Posted on 12/13/2012 2:09:06 PM PST by GlockThe Vote
Thumb through any personal finance book written over the last five years and chances are you'll come across at least a handful of chapters on how cutting daily luxuries like coffee and cable.
It's that kind of finger-wagging criticism that's rubbed so many hardworking people wrong –– the idea that they wouldn't be in this position if only they'd watched less TV, traded in their car, or tried cooking more meals at home.
In case you're in need of a reminder of the bigger picture, Personal finance expert Helaine Olen nails the issue right on its ugly head in her forthcoming book, Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry:
"The problem was fixed cost, the things that are difficult to "cut back" on. Housing, health care, and education cost the average family 75 percent of their discretionary income in the 2000s. The comparable figure in 1973: 50 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Best thing we ever did was buying Trac Phones several years ago. The annual cost for two phones is a little more than what we used to pay monthly for one "smart" phone. They do the job well. I shake my head at kids who complain about being broke but have iPhones.
And you can refute instead of instead of eliminating two crucial supporting sentences led by subordinate and coordinate conjunctions (that’s how grown-ups connect thoughts), and then reversing the order of the remaining sentences to obscure the meaning of a perfectly coherent paragraph.
“Best thing we ever did was buying Trac Phones several years ago.”
LOL. I was wondering if people would know what a Jihad Phone was. Mine was (and is) Net10 Wireless (same company). I used to refill them in Oregon when I made it over there. I’d buy 2 years worth of time for 2 phones for something like $700 - but no sales tax. The hardest part of it was getting my credit card company to approve the sale.
Fixed costs have goen up and salaries or wages have not.
For globalism this has to happen in order for Americans to be “competitive” with the Chi-com slaves.
We buy service/time in 1-year increments for $100. That’s $200 for two Trac Phones. We get double minutes for life of the phone, so end up carrying over thousands of minutes - we have better things to do than bury our face in the phone. These phones have never let us down, work anywhere in the U.S.A. without problems. I recommend paying cash - more anonymous.
SWEET - you’re beyond me.
You first stated you didn't understand the article.
Next you agreed with the entire premise of the article.
Lastly, you attempted to set up a “straw man argument” to dispute the findings of the article.
Your coherence is not in question. It is clearly lacking.
You ability to use reason to communicate a rational opinion....is also no longer in question.
I don't need to address your “straw man argument” as it applies to this topic.
I just need to point it out. Which I did.
Have a nice day!
I gotta agree: someone who sees such articles as finger-wagging is probably buying more mocha lattes than he or she should.
Where do you get such phones? Do they text?
Um... one doesn’t “use reason to communicate,” Miss Doolittle. One reasons. Then one communicates the fruits of one’s reasoning.
Now, please stop with the high-falutin’ pseudo polemics before you embarrass yourself further. Professor Higgins rang for tea.
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