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RE: Oompa Loompa Now: The coming Apocalypse
What proportion of lottery winners really go bankrupt? The lottery winner who leads the quiet and satisfied life with his financial house in good order is not newsworthy. It's the broke spendthrifts we hear about when they sell their stories to the yellow press out of desperation.
Most lottery winners aren't Finns ashamed of their win ;D
Heh. But seriously, is the average person really that stupid with money?
In any case, money and stupidity are like oil and water.
There are many who unfortunately are. I have seen bits of a few documentaries, reports and stories about them. People buy a Ferrari and don't factor in insurance, 10,000 for a set of rubber, service, etc. Same for homes and the like. Many forget that there are service costs involved but don't take the care to make sure the money is working well for them. Financial literacy is not of primary concern unfortunately, instagram and facebook literacy is vital however.
Financial literacy should be a subject in school or at least a recurring theme in many subjects such as maths and civics.
I'm in the US and using US stats. Not sure about the rest of the world, but seriously doubt that it's any different.
Give a poor person money and they will still be poor, give someone who just happens to be broke money and they will use it properly. Being poor is a mindset, being broke is just someone's current situation.
I have been broke a few times in my life and come back each time. Never felt that I was a poor person. Have never used the bankruptcy route to escape debts even after a massive business failing leaving me nearly homeless. Instead I worked harder then ever and satisfied all my debts, saved the house, and keep food on the table for the family (wasn't much or very good, but it was food).
If I had the mentality of a poor person I would of taken the easy way out. Filed BK and cried about all of the ways I got screwed over and so forth. Instead I scrapped and clawed my way back and today we are on solid ground living a good life. Everything could fall apart again one day and I would still find my way back up.
On the flip side people with a poor mentality always find a way to become poor again.
Very interesting. Financial literacy is at an alarmingly low level. But is it any wonder because ballooning consumer credit is the only thing that has kept the US economy afloat in recent decades with the median salary falling behind. This is a problem in many developed countries, not just the US.
Absolutely.
Without ballooning debt loads the US economy would be in serious trouble. The public and the government both rely heavily on debt to fuel their purchases and lifestyle.
That could come to an ugly end.
Completely agree. What I think most miss is that the ugly end won't just be an US issue, but a far reaching global one. US consumerism fuels economies around the world. Without it the house of cards will fall.
Yes, it will. It would be best if consumption increased in those countries and manufacturing increased in the US. Rebalancing world trade is one of the themes that got Trump elected. But what can one national government do about it?
Forcing China to stop manipulating their currency is critical. They have kept it artificially low to make their goods look very attractive on the global markets while making import goods very expensive for the Chinese people. This one action alone would help rebalance a significant amount of trade in the US (and I'm sure other countries too).
Really feel that the tariffs on Steal and Aluminum were targeted at China as they won't bend on the currency manipulation. They were warned, they ignored, and now they are going to pay a hefty price.
A tariff war with China has 1 winner, the US. China would be decimated if the US made their goods more expensive via tariffs across the board. All Trump wants is an equal playing field for US companies to compete with, China wants to keep the deck stacked in their favor. I'll gladly pay a minor surcharge short term on products to put China in their place and I think most Americans would agree.
I think Trump was exactly right in talking about this.
China is a sorry example of what happens when the state meddles with the economy too much. The large imbalances created by force (such as the real estate bubble artificially inflated by the government - there is no independent central bank or independent anything in China for that matter) have caused Chinese capital to want to flee the country. Hence the Bitcoin enthusiasm of the Chinese and the subsequent government crackdown. For example, the Vancouver, BC, housing bubble has been created largely by Chinese money. My relatives in their fifties who live there own ordinary houses that are now valued at over 1.5 million CAD. Their children are incapable of buying anything there.