The Frugal Pig » wages http://www.frugalpig.com/frugallife Frugal Living Tips and Ideas Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:14:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 RIP The American Dream? http://www.frugalpig.com/frugallife/frugal-news/rip-the-american-dream/ http://www.frugalpig.com/frugallife/frugal-news/rip-the-american-dream/#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:11:17 +0000 Oink http://www.frugalpig.com/frugallife/?p=40 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Remember the American Dream? Wast it just a dream of prosperity and a white picket fence? The American middle class, who bought into it, seem to be vanishing as fast as their mortgages. In 1970, GM was the largest American employer of high school educated people with an average wage of $17.50 an hour. Today, 38 years later, Wal-mart is the nation’s largest employer. Average wage? $9.00 an hour.

Learn more about our money troubles by the Generation Debt author.

Were we only dreaming? I hope not, but I’m not sure. It is absolutely time to hunker down and consider our priorities. How can we stretch less money across rapidly increasing bills? Does stuff really make us happy? Well, some stuff increases our contentment, like an air conditioned roof over our head, but can that roof cover 1700 square feet instead of 3400 square feet? I think so. Can a $10 fan allow us to turn our thermostat up a couple of degrees so we are still comfortable? Yes, it can. And do we really need a big, energy hog projection tv? No, we really don’t.

On the other hand, we really do need some sort of roof over our heads, a financial safety net, and high quality health care. Yes, we do. We also need to be able to afford our drive to work.

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