Things I tripped over on my way to the internet.

hilker:

the article brings up three main points:

• Problem 1: Men’s earnings
• Problem 2 and Good Development 1: Women’s increased presence in the paid labor market
• Problem 3: Faster price growth for some important stuff

not being an economist, these all make sense. but from a social perspective, i think the biggest cause is that we’ve learned to live beyond our means, or failed to act our wage. it’s not so much the cost of goods that plays such a big role (though that’s an increasingly important factor as basic goods grow scarce), but the lifestyle which we’ve grown accustomed to. i understand that it’s harder in more metropolitan areas, but still, i think that our consumption-and entertainment-driven lifestyles play a huge role in how far our paychecks go.

given, the federal government & the fed have done a masterful job of manipulating the economy into a black hole, but i can’t blame them for my hunger when i won’t give up my cable tv. 

Um, hardly “impossible”. I know plenty of people that are doing it right now. I think hilker’s exactly right about what makes it harder but it’s not impossible.

“I realized that much of American labor is invested in stretching out the task, pacing the work, making it last. Most jobs can probably be done in half the time with half the people.” —W. Michael Murphy

“[The American] obsession with mobility, the urge to move on every few years, stands at odds with the wish to endure in a beloved place, and no place can be worthy of that kind of deep love if we are willing to abandon it on short notice for a few extra dollars. Rather, we choose to live in Noplace, and our dwellings show it. In every corner of the nation we have built places unworthy of love and move on from them without regret. But move on to what? Where is the ultimate destination when every place is Noplace?” —James Howard Kunstler, emphasis added. (via Joseph Scalice)