These are people who never really had it rough. Their parents, no doubt, paid for their college and before that, probably gave them hefty allowances for being nothing more than dependents.
Generations, past, knew that to live within your means, meant survival. If they were blessed to earn a little more than they normally did, they’d stock that away – knowing that the rainy day ALWAYS comes.
There’s a reason why that “rainy day” wisdom has survived so long. It’s a wisdom quite a few people are about to learn, now… “the hard way!”
I almost find them sickening. “Poor me, I didn’t want to take the first job offer – it wasn’t as good as my old one, waaah.” What about a bird in the hand, people? I would be curious to see if they learn some lessons and change their viewpoints after they rough it for awhile. Think the scales will fall from their eyes?
It’s called the Hedonic Treadmill, my friends, and it’s one cruel mistress.
At least when private citizens do this, they’re doing it with their own hard-earned money, and the only people they hurt are their own kids. When liberals do this, they use our money for it, and we all suffer.
It reminds me of the scene in “Lost in America” where Albert Brooks is in the small, desert town and goes to the unemployment office. He’s running through the salary, benefits and bonus of the New York job he walked away from. The guy in the unemployment office is dumbstruck anyone earned what Brooks earned, and even more dumbstruck that he would walk away from that income. “Oh, you want the drawer with the hundred thousand dollar jobs…”
I guess I have to agree these people are idiots, but it’s amazing they could live succesfully in the real world and still be this stupid. I readily understand folks who grew up in a house where parents never went to work, or held a job. That is all they know. But the folks in this article held jobs were they managed money, they worked in business, they understand the economics of finance. If you lose your job and you get severance that severance is your lifeline. Until you get another steady paycheck you milk that severance for every penny it’s worth.
I just read it again and it’s even more maddening the second time. Maybe Pelosi and Reid are right and we really should give them our money to manage! Cases of $36/bottle wine? Housecleaners? Family vacations to Virginia Beach? Private schools? New BMWs? Multiple Starbucks everyday? Spa visits? Premium cable? Steak dinners?
It is truly incredible. Somebody tell me this article is an April Fool’s joke.
I don’t think they’re idiots. They’re in denial and have gotten used to an alternate reality that does not match up with objective reality. I can see such behavior for a few weeks (more like days) perhaps as reality sinks in, but this is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. No one ridicules those who at first thought the shudder wouldn’t sink Titanic, but for these folks? Their falling while Leo and Kate are climbing the back rail.
Grace under pressure is not the norm lets remember and they’re so ensconced in modernity that I wonder if it masks the survival instinct because it doesn’t appear to be threatening? I sincerely wonder.
While I hesitate to pass judgement on people I solely know from a few sentences in a newspaper article, I don’t think “idiot” is a stretch here. How are these people any different than the citizens of New Orleans who failed to heed ample advanced warning of a looming hurricane and decided to roll the dice that Katrina wouldn’t wreak havoc on the city? As the patriarch of a family surely you can relate to the failure of these men to properly care for their families. What duty is more important? If you lost your job and were handed a check for $200k for your troubles would you not ensure every dime of that money went to ensure your family’s security and safety? I don’t mean anything sexist by this, but as a husband and father it is my duty to protect my family. $200k will buy a lot of mac ‘n cheese. The average American family household income is what? $35k? $200k is almost 7 years of average, household income. Get a part-time job as a greeter at the Wal-Mart for an additional $10k/year (you’re working part-time so you can continue to interview and look for a better job) and you’ve stretched that $200k to 9 years of average, household income. I don’t know much about unemployment, but a man earning six figures would easily qualify for the max benefit. That probably gets you another year of average, household income. If you can’t find a suitable job in 10 years then you’ve got a reason to complain to a reporter, but these folks squandered an incredible opportunity. How many people currently unemployed do you think had six figure severance packages? How many do you think had any severance at all?
No matter how many times I re-learn the story of the Emperor and his clothes I seem to quickly forget it. This is prejudice, but I read something like “CEO of a Bank” and I make certain assumptions. The truth is there, apparently, are plenty of idiots who are CEOs of banks. Politics is not a meritocracy and I guess business is not either. It’s kind of like reading that a guy was a Cy Young winner and learning he can’t throw a snowball.
“ensconced in modernity that I wonder if it masks the survival instinct”
That’s an interesting theory. I wrote something similar yesterday. Are we so far removed from the reality of our humanity that we can no longer function? Societally I see absolutely no difference between these folk and families who have been on welfare for generations. Families who have lived off of government largesse for their entirety.
What percentage of our countrymen and women reside in these two groups? They are asymptotes on the bell curve of a capitalist society. If the percent under these asymptotes is greater than the percent under the bell we are doomed.
CEO of a small bank…so maybe this explains a great deal about the last 10-15 years in banking and in real estate lending. If he was so totally divorced from his own reality, how much more so was he with the financial realities? And I’m willing to bet that he’s waiting for the government to bail out his lifestyle…
I saw that yesterday and thought it was some sort of joke. When I got laid off last December, I immediately went into, “If you can live without it, you don’t buy it” mode. I was prepared to take the first job that I could get, even if it wasn’t my ideal. I figured I could always keep looking for something better. (Although I wasn’t going to tell them that.) As it turned out, it took a little doing, but I found my dream job, one that pays 60% more than the one I lost. But it also required a move to a new state and a commute into the downtown of a major city. (I hate cities, although, I gotta admit eavesdropping on cell phone conversations during the trolley ride is entertaining. I wish I’d had to guts to barge in on yesterday’s and tell her, “Honey, do everyone involved a favor. Elope now.”)
Anyhow, having just been through it, I sincerely believe these people deserve all the bad things that are going to happen to them over the coming months. They are ignorant fools who may come out better in the long run, having finally suffered some adversity in their charmed, easy lives. But I doubt it.
I find the actions of those responsible for a family hardest to understand. The single woman who continues to live extravagantly… She was in denial, and I really don’t have empathy for her, but she hurt no one but herself. How can parents behave like the folks referenced in this article?
You may be right. I guess I cannot relate. I was raised in the school of hard knocks so I know how fortunate I am. I know the value of a buck and I know the value of two hundred thousand bucks.
Throughout history I notice a propensity for the third generation of wealthy families to squander the capital the first generation built. The first generation builds capital through hard labor and thrift. The second generation is raised during that time. They are children when the first generation is beginning to strive for wealth and by the time their parents achieve financial success they are young adults, or adults. The second generation knows the value of that wealth since they witnessed the effor to achieve it. The third generation has no concept of the labor that went into accumulating the weatlh. The first generation can typically never spend freely, even when they have great wealth. They have wealth because they were frugal and they cannot change their nature once they obtain wealth. It is easier for the second generation to spend freely, and their children are raised in an environment of easy spending. Therefore, the third generation squanders what is given them and often loses the family fortune.
Answer: Obama supporters?
Seriously, they aren’t doing anything the government isn’t doing billions of times over.
Morons. That would be who they are. Burning through your savings rather than taking a job offer is just stupid. So much for a rainy day huh.
These are people who never really had it rough. Their parents, no doubt, paid for their college and before that, probably gave them hefty allowances for being nothing more than dependents.
Generations, past, knew that to live within your means, meant survival. If they were blessed to earn a little more than they normally did, they’d stock that away – knowing that the rainy day ALWAYS comes.
There’s a reason why that “rainy day” wisdom has survived so long. It’s a wisdom quite a few people are about to learn, now… “the hard way!”
There’s a name for these people, IDIOT.
I almost find them sickening. “Poor me, I didn’t want to take the first job offer – it wasn’t as good as my old one, waaah.” What about a bird in the hand, people? I would be curious to see if they learn some lessons and change their viewpoints after they rough it for awhile. Think the scales will fall from their eyes?
It’s called the Hedonic Treadmill, my friends, and it’s one cruel mistress.
At least when private citizens do this, they’re doing it with their own hard-earned money, and the only people they hurt are their own kids. When liberals do this, they use our money for it, and we all suffer.
It reminds me of the scene in “Lost in America” where Albert Brooks is in the small, desert town and goes to the unemployment office. He’s running through the salary, benefits and bonus of the New York job he walked away from. The guy in the unemployment office is dumbstruck anyone earned what Brooks earned, and even more dumbstruck that he would walk away from that income. “Oh, you want the drawer with the hundred thousand dollar jobs…”
I guess I have to agree these people are idiots, but it’s amazing they could live succesfully in the real world and still be this stupid. I readily understand folks who grew up in a house where parents never went to work, or held a job. That is all they know. But the folks in this article held jobs were they managed money, they worked in business, they understand the economics of finance. If you lose your job and you get severance that severance is your lifeline. Until you get another steady paycheck you milk that severance for every penny it’s worth.
I just read it again and it’s even more maddening the second time. Maybe Pelosi and Reid are right and we really should give them our money to manage! Cases of $36/bottle wine? Housecleaners? Family vacations to Virginia Beach? Private schools? New BMWs? Multiple Starbucks everyday? Spa visits? Premium cable? Steak dinners?
It is truly incredible. Somebody tell me this article is an April Fool’s joke.
I don’t think they’re idiots. They’re in denial and have gotten used to an alternate reality that does not match up with objective reality. I can see such behavior for a few weeks (more like days) perhaps as reality sinks in, but this is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. No one ridicules those who at first thought the shudder wouldn’t sink Titanic, but for these folks? Their falling while Leo and Kate are climbing the back rail.
Grace under pressure is not the norm lets remember and they’re so ensconced in modernity that I wonder if it masks the survival instinct because it doesn’t appear to be threatening? I sincerely wonder.
Floyd,
While I hesitate to pass judgement on people I solely know from a few sentences in a newspaper article, I don’t think “idiot” is a stretch here. How are these people any different than the citizens of New Orleans who failed to heed ample advanced warning of a looming hurricane and decided to roll the dice that Katrina wouldn’t wreak havoc on the city? As the patriarch of a family surely you can relate to the failure of these men to properly care for their families. What duty is more important? If you lost your job and were handed a check for $200k for your troubles would you not ensure every dime of that money went to ensure your family’s security and safety? I don’t mean anything sexist by this, but as a husband and father it is my duty to protect my family. $200k will buy a lot of mac ‘n cheese. The average American family household income is what? $35k? $200k is almost 7 years of average, household income. Get a part-time job as a greeter at the Wal-Mart for an additional $10k/year (you’re working part-time so you can continue to interview and look for a better job) and you’ve stretched that $200k to 9 years of average, household income. I don’t know much about unemployment, but a man earning six figures would easily qualify for the max benefit. That probably gets you another year of average, household income. If you can’t find a suitable job in 10 years then you’ve got a reason to complain to a reporter, but these folks squandered an incredible opportunity. How many people currently unemployed do you think had six figure severance packages? How many do you think had any severance at all?
On second thought… you are probably right. A fool and his money are soon parted is age-old wisdom for a reason I guess.
Floyd,
No matter how many times I re-learn the story of the Emperor and his clothes I seem to quickly forget it. This is prejudice, but I read something like “CEO of a Bank” and I make certain assumptions. The truth is there, apparently, are plenty of idiots who are CEOs of banks. Politics is not a meritocracy and I guess business is not either. It’s kind of like reading that a guy was a Cy Young winner and learning he can’t throw a snowball.
“ensconced in modernity that I wonder if it masks the survival instinct”
That’s an interesting theory. I wrote something similar yesterday. Are we so far removed from the reality of our humanity that we can no longer function? Societally I see absolutely no difference between these folk and families who have been on welfare for generations. Families who have lived off of government largesse for their entirety.
What percentage of our countrymen and women reside in these two groups? They are asymptotes on the bell curve of a capitalist society. If the percent under these asymptotes is greater than the percent under the bell we are doomed.
CEO of a small bank…so maybe this explains a great deal about the last 10-15 years in banking and in real estate lending. If he was so totally divorced from his own reality, how much more so was he with the financial realities? And I’m willing to bet that he’s waiting for the government to bail out his lifestyle…
The phrase “fattened up for slaughter” comes to mind.
If I were to lose my job, I would not be like these people. If I lost my job, I’d lose my house almost immediately.
I wish I felt sorry for him but I don’t……..
I saw that yesterday and thought it was some sort of joke. When I got laid off last December, I immediately went into, “If you can live without it, you don’t buy it” mode. I was prepared to take the first job that I could get, even if it wasn’t my ideal. I figured I could always keep looking for something better. (Although I wasn’t going to tell them that.) As it turned out, it took a little doing, but I found my dream job, one that pays 60% more than the one I lost. But it also required a move to a new state and a commute into the downtown of a major city. (I hate cities, although, I gotta admit eavesdropping on cell phone conversations during the trolley ride is entertaining. I wish I’d had to guts to barge in on yesterday’s and tell her, “Honey, do everyone involved a favor. Elope now.”)
Anyhow, having just been through it, I sincerely believe these people deserve all the bad things that are going to happen to them over the coming months. They are ignorant fools who may come out better in the long run, having finally suffered some adversity in their charmed, easy lives. But I doubt it.
Raoul,
I find the actions of those responsible for a family hardest to understand. The single woman who continues to live extravagantly… She was in denial, and I really don’t have empathy for her, but she hurt no one but herself. How can parents behave like the folks referenced in this article?
Well, these are lessons people tend to learn only in the school of hard knocks. A lot of Americans have never had a class–yet.
Lars,
You may be right. I guess I cannot relate. I was raised in the school of hard knocks so I know how fortunate I am. I know the value of a buck and I know the value of two hundred thousand bucks.
Throughout history I notice a propensity for the third generation of wealthy families to squander the capital the first generation built. The first generation builds capital through hard labor and thrift. The second generation is raised during that time. They are children when the first generation is beginning to strive for wealth and by the time their parents achieve financial success they are young adults, or adults. The second generation knows the value of that wealth since they witnessed the effor to achieve it. The third generation has no concept of the labor that went into accumulating the weatlh. The first generation can typically never spend freely, even when they have great wealth. They have wealth because they were frugal and they cannot change their nature once they obtain wealth. It is easier for the second generation to spend freely, and their children are raised in an environment of easy spending. Therefore, the third generation squanders what is given them and often loses the family fortune.
Well, I am a third generation . . .
Give us some insight…