Posted 16 May 2005 - 01:14 PM
Yes we complain about poverty, but when we say poverty what we mean is relative poverty. Not absolute. Poor Americans have a significant health epidemic right now - obesity. 100 years ago obesity wasn't a worry except for the rich.
Anyone in today's economy who is healthy can make a a lot of money. Just taking the training for a skilled job, and maybe even being entrepenuerial in their field. Like starting their own little plumbing company.
30 dollars an hour isn't hard to make, you just have to specifically train for something that is a good job. Infact if you are willing to go it on your own, you can make a lot more then that. Now if we lived like our grandparents or even parents, living in a basic 1200 square foot home, with maybe one car, working 12-14 hours a day, 6 days a week.. Taking one vacation a year. Would be like 150k a year, and the house would be paid off quickly. Saving and investing that money it would not take long until our joe average was a multi-millionaire.
However today people instead choose to work 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. When you factor in all the vacation, sick time, etc, maybe less then that.. Then we choose to consume much more.. Bigger homes, more exotic food, a closet full of clothing, 2 or 3 vacations a year, 2 cars and an RV.. etc..