century living coast-to-coast, I gotta say returning to Salt Lake is a breath of fresh air (yeah....I know, I know). Hope my kids are able to stick around.
    “Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.” -- Harry S. Truman

    "You never soar so high as when you stoop down to help a child or an animal." -- Jewish Proverb

    "Three-time Pro Bowler Eric Weddle the most versatile, and maybe most intelligent, safety in the game." -- SI, 9/7/15, p. 107.

  11. #11
    https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/10/...ices-continue/

    Good for me. Not so good for my kids or most young families.

  12. #12
    “Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.” -- Harry S. Truman

    "You never soar so high as when you stoop down to help a child or an animal." -- Jewish Proverb

    "Three-time Pro Bowler Eric Weddle the most versatile, and maybe most intelligent, safety in the game." -- SI, 9/7/15, p. 107.

  13. #13
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    We should weep for these people who feel so average.


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