09-01-2006, 07:45 AM
Mella has led us to a very important factor, I think, and that is the feeling in our society that the trappings of wealth are somehow equivalent to success and social acceptance. This not only affects low-income folks who may use poor judgement in their spending on cars or flashy clothes. It also applies to middle class families who feel like they have to take out home equity loans or heavy credit card debt to support a level of consumer spending that they could probably live comfortably without.
When my partner, Bear, and I worked in the corporate world in Atlanta, our peers were always saying, "Wow, man, y'all could surely afford a nicer car or a nicer house or a nicer suit than this," We just smiled and kept socking away savings and investments. When they started laying off baby boomer middle managers and forcing people to take early retirement, the same people understood. Now we are modestly comfortable in Hawaii and some of them are still trying to support families on state unemployment and facing real hardships. I don't blame them for their situation so much as pity them for accepting a societal value system that they were immersed in. Just MHO.
Aloha,
Jerry
When my partner, Bear, and I worked in the corporate world in Atlanta, our peers were always saying, "Wow, man, y'all could surely afford a nicer car or a nicer house or a nicer suit than this," We just smiled and kept socking away savings and investments. When they started laying off baby boomer middle managers and forcing people to take early retirement, the same people understood. Now we are modestly comfortable in Hawaii and some of them are still trying to support families on state unemployment and facing real hardships. I don't blame them for their situation so much as pity them for accepting a societal value system that they were immersed in. Just MHO.
Aloha,
Jerry