Wealth and risk

[mmcirvin]

Matthew Yglesias and Mads Kvalsvik have good things to say about wealth, risk and American society.

Discussions of wealth and economic class in the US often go off the rails because people start talking about the purchase of things perceived as luxury goods. It's a mid-20th-century notion of wealth, the source of all the jokes in which the rolling-pin-wielding wife badgers her husband to get a raise so they can buy a dishwasher or a TV. Dishwashers and TVs aren't all that expensive these days. They're available to the masses, and that's nothing to sneeze at; I think that's great. But housing is expensive, and, especially, security is expensive: by which I don't mean safety from robbers and terrorists, but things like health insurance, (as I've harped on before) reasonable maintenance of your teeth so they don't all fall out and give you infections, and savings for education and retirement and not being kicked out on the street if you end up out of a job for a year or two. Scoffing at people who say they're poor and have big TVs is dumb, since the cost of big TVs (if you're not too picky) is minute compared to this stuff. Foregoing the big TV is not going to help you a whole lot.

Comments

[lots42.livejournal.com]

"OMG!!1 That poor person has a fancy car!"

"Maybe they owned the car before they got poor."

"Guh....my brain broke."

[crazysoph.livejournal.com]

*nods* I've watched this in a family I know, slowly imploding (and not an effing thing I can do, directly), and the reports of my friend in this family of outsiders' "helpful suggestions" like getting rid of her internet connection... (because, like, all the budget problems are her fault for not "being available" - code for "internet addiction", nevermind the flat-fee connection) which is peanuts compared to their overall needs of shelter, insurance, etc. What is it about these particular "discretionary" purchases that seems to bring out the Calvinist in people? (That looks rhetorical, but any thoughts you bring to bear on this would be read with interest.)

Crazy(and afraid I'm being terribly lazy with my terms... be gentle!)Soph

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

Cars are another problem. I know a couple that has three cars, all unusable, and huge budgetary problems.

They do have multiple working televisions, it seems -- but no cable. But they do have a cable modem.

[swinehund.livejournal.com]

This is a very good point, but depending on the level of discretionary spending you're talking about, bad decisions could have larger effects.

I am thinking more in the case where someone has an income so low that (for example) their smoking habit results in poor nutrition because they can't buy vegetables for having bought cigarettes. Or if an income tax refund goes towards a big TV when it could go towards a wardrobe that offers better employment prospects, or paying off a stressed credit card bill. I suspect that I am talking about meaner standards of living than you are, though.

I also suppose this is more of an issue in the US. Here, I have always had access to doctors (if not perscription medication), and though the decision to go to college should not be taken lightly (because even government loans have to be paid off), I knew that if and when I did decide to go, I would be more restricted by my marks than by my income. I doubt I would have been eligible for non-government student loans when I entered university, despite having high school marks in the low 90s (which only earns small entrance scholarships). I have a hard time imagining how much more frustrated I would have been if I had been a US resident.

[glitter-ninja.livejournal.com]

I've found this to be very true. "Entertainment" is cheap if your entertainment is the Interhole. It's cheaper for us to subscribe to Netflix than it is to subscribe to movie channels on cable. All the "unnecessary" bills we have add up to less than $100 per month, yet if I ever complain about money, Netflix and my ISP are the first things mentioned.

Just last night I went online to find out why one late payment screwed our credit all to hell, and ended up looking at advice for first-time home owners. I am completely convinced I will never own a home. There is no way I could ever afford it. Of course, my mother keeps badgering me about how I'm wasting money by renting. Then again, I remember reading one of those things that get emailed all over creation, which said "Are you old enough to remember when not everyone had to own a home..."