Mike wrote:
almost anyone who wanted to work could find a decent paying job and even
support a family on one wage and still have money left over at the end of
the week.
Well, that definitely used to be true, but my grandpa got me to thinking
about this the other day. When he retired, he was making $7 an hour in
1977 dollars. Looks like just under $21 an hour today, or a tad less than
$44,000 a year today.
Now, that's more than I make right now, but less than my wife and I make
together. We could live on a single income of $44,000, but not without
getting rid of cable TV, Pizza Friday, the occasional CD or DVD, a toy or
two for the kids, and basically all the other frivolous bacon fat of life
that is unnecessary, not particularly good for you, but oh so tasty. Like
my *shop*, say.
Looking at my grandparents today, they have enough money in the bank that
they can go buy whatever they want with $20 bills by the suitcase full.
They're not millionaires, but Paw-Paw has been retired since 1977, and he's
got more money now than when he retired. My grandmother has never had a
job in her life, and didn't even get a driver's license until she was in
her late 60s.
All of this on a single income, with less money (adjusted for inflation)
than my wife and I make today. How did they do it?
They didn't have any bacon fat at all. They grew up during the Depression,
and they learned to be thrifty in a way that my whole generation, even my
parents' generation, just can't understand.
We buy too many DVDs. We watch too many movies, pay too much for cable TV,
buy too many Delta Unisaws (OBWWR), buy too many computers, pay too much
for high speed internet, drive expensive SUVs that get terrible gas
mileage... We throw things away instead of fixing them. We throw things
away that are perfectly good, just because we like the color of the new one
better.
Few people today have ever had to wear feed sacks. Few people today have
ever recycled wrapping paper. Few people today would be content to raise a
family of three in a tiny four-room asbestos-shingled tract house with one
TV, one radio, one car out front, no clothes drier, no dishwasher, no
microwave oven, no cable TV, etc., etc., etc. Few people would still have
the same carpet on the floor for 40+ years.
If we looked at someone living in a house like that today, under those
conditions, we'd probably consider that they were poor. So how could poor
people have amassed a fortune well into the hundreds of thousands?
Because they didn't spend money unless they *had* to, and because they saved
and invested. My grandparents have never paid interest for *anything* in
their lives. Cars, houses, TVs, and yes, more recently, VCRs and DVD
players; everything has always been purchased with cash. No interest, and
the discipline to pay in full or do without.
A lot of wisdom has been lost, I think.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/