TruthSeeker said:
What is it, then? Standard of living?
Yes, that's one way to label an aspect of the problem. But the solution isn't money or even earning capacity. The US throws lots of money at various social problems, yet they never seem to get much better. The primary factor here seems to me to be an issue of coordination and distribution. Government spending, particularly at a federal level, is the epitome of inefficiency. The right type of assistance rarely meets the need it's attempting to address and it almost never is designed to motivate behavior that would actually eliminate the problem.
Not, it doesn't solve it, but it improves the situation. Besides, mansions are just a little part of the problem.
It's purely subjective. The land around here is ridiculously expensive. The houses are too. A little 1 bedroom house here cost over $100,000, and this place is just as good as many many others accross the planet. So why is it so expensive?
There are number of ways to look at value. We tend to think of the price of something when we think about value but for our purpose here what we really need to focus on here is functional value, not market value.
In terms of functional value a 20,000 sqft apartment building is far more valuable than a 20,000 sqft mansion on the gold coast, yet such a mansion will have a market price many times greater due to the demand for its location and the construction materials. It's the market price that skews the perception that a mansion squanders resources.
The functional reality is that it is not nearly as disproportionate as it appears and that the difference between functional value and market value actually works to put capital back into circulation where it can benefit everyone. In short, it's good that the rich squander their money, buying big mansions on expensive property and fill them with accessories that are functionally equivalent but incredibly more expensive because it moves the money "downstream" to the builders constructing the foyer, the carpenters building the walk in closet, and the workers who made the gold-plated toilet.
Conversely, one of the things we need to work on is to get the poor, lower middle, and middle class to save and properly manage their resources, to be more astute in their use of what they do have. And to give CS a point, education is key here. One of the primary differences between the rich and the poor (and even the lower and middle classes) is that they perceive and manage their resources
very differently.
You can see this evinced in those who become right through talent and fame rather that through financial acumen. How often do you hear about the musician, actor, or athlete who 15 years after the peak of their career has nothing left? How is it that someone who once earned 5 or 50 million becomes broke!?! The answer is that they never were educated about finance. They never learned how to make their resources work for them, instead they merely spent what they had, and they never invested it. 5 - 10 million becomes nothing at all if it's not properly managed. Clearly, cash is not the issue.
This goes for those who never have and never will earn 5 million. Every able bodied and minded person on the planet has resources they can use, and can reap great benefit from if they use them wisely. A quick example; throughout much of my life my family and I have kept a vegetable garden. We had fresh produce, picked and eaten when it was truly ripe or canned for the wintertime at the cost of maybe $20 worth of seeds, some time and effort, and some canning supplies. It saved us hundreds of dollars a year in grocery bills, not to mention that the food tasted better and lasted longer.
The same thing goes for every aspect of your knowledge, time, talent, and energy. You have to think ahead, you have to plan, and you have to understand the costs, risks, and benefits.
How many poor people rent an apartment instead of getting an FHA loan and purchasing their own home or condo? How many people really understand the financial consequences of renting vs owning? How many people buy Nike and Reebok instead of Kennys? How many eat BigMacs instead of red beans and rice? How many farmers attempt to go it alone instead of forming cooperatives? How many understand economies of scale or how they can invest in the commodities market to reduce their risk? How many of those complaining about high energy prices have invested in the energy market to offset their expenses?
It's not difficult to become prosperous but you have to focus your energy and resources. You have to educate yourself. And you have to act wisely. Depending... nay demanding that it be done for you is the height of stupidity. If you had the choice would Social Security be a wise investment choice? Or are we throwing good money after bad?
I'm not saying there shouldn't be a safety net or that we shouldn't care for those who cannot care for themselves. Nor am I saying that there aren't improvements to be made or wrongs to be righted. But are malaise, apathy, juvenile rebellion, and attitudes of entitlement things we can really afford or even wish to sponsor? Or do people need to grow up and take responsibility for themselves, their family, their neighbors, their countries, our species, and our world?
Instead of bitching and moaning about the inequities in the world, the capitalist economy, the filthy rich, the poor, the hungry, the homeless, your salary, crime, whatever... instead of drawing up grandiose schemes of worldwide utopia that lack any semblance of problem solving or realism... I suggest getting up actually doing something. Because some of us are out here in the real world, working, and we sure as shit could use the help.
Okay... enough ranting for the moment. It's already longer than anyone will read.
~Raithere