Do you find life 'getting harder' and more difficult?

[EnderJE]

I'm watching a couple of good movies about how life changes over time and some of the challenges today. They all reference some statistics on how life is more expensive and more difficult nowadays. Essentially, the message is that the 1950 or 1970 household wouldn't survive in today's environment because things are more expensive now (even after you adjust for changes in the dollars). Add the constant barrage of advertising (via web, cellphones, etc); then you've got a no-win situation for many people.


Do you find this to be true and life was better before?

 

[walliwalibus]

HAHAHA not falling in this one.

 

[EnderJE]

HAHAHA not falling in this one.

What? As long as we don't gay up the thread, I thought it would be a good chat.

 

[p0ink]

i find it becoming ever-increasingly more expensive....

 

[stosstruppe]

Life couldn't be any easier relative to 50+ (post-war rationing still in effect in the UK) or 30 years ago.

 

[jnevin]

Batman was really cool.

 

[walliwalibus]

OK, no gay up, then I will say life just seems to really fucking suck balls right now. But everyone is in different places so mine shouldn't effect your or johnnie boy who's done did something nobody ever expected. You know, thats a tough question on many levels.

 

[javaguru]

Mo money mo problems...

 

[walliwalibus]

^^^^ yeap, and no money mo problems ^^^^^ reamed either way.

 

[gonelifting]

Yes it is more difficult. Very few one income couples get by, around these parts at least. Most are two income couples, which is really messing with children these days. I truly believe they need more time with their parents. Mom and dad come home at 5 or 6PM.. or 7... and see their kid for an hour and off to bed? pfft. Both parents? Baby sitter or daycare is their family. It's all weird to me.

 

[jnevin]

Yes it is more difficult. Very few one income couples get by, around these parts at least. Most are two income couples, which is really messing with children these days. I truly believe they need more time with their parents. Mom and dad come home at 5 or 6PM.. or 7... and see their kid for an hour and off to bed? pfft. Both parents? Baby sitter or daycare is their family. It's all weird to me.

I worry about this with my daughter.

 

[seaking420]

yes life is hard...........no matter what year it is or generation it is.

 

[Mr. dB]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1042702/Time-Warp-Wives-Meet-women-really-live-past.html

 

[stosstruppe]

Yes it is more difficult. Very few one income couples get by, around these parts at least. Most are two income couples, which is really messing with children these days. I truly believe they need more time with their parents. Mom and dad come home at 5 or 6PM.. or 7... and see their kid for an hour and off to bed? pfft. Both parents? Baby sitter or daycare is their family. It's all weird to me.

Yea that's pretty fucked up. Both my parents were working when I was growing up as well, though thanks to and extended Italian family there was never a shortage of baby sitters, hahah.

 

[Bikini Mod]

Mo money mo problems...

No words truer spoken, from learning how to handle that money properly to how others change in their perception/treatment of you.

 

[the_alcatraz]

Always my friend. Always.

 

[Delinquent]

Yes it is more difficult. Very few one income couples get by, around these parts at least. Most are two income couples, which is really messing with children these days. I truly believe they need more time with their parents. Mom and dad come home at 5 or 6PM.. or 7... and see their kid for an hour and off to bed? pfft. Both parents? Baby sitter or daycare is their family. It's all weird to me.

This is exactly what we're dealing with to which we have finally given up. We wanted to raise our daughter ourselves instead of some daycare full of strangers that most likely don't have the same set of beliefs as we do.

Sure, I truly wish I would have thought about all this way back in high school so I could have properly prepared for life by going to college right out of high school and potentially had the type of job that would permit my wife to stay at home. Unfortunately that's far from reality.

We have finally made the decision that my wife will have to go back to work and hopefully her sister will watch our daughter. With her having two little ones of her own though, it may not materialize. I've tried so hard to not give in to the fact that it just won't work. This was one of many reasons that I was extremely disappointed when I heard my wife was pregnant because I knew with me JUST starting school, we won't be anywhere near financially stable for at least the first 5 years after school and that was even a stretch considering my income level isn't anywhere near a top level paying job. I told her that keeping this baby would completely fubar everything and it has.

So we are now moving for the 3 time in 4 years not totally because of my wife deciding to keep the child because, honestly, we have been completely and utterly irresponsible with our finances up to the point when she said she was pregnant.

Parts of me would like to deprive my children of a fun childhood because, in my experience, when you have a really fun childhood like mine, it's all downhill from there.

 

[Delinquent]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1042702/Time-Warp-Wives-Meet-women-really-live-past.html

It's too bad society in general couldn't do this as I whole heartedly agree with what they believe. Society as a whole has reached a plateau that I don't see us breaking through

The only thing that I see progressing today is technology and materialism. The arts have been dead for at least 20 years now. Music is a complete joke now. No one has time to focus on personal expression and finding life's meaning because they're too caught up with personal appearance, social status, and making money to be able to improve their self image plus social status. It's a never ending cycle of greed and self degradation.

Everyone has taken the bait from the capitalists hook, line, and sinker and we have no one to blame but ourselves. We kept demanding material items to be bigger, faster, better, and especially cheaper. Cheaper and cheaper things got, the greedy capitalist didn't care if it meant taking jobs away from their own countrymen and women. They knew that outsourcing was the key to success so being the capitalists that they are pounced on it.

Society as a whole is in need of a renaissance that won't ever happen because we saw what the hippy movement caused and we can't have people thinking so freely now can we?

 

[abolish the weak]

only one's to blame are ourselves. Nobody knows how to be happy anymore with the simple things in life. Going to the baseball game, watching your REGULAR 24" TV, not your $5k flatscreen piece of shit that breaks in 2 yrs. It's frikken pathetic. Kids have to have $80 jeans from Abercrombie, and the parents are so fucking stupid they'd assume buy the kid 2 pairs of expensive pants instead of a whole frikken' wardrobe on sale, God forbid your kid isnt the best dressed in his class. Meanwhile your family stays broke and the kid is gonna end up in jail anyways. It's fucked up. People driving around cars that cost as much as homes now, and no money to take a vacation w/ their family once/yr. And cell phones, dont even get me started on this bullshit craze. People who are making $7/hr as a grocery clerk are carrying around a $500 cell phone now. Everybody wants bigger and better, all the time. That's America for you. Other countries are laughing at us and our materialistic ways. All we care about is money, materialistic shit, and have no quality of life what so ever. Oh yeah, dont forget the fast food too. Going to McDonalds 3x /day is also a nice part of our shit lifestyle 95% of us condone. Fuck all that crap, just let me pay my bills, spend time with my family, appreciate what I have, and be able to exercise. Thats all I need

 

[wootoom]

right now more difficult

 

[EnderJE]

only one's to blame are ourselves. Nobody knows how to be happy anymore with the simple things in life. Going to the baseball game, watching your REGULAR 24" TV, not your $5k flatscreen piece of shit that breaks in 2 yrs. It's frikken pathetic. Kids have to have $80 jeans from Abercrombie, and the parents are so fucking stupid they'd assume buy the kid 2 pairs of expensive pants instead of a whole frikken' wardrobe on sale, God forbid your kid isnt the best dressed in his class. Meanwhile your family stays broke and the kid is gonna end up in jail anyways. It's fucked up. People driving around cars that cost as much as homes now, and no money to take a vacation w/ their family once/yr. And cell phones, dont even get me started on this bullshit craze. People who are making $7/hr as a grocery clerk are carrying around a $500 cell phone now. Everybody wants bigger and better, all the time. That's America for you. Other countries are laughing at us and our materialistic ways. All we care about is money, materialistic shit, and have no quality of life what so ever. Oh yeah, dont forget the fast food too. Going to McDonalds 3x /day is also a nice part of our shit lifestyle 95% of us condone. Fuck all that crap, just let me pay my bills, spend time with my family, appreciate what I have, and be able to exercise. Thats all I need

I've always found the 'blame the other guy' rants the funniest.

Those fools that you proclaim are your neighbors who've been bought into the American dream that been force fed to them. If they didn't, your economy wouldn't be so beneficial and you'd all take a hit.

Those fools might have been duped by the man upstairs as predatory lending practices increase. Don't be so quick to blame the other guy unless you take a good stock at what causes the other guy and the macro ratios.

For every 1 welfare mother that I personally know who is abusing the system; I know three in the banking industry who laugh as the fuck it over more poor people.

Because of that, it has jaded by position on things moresore then people who are on here.

 

[nimbus]

easier if you're an illegal immigrant or deadbeat

 

[Dial_tone]

I don't know that it's getting harder but it's not getting easier as I expected it to.

 

[needtogetarmy]

You can't even compare the standard of living we have now compared to 50 years ago. It is absurd things are harder today.

If anyone wants to live in the 50's go right ahead. Buy some outdated crap, a shitty small house, and live it up.

 

[needtogetarmy]

Just to add to this, the majority of the jobs 50 years ago were in manufacturing. Imagine standing on your feet on an assembly line for 10 hours a day 5 or more days per week.

Life is in no way harder than it was back then. If I want to read something I can turn on my laptop and access instantly rather than go to a library and look for a book. If I get cancer there is a strong chance I can beat it unlike 50 years ago. If I want to fly anywhere in the world I can get a plane ticket and leave tomorrow, that was not possible 50 years ago.

Our society is so fat and happy nearly a majority of people are overweight. Doesn't sound like they are worse off than their parent's generation.

 

[needtogetarmy]

I've always found the 'blame the other guy' rants the funniest.

Those fools that you proclaim are your neighbors who've been bought into the American dream that been force fed to them. If they didn't, your economy wouldn't be so beneficial and you'd all take a hit.

Those fools might have been duped by the man upstairs as predatory lending practices increase. Don't be so quick to blame the other guy unless you take a good stock at what causes the other guy and the macro ratios.

For every 1 welfare mother that I personally know who is abusing the system; I know three in the banking industry who laugh as the fuck it over more poor people.

Because of that, it has jaded by position on things moresore then people who are on here.

Most of the people in banking that I know are losing their jobs because those welfare mom's got mortgages they couldn't afford.

BTW attacking the banking industry is misguided. There are criminals in every profession. People who break the laws end up paying in the end. If it were not for the baking industry everything you see, from houses, to streets, to the computer you are typing on, wouldn't exist. Credit makes the world go 'round.

 

[EnderJE]

You can't even compare the standard of living we have now compared to 50 years ago. It is absurd things are harder today.

If anyone wants to live in the 50's go right ahead. Buy some outdated crap, a shitty small house, and live it up.

I was going on take home pay. What I read tell me that a dollar doesn't buy what it used to.

 

[EnderJE]

Our society is so fat and happy nearly a majority of people are overweight. Doesn't sound like they are worse off than their parent's generation.

Really? From where I see, too many people are super medicated, swimming in super high debt levels, and have too many problems with no ability to cope.

 

[EnderJE]

Most of the people in banking that I know are losing their jobs because those welfare mom's got mortgages they couldn't afford.

BTW attacking the banking industry is misguided. There are criminals in every profession. People who break the laws end up paying in the end. If it were not for the baking industry everything you see, from houses, to streets, to the computer you are typing on, wouldn't exist. Credit makes the world go 'round.

All of the people that I know in the banking industry are dicks and want to allow for the lending to the poorest of the poor because the system is setup against them.

I'm not attacking the industry because I also realize that not all banking workers are crooks. Just like I realize that not all welfare mothers are sluts who are taking advantage of the system. It just seems that way sometimes.

However, all Army Vets are warm and squishy. And they moan alot too in the right situation.

 

[blueta2]

Life has and always will be difficult. Evolution doesn't change that
Same level of difficulty, different hardships.

 

[Razorguns]

life rulez

r

 

[-Ariel-]

This is a great question on all levels... and I could write a whole paper on this, but will show some restraint... the thing that strikes me the most is how a sense of isolation, and loss of connection and community have increased over time, and how identity is more based on purchase rather than principles... but probably the most visible or tangible effect would be loss of meaning, community, and how much harder it is to be understood today... so many factors, which include your neck of the woods, which I have no problem with... its how you feed your family, the increased sense of isolation in all of us and loss of community go hand in hand, and people are upset that culture does not provide these things for them...

An interesting study was done on the happiest teenagers in the world in 70s, they were cuba, chile, and israel... now, all these are highly non commercial cultures, the thing is chile was remarkable IMO, because they were one of the most politically active citizens in the world, then they had a political coup and in order to destabilize the political attitude of the middle class, the government established a free market economy... currently if you visit Chile, the middle class doesn't care about politics and the teenagers are one of the most depressed in the world. Our media touted Chile's change into a free market economy as a great thing, and didn't really report the cultural fall out that had happened.

My point is that while life is getting easier in some respects through technology and the access to information, communication capability, there does appear to be cultural problems emerging such as interpersonal connection, finding meaning, and a loss of communal spirit.
However, these things may work themselves out or atleast there appears to be possibilities that they are working themselves out.

 

[billfred]

It is only more expensive because our standards are so much higher. Go look at the avg house in the 1950. They probably had 1 b&W TV along with one phone line with a shitty rotary dial, sparce furnishing, and 1 car in the garage.

No - I find it much easier today. We have many more luxuries and lots of different methods for paying form them (credit).

 

[Delinquent]

This is a great question on all levels... and I could write a whole paper on this, but will show some restraint... the thing that strikes me the most is how a sense of isolation, and loss of connection and community have increased over time, and how identity is more based on purchase rather than principles... but probably the most visible or tangible effect would be loss of meaning, community, and how much harder it is to be understood today... so many factors, which include your neck of the woods, which I have no problem with... its how you feed your family, the increased sense of isolation in all of us and loss of community go hand in hand, and people are upset that culture does not provide these things for them...

An interesting study was done on the happiest teenagers in the world in 70s, they were cuba, chile, and israel... now, all these are highly non commercial cultures, the thing is chile was remarkable IMO, because they were one of the most politically active citizens in the world, then they had a political coup and in order to destabilize the political attitude of the middle class, the government established a free market economy... currently if you visit Chile, the middle class doesn't care about politics and the teenagers are one of the most depressed in the world. Our media touted Chile's change into a free market economy as a great thing, and didn't really report the cultural fall out that had happened.

My point is that while life is getting easier in some respects through technology and the access to information, communication capability, there does appear to be cultural problems emerging such as interpersonal connection, finding meaning, and a loss of communal spirit.
However, these things may work themselves out or atleast there appears to be possibilities that they are working themselves out.

Great post and I completely agree. People seem to hold on to this belief that all these material items such as all this technology makes up happier when in fact I think it's quite the opposite. We are trained to want more of everything rather than being happy with what you have and looking to one's inner self for happy, something I admittedly haven't been able to do either so I'm definitely not up on a soap box for this statement.