Very good essay, thanks for passing it along.

Sigh. My in-laws were telling me that here in France they were watching a show on the demise of the economy in Florida. A man was sitting on a box in front of the tent in which he now lives. He used to live in a McMansion and was incredibly angry at the loss of it (well, why not in a country where you bail out banks and not people–excuse me while I hit my head on the wall?). But the thing that really got my in-laws worked up (and me too) was that the guy went on to deplore the fact that people are now reselling household items and clothing and said that we used to be a country so rich we could ‘throw things away!’ As if that were a good thing. My in-laws know that all Americans are not of that mind-set as DH and I were not like that when we lived there, but seriously–I suspect that is the attitude of more people than I can stomach. I do feel bad for people getting thrown out of their homes, but I hope that they will also see this as an opportunity to notice that something was very, very wrong with that system already.

(Huff, huff, ok rant over) Thanks for the link to the cool article!

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had is trying to incorporate the lessons learned on this blog (and other resources like it) into my life – I’m married with 3 children. I am what you would consider a converted “middle classer” trying to firstly, fix the financial mess I’ve made (debt)
and secondly, move forward in a far more reasonable and sustainable way.

However, I have to keep in mind that all the decisions I make affect my family as well. So I’m not as “extreme” as I’d like to always be…Early Retirement Extreme with children, anybody?? This, for me, is both a serious challenge as well as a great opportunity! I was sold on the idea of the “middle class lifestyle” because, that was the way to do it…and I bought the lie. I won’t be selling the same load of crap to my children.

I echo the thanks from the other posters to you for referencing the article. I thought it well thought out and well written.
I would point out, that for every McMansion in foreclosure, there are many homes paid for in the US. These were the baby boomers like myself who bought a moderate home back in the 70’s, kept it well up, paid for it, and still live in it. My personal residence was paid for in 1995.
I have spent a lot of money in upkeep, and it would stand toe to toe with a new home today. During the boom (1999-2007) I would drive around and look at all the subdivisions and building and I would wonder in amazement “Who could afford such houses as these”? I certainly did not know anyone who had 20% down on a $400,000 home. My friends were mostly just common folk like myself. Then I learned of some of the flipping going on, and about the subprime lending taking place, and I just shook my head. It was pure and unadulterated greed, with no regard for a day of reckoning to come. I think you could use an analogy that Granite counter tops and Designer Chefstyle stainless steel and bonus rooms, and Hybrid sodded lawns destroyed the American Dream at the tune of $300,000. and up. Possibly one of the greatest wedding gifts we could give our kids now is a business hand held calculator, and spend a some time showing them how to use it? If you watch TV, surf over to HGTV “House Hunters” program. This show typically depicts a fresh out of college couple looking at 350K to 450K condos to buy, and neglects to tell about the K’s in student debt the kids are probably carrying. Somehow, it begins with them being “preapproved” for some exotic sum of money, and the Realtwhore is taking them around to see the various homes and condos in that range. Nothing is said about the state of the economy, the fact that even if they have two incomes, the female may get pregnant, or other income reducing situations that lie in front of them. The couple is usually driving a minivan and they have two huge greyhound dogs that need a yard to play in, and the male has some kind of an entry level whiz-bang computer tech job. All in all, a sure set up to fail!! None of the “McMansion” scenarios seem to me to be replications of the so called “middle class”, rather a fantasy form of greed.
Yes there are many many more issues to be covered in this post, but I have nearly spent my nickle here, so I will look forward to others thoughts on this.
Cheers—-and—–As the police say: “Have a nice day”!

Hi! I clicked on the link for the essay but it is not coming up..Help! I would like to read it..Thanks:)

When single, I’ve never needed possessions before. Give me projects to work on and I was happy. Being married with kids now, the middle class mentality does intrude in. Luckily, I spent my single years being hard driven to succeed in my projects — whether personal or for business — and built up track record. (These days, my business projects are my personal projects.) I’ve slowly converted my wife to at least follow my lead financially as she sees our net worth graph going up.

We’re now living overseas in China pursuing more of my personal+business projects and we can live the upper middle class lifestyle here at the cost of a lower class one in the United States.

“being farmed in the labor/consumer cycle” — I love that quote, Jacob!

The answer to the penultimate question lies essentially on two paths, which are not mutually exclusive for everyone.

Either (1) people choose to live on fewer resources and more efficiently; or (2) we make a grand push (likely meaning war) to capture as many resources, particularly oil, and maintain the facade as long as possible.

(2) only really works in the end if there is some incredible technological breakthrough in terms of energy production from some renewable source. Many futurists posit this, although their views seem much less popular than a decade or two ago. It could happen, but it may take more time than we have before there is some kind of collapse.

Although the political leadership of both political parties seems focused on (2) — their corporate donors want that, there are more people turning to (1) as individuals and in small groups and communities, and more ways to connect them through sites like this one. And more will come, especially the people who have lost jobs and homes and young adults who have nothing to lose. For those of us who believe in (1), this is a lead by example moment in history.

Whatever happens, the next 15 years are going to be very different from what we have seen in our lifetimes. Such is the nature of crisis periods in history.

Either way a middle class American’s worker life is of much much less worth then that Solenoid Valve used in a system in that Nuclear Plant that is spent mostly on constructing cars and hotels and the rest on powering leisure electronics, not on feeding the hungry, not on stopping wars, not on saving a person’s soul.

At least a person’s will can feed the hungry, stop the killing, and love others unconditionally when that person’s mind and will frees themselves of Work, and gives them their time back to do these more important, needed things in everyone’s lives.

I saw this quote the other day from Steve Jobs, it is pretty funny.

When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.

It takes great resolve to begin taking a different path than the masses, because this society wants you to be average and to spend every penny. Sales people and marketers all want a piece of your income pie, and your letting them take it in my opinion. The sad state is that many do not understand that they are not progressing and chalking it up to this is how life is, now that is the real travesty.