Why is it?

Question

Why is it if we live in the richest country on earth, why do we live from paycheck to credit card to paycheck? Why can middle class families no longer function without making credit card purchases for necessities like food and the heating bill? Why do we give our Congressmen pay raises but yet never have raised minimum wage to match inflation since the 1970's?

Okay there are still middle class families or should I say lower middle class that don't own homes or drive nice cars. Rent for a cheap house where I live which is in a low income area is around $500/m plus all utilities but yet we can barely afford to buy our children clothes. We are the ones who shop at the consignment shops and the cheapest stores for food. We are the ones who have to put their children's Christmas and birthday things on layaway. Some people do not put frivilous things on credit cards. Some people feed their children that way. How do we get this to stop? How come the rich are getting richer and the poor or atleast the working poor are getting poorer. Many families in my neighborhood couldn't afford to drive to work when the gas went up. We walked miles a day just to get there. I personally did it myself. I had to take a paycut to work closer to home since I could not afford the bus or have enough time in the day to walk the boys to daycare and then to work.

Answer 1

Because the government is only concerned with making the rich man richer and the poor man poorer. As far as the middle class families the reason they are living paycheck to paycheck is because the poor man is living on the taxes they pay i.e. welfare checks, food stamps, medicaid. And the rich man is working the crap out of them to make him richer. Now we are all finally getting smart and starting our own businesses. Instead of making the rich man richer we are finding ways to improve services and we are doing some out of the box thinking to come up with jobs for ourselves. Due to downsizing we as a nation have been forced to rethink our positions. Some people that have gotten laid off from the rich man's payroll have became rich due to starting their own companies.

Answer 2

With the exception of families being raised by single parents who
can only provide one income,most can do better than that with a
little effort. Middle class families should definitely not have to use
credit cards to pay for food and heat. One problem is that
people waste their money in a variety of ways, the buying
of things that are unnecessary. If they learned to live within a budget they could afford without resorting to credit it would probably destroy the economy as almost everyone seems to have
gotten used to living beyond their means.

As for minimum wage,that should definitely be raised. It could be
made up for by not giving congressmen or senators any raises
for a year or two. It's not like any of them are hurting for money.

Answer 3

People have a sense of entitlement that in my opinion comes from worshipping TV and celebrities. The new mindset is that we all should be able to drive BMW's, have big houses full of flat screen TV's and Thermador ovens, with a hot tub in the back yard. Credit used to be a sign of shame, only taken on under the direst of circumstances. Now it's a way of life, and people are only too eager to buy now and pay later. No one has concept of savings any longer. It's a real shame.

Answer 4

Because the typical American worker doesn't know how to handle finances. They simply don't know how to live within their means. The ones who whine and complain the loudest are the ones who have the biggest houses and drive the most expensive (gas-guzzling) cars ... putting themselves deeper into debt each and every day. They don't know how to develop a simple budget and live by it. This is something that should be taught in school ...

Answer 5

Partly capitalism itself; partly Republican fools in control.