apocalypsos: (headdesk)
[personal profile] apocalypsos
"Scraping by" on $150,000 a year.

The girl whose parents raised her and her brother perfectly fine on two incomes that probably totaled about what I'm making right now at my crappy job HAS NO WORDS.
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Date: 2006-12-21 06:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phillyexpat.livejournal.com
I hope you're reading the comments people posted about the article, because that family's getting eviscerated.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com
Oh, yeah, just started to. They deserve it.

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From: [identity profile] phillyexpat.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-12-21 07:29 pm (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-12-21 07:36 pm (UTC) - Expand

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From: [identity profile] phillyexpat.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-12-21 08:31 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2006-12-21 06:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phaballa.livejournal.com
My parents made maybe $120,000 a year combined (they were social workers), raised my sister and I just fine. I was in gymnastics and dance from the age of 7 onwards (which is some expensive shit, I know that now that I have to pay for dance classes myself) and sent us both to private universities that cost about $35,000/year. I have no idea how they did it.

Date: 2006-12-21 08:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] foxxydancr.livejournal.com
my parents raised myself and my sister on less than six digits ( a lot less, they're both underpaid profs) and we went to private schools, had art lessons and music lessons, etc, and went to Universities. We just...didn't have the best car and sometimes wore handmedowns.

And we turned out ok. (except for that body in the freezer...)

Date: 2006-12-21 06:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mayatawi.livejournal.com
The hell? Two rental properties, and no college funds for their children?

PRIORITIES, PEOPLE.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:13 pm (UTC)
ext_10190: Doctor Who's Rose smiling (HP - Young Snape (Trent Reznor))
From: [identity profile] bailunrui.livejournal.com
That family can cry me a fucking river.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com
I'm going to call my mother and thank her for never listening when I asked for a pony. Seriously, COME ON. That's an evil fucking present for a family with four kids, because either they keep it and have a huge dent in their income or they have to turn down a freakin' horse for four little girls.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:14 pm (UTC)
yueni: fantasy bosom (Default)
From: [personal profile] yueni
I'm sorry. I'm sitting here and just boggling. I'm in a fairly good job that makes much, much less than her, and I'm "scraping by" just fine, thank you. Good god.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silmaril.livejournal.com
Your icon is very eloquent, however.

Back in July, the commenters in the great weblog Making Light had a very interesting discussion about a similar case.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:18 pm (UTC)
newredshoes: possum, "How embarrassing!" (sorely vexed.)
From: [personal profile] newredshoes
Holy motherloving Christ on a pogo stick. One more reason the rest of the world hates us? Check. To consider $150K living on a shoestring, in Nebraska, rental properties or not, is obscene.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:25 pm (UTC)
newredshoes: possum, "How embarrassing!" (brain specialists.)
From: [personal profile] newredshoes
...she said indignantly, using an icon of Fitzwilliam "30,000 pounds a year!" Darcy. *facepalm*

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From: [identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-12-21 06:28 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2006-12-21 06:20 pm (UTC)
ext_4055: (STUPID?!)
From: [identity profile] chandri.livejournal.com
A hundred and fifty thousand a year AMERICAN and they're HAVING TROUBLE MAKING ENDS MEET? Ahahahahahah! *falls over*

That's... a hundred and twelve THOUSAND more than the average income up here. Those people need to sell that horse and get themselves an ACCOUNTANT, is what they need...

Date: 2006-12-21 06:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grlnamedlucifer.livejournal.com
I sorry, they have a fucking HORSE. They automatically lose any argument they were trying to make. Poor babies.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com
That's the thing that gets me, because whatever your income might be, if you honestly consider yourself to be "scraping by," YOU DO NOT SAY YES TO A HORSE.

I know there's that saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but if you think about cracking its jaws open to look for a winning lottery ticket, give the horse back.

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From: [identity profile] strix-an-stones.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-12-21 09:48 pm (UTC) - Expand

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Date: 2006-12-21 06:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] moire2.livejournal.com
If they don't have any credit card debt... WTF are they spending their money on? Seriously.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sabra-n.livejournal.com
In Nebraska? FREAKING NEBRASKA? SHUT UP. God, this brings out the codger in me. "Why in my day, we got around in a 10-year old car with a pebble stuck in the windshield. Cable television was for other people. Younger siblings wore *gasp* hand-me-downs!" Yeah, I got piano lessons, but we didn't take vacations anywhere we couldn't get by car. And these poor woobies have to give up ballet lessons...so they can get a horse. Just shoot me now.

Then again, we're not American, and certainly haven't had the time to build the kind of complacency that comes with living for generations without worrying about getting killed or where your next meal is coming from. I think my parents hammered constant vigilance about money into me pretty well, but I worry what my kids will be like.

-blue

Date: 2006-12-21 06:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] retrobabble.livejournal.com
As with most news stories, you have to take them with a grain of salt. Something is left out here for them to be living paycheck to paycheck.

Date: 2006-12-21 06:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akamarykate.livejournal.com
WTF.

I know where they live--I've taught in that school district, and it's just up the road from where I live. Elkhorn people are generally crazy anyway (the "new" ones anyway, the ones who've moved out there because they're afraid of the ooo, scary, nonwhite people in Omaha *rolls eyes HARD*), but that's just WRONG.

I'm joining the list of people who are calling their parents. Mine sent 7 kids to Catholic school (in Omaha) and kept us fed and clothed and in a good house for a very small fraction of what that family has at their disposal, and we sure didn't have no stinkin' pony.

Date: 2006-12-21 07:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snowpiratess.livejournal.com
we never seem to have enough money to do anything fun

...I seriously want to punch some sense this family. Over a billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day! I consider myself comfortably well off, and am able to save, on £12k a year after tax! (That's about $24k, right?)

They have a fatal case of affluenza, and absolutely no perspective or imagination. *grinds teeth*

Date: 2006-12-22 05:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] glittercat13.livejournal.com
"They have a fatal case of affluenza..."

OOOOOHHH!!! I love that!! Beautiful!

Thank you for an absolutely *wonderful* new word!!!!! :D

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From: [identity profile] snowpiratess.livejournal.com - Date: 2006-12-22 07:56 pm (UTC) - Expand

Date: 2006-12-21 07:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] honorh.livejournal.com
What the hell are they spending their money on?!?

Date: 2006-12-21 07:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] random-serious.livejournal.com
I don't even want to click on that link, the link text makes me so angry.

Date: 2006-12-21 07:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] apiphile.livejournal.com
My family (that'll be ME and MY MOTHER) got by on less than £10k a year. I have no idea what that is in dollars, but I'm guessing "not a fat lot". Thank gods for free school dinners, thrift stores, generous relatives and me not particularly wanting a pony, says I.

Date: 2006-12-21 07:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wyldkyss.livejournal.com
What the HELL are they spending their money on??

Date: 2006-12-21 07:52 pm (UTC)
amalthia: (Default)
From: [personal profile] amalthia
Okay when I see "scraping by" I expect the people to be making maybe 22K a year together! My brother is scrapping by going to school, waiting tables, his wife gets food stamps because of a medical condition and yet I'm relatively sure my brother is saving more money than these idiots! And I think he has plenty of fun taking his dogs to the river and playing fetch with them. seriouslly.....

Date: 2006-12-21 08:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] idadebeautreux.livejournal.com
They'll be totally screwed when those 4 kids want to go to college. At age 4-9, they'll all be in school at the same time, most likely, and when the girls hit the real world, they are going to be hit with one HELLUVA wakeup call: la vie boheme of the average grad student, where 'scraping by' means '$14,000.' In New England, no less, which may not be NYC or San Francisco, but is definitely not cheap by any stretch of the imagination.

Date: 2006-12-21 08:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] casirafics.livejournal.com
I grew up in a household of three with a total income of about $60k. I also grew up with all the books and toys I wanted (barring things like the Nintendo, which Mom said no to and I got over), we went on nice vacations occasionally, bought decent computers, etc., etc., and were perfectly happy. I went to college, got a job, split tuition with my parents and graduated debt-free without any other aid. They've paid off their house and cars and are living comfortably. I've got a decent job and a reasonable mortgage (which is tricky around here, but possible) and am paying that and my new (used) car off without too much trouble.

How, you may ask?

PRIORITIZATION.

Gnah. *headthunk*

Date: 2006-12-21 08:19 pm (UTC)
tabaqui: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tabaqui
I'm at a loss to understand just *what* they're spending all their money on. Are the rental property mortgages outrageously high? Do they have crazy health issues? What. That's...insane.

Date: 2006-12-21 08:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inmyriadbits.livejournal.com
(whoops)
THE. HELL.

Date: 2006-12-21 08:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dargie.livejournal.com
My heart just bleeds for them.

Not.

If I had $150,000 a year I could rule the world. Or at least save most of it.

Date: 2006-12-21 09:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sweill.livejournal.com


Those folks are self-idulgent MORONS. And don't even get my STARTED on the whole FOUR kids thing.
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