Comments on: The Financial Squeeze: Bad Choices or Bad Situations?

By: tv bracket

tv bracket — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:39:26 +0000

It’s bad choice leading to bad situations. Back in those days even when college are still quite affordable, there were people invested too much on schools after graduated, they find it their degree nearly useless. All left were only general thinking framework from college. This can be assumed by either bad past choices or bad present situations, but what really matter is what we will do to make things better for the future.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:48:07 +0000

90% of what people purchase is unnecessary. DVDs, a huge TV, GPS navigation systems, ipods, music, and so on and so on. Even college. Let the kids work and pay their own way through college.

By: Grue

Grue — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:41:20 +0000

Uhh, why does the article consider food a “discretionary item” and housing a “fixed expense”? Could it be that food has been decreasing as a percent of income while housing has been increasing?

The articles are very interesting but there always seems to be some political agenda infecting them.

By: Marcin Tustin

Marcin Tustin — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 18:37:50 +0000

How much of this is just an increase in social mobility over all? How many people are going up, compensating for those going down? Or is the american middle class disappearing or remaining static?

By: barry broome

barry broome — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:28:21 +0000

I think that middle income families are worse off than ever. The sub-prime housing market is an example of this. The U.S. needs financial discipline. Not just citizens and the middle class but our government as well. Everyone is spending out of control. I’m scared of what this means for the future of our country and the value of the U.S. dollar. Excellent article.

By: contact lens scottsdale

contact lens scottsdale — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:23:37 +0000

On the plus side for my situation housing costs have gone down on the short term. Do to the changing housing market in Arizona those of us that are renting are looking at more open apartments at lowering prices. These are mostly in areas that have had a HUGE rise in price since the 70s and 80s, bringing them back down into a more reasonable rate of increase from those times. However, if one of my houses two incomes was to drop off we would have to find a second one very quickly to not be in a lot of trouble.

By: Dr X

Dr X — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:00:17 +0000

Regarding the cost of housing as a percentage of household income, the average size of U.S. homes rose to 2,330 square feet in 2004, up from 1,400 square feet in 1970. At the same time, the number of persons per household fell from 3.11 to 2.59 — a decline of nearly 17%. These two figures taken together suggest a considerable increase in per capita living space over the past 35-40 years. I suspect there are more than a few other devils in the statistical details of the author’s argument.