jim wrote:
I have never had a higher than average earning job in my life, always lower than average, yet I was able to run my car, had a modest boat, a modest lifestyle, paid my debits, never over extended, now things are comfortable, nothing flash, just comfortable, eat when I am hungry, sleep when I am tired, keep warm when its cold, and dry when its wet, what else could I possibly want? all things are relative, life is a game, and money is just the way we keep score, I dont envy the millionairs, dont pity most of the poor, its them that make the least mistakes. we all control our destiny to a point, I would do any job than be out of work, the world dont owe me a living, (Jims Law)

You're right there Jim. Yours, and my generations, tends to have have a different view on life. We know what the essentials are: shelter, food, and clothing: because we have known what real shortages of those essentials really means. More recent generations tend not to have been short of those essentials. An awful lot of them have only ever known instant satisfaction and relative comfort. And if, or when, things do go wrong, the State has been there to pick up the pieces and provide those human rights.
For many today, a hardship means not having the latest gadget, or even iPad game at the instant they want it. The latest all luxury kitchen is taken as a given; when in truth, anywhere to prepare food and cook was one-time a luxury; when not knowing where the next meal was coming from.
Central heating is accepted as a human right today. Some of us can remember waiting in coal queues with Dad for a few knobs of precious coal with which to cook over, maybe produce some hot water from; and certainly no heating for the whole home – a home that for many was often little more than a couple of rooms in a tenement block – or worse.
Today we consider ourselves deprived if we don't have a TV in every room and hundreds of channels to choose from. We take it for granted that childhood deaths are a rarity: when our generations knew the deaths of some of our peers through common childhood illness. There was no automatic State provided councilling then to enable us to live with the normal consequences of life.
But at least we could walk the streets at night without the fear of being mugged or killed by our own kind. We didn't need to bolt the doors and windows– assuming we had them to close – for fear that we would be robbed of the the few crude possessions we did have.
Debt today has largely been driven by the lust for instant satisfaction. We are constantly bombarded with TV adverts telling us we have failed if we don't have the latest luxury gimmick. Our children are deprived if we can't give them everything they want when they demand it. “No”, has become the equivalent of a four letter word to many of today's children. The more they are given, it seems the more they demand.
I've just returned from shopping at the local Aldi. We passed a long queue of cars; mainly large luxury cars, containing a woman driver and several children in each vehicle; all waiting to get into the child amusement/entertainment centre. It seems that children today have to be constantly entertained; otherwise they are deprived. The chances are, a lot of those family units will be subsidised, or even funded, out of taxpayer funds.
I don't resent people having the goods things of life. I do think we have lost the concept of working and saving for what we need. If the State won't provide for our wants, then there is the loan that will enable instant gratification for our wants. And when even our loans backfire on us – we simply declare ourselves bankrupt and start all over again.