Economy Why are Americans so terrible with money?

probably by education system design. Imagine the country's economy if everyone spending sensibly, there will be less mega corporations or billionaires making their money of the financially uneducated.
 
evansusmc2 said:
Out of 190+ countries, #27 isn't to bad. Add in the factor of America housing the MOST irresponsible spenders on the planet... and we are definitely in the top 10.
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Only 82 countries were included.

So just sneaking into the top 1/3 is hardly indicative of a paragon of opportunity.


I would also that little luxuries, aka wasted money buys, are relatively cheap on a historical basis but essentials like shelter, health and education are extremely expensive. And doubly so when you compare to median wages.

My nice not by any means impressive place could rent for the same price as 4 brand new TV's a week from the local store. (Yes I just searched this). If went mail order, I'd probably get 6.
 
Maybe I missed it but one thing no one has mentioned on why Americans and the west, as a whole, are bad with money is because the quality of things are bad now. It is not the sole reason but it is a major reason. For example, American road quality is awful and that puts wear and tear on your cars and tires costing more money. You now pay more for worst quality. A lot of people can relate to having very little money and buying something that is needed only for it to fail when they needed it the most.

Another reason is because many people are just ridiculous and greedy with their pricing. I remember wanting a tree cut down near my home and I called 3 different companies out. The price quote for 1 tree from all 3 companies was around $1800 to $2000, not including stump grinding. Another examples of this are movie theatre tickets and concession prices and probably the most popular recently are concert tickets.
 
HeffDoesWant said:
Only 82 countries were included.

So just sneaking into the top 1/3 is hardly indicative of a paragon of opportunity.


I would also that little luxuries, aka wasted money buys, are relatively cheap on a historical basis but essentials like shelter, health and education are extremely expensive. And doubly so when you compare to median wages.

My nice not by any means impressive place could rent for the same price as 4 brand new TV's a week from the local store. (Yes I just searched this). If went mail order, I'd probably get 6.
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“Included”?? Planet earth includes 190+ countries. Not 82. So that those stats are flawed.
 
evansusmc2 said:
“Included”?? Planet earth includes 190+ countries. Not 82. So that those stats are flawed.
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Not flawed, they just don't cover every country. Would you really prefer they spent their time delving into the details of countries like Eswatini, Gabon and Saint Lucia?

Sure maybe throwing a wider net would help America out of last place for England speaking countries but one thing it certainly wouldn't do is lift the ranking of the US.

in short, i don't think doubling the work required to produce would provide any meaningful addition to its usefulness (except to people with an interest in countries i could never recall).
 
HeffDoesWant said:
Not flawed, they just don't cover every country. Would you really prefer they spent their time delving into the details of countries like Eswatini, Gabon and Saint Lucia?

Sure maybe throwing a wider net would help America out of last place for England speaking countries but one thing it certainly wouldn't do is lift the ranking of the US.

in short, i don't think doubling the work required to produce would provide any meaningful addition to its usefulness (except to people with an interest in countries i could never recall).
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So back in the day why I was in the training room with Rich Franklin I can say that at one point in time I was top 8 in the world?? Cool 😎
 
I just rented a car to this fancy looking lady at Avis. Well tried to rent. She had Louis Vuitton bag, a Louis Vuitton water bottle. I think those bags are thousands ? Super nice nails, hair all done. But she didn't have 550$ on her credit card for the rental. She made a payment but it wouldn't post until the next business day. So I was trying to help her increase her card limit figured she had maybe at least 5k limit and it was maxed. so she could get the car. and she gave me her phone with her credit card app open. Her limit was only $500. Wtf. How the hell does this lady have this nice ass stuff with that low a limit. Again I say wtf.
 
liner said:
I just rented a car to this fancy looking lady at Avis. She had Louis Vuitton bag, a Louis Vuitton water bottle. I think those bags are thousands ? Super nice nails, hair all done. But she didn't have 550$ on her credit card for the rental. She made a payment but it wouldn't post until the next business day. So I was trying to help her increase her card limit figured she had maybe at least 5k limit and it was maxed. so she could get the car. and she gave me her phone with her credit card app open. Her limit was only $500. Wtf. How the hell does this lady have this nice ass stuff with that low a limit. Again I say wtf.
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Car for a trip on the lone CC she pays for. Can't have it showing up on the card "daddy" pays for.

That is one guess.
 
ObsoleteSoul said:
Car for a trip on the lone CC she pays for. Can't have it showing up on the card "daddy" pays for.

That is one guess.
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Maybe but she was in her 40s and married. She had the one credit card believe me I tried everything I know a lot of tricks to get the car rented. I get commission and she bought everything I sold her so really wanted it to go thru. Had to turn her away
 
liner said:
Maybe but she was in her 40s and married. She had the one credit card believe me I tried everything I know a lot of tricks to get the car rented. I get commission and she bought everything I sold her so really wanted it to go thru. Had to turn her away
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Her being married makes me think it might be the case even more. Probably a housewife who finally got a card of her own for these sort of things. "I want to be independent now" Or something like that.

Of course, this is all conjecture. Those things happen often though. Still kind of sad to be so old and not have a grasp on how credit works. That seems to be something only the young and/or sheltered people have to deal with. Crazy situation.
 
Darkavius said:
Maybe I missed it but one thing no one has mentioned on why Americans and the west, as a whole, are bad with money is because the quality of things are bad now. It is not the sole reason but it is a major reason. For example, American road quality is awful and that puts wear and tear on your cars and tires costing more money. You now pay more for worst quality. A lot of people can relate to having very little money and buying something that is needed only for it to fail when they needed it the most.

Another reason is because many people are just ridiculous and greedy with their pricing. I remember wanting a tree cut down near my home and I called 3 different companies out. The price quote for 1 tree from all 3 companies was around $1800 to $2000, not including stump grinding. Another examples of this are movie theatre tickets and concession prices and probably the most popular recently are concert tickets.
Click to expand...
that's right and on the flip side, some people are too lazy to dig for other workers. It's one reason I stopped doing that kind of work, I never charged much, never more than a 20 per hour so some people got dependent on me. One of my customers called me in a huff and desperately after I stopped doing moves saying he couldn't find anyone for less than fifteen grand to move his house. Took only a day, he gave me 4-5 hundred, that's a damned good day. I don't know why he couldn't find someone else but i care about most of my customers even though I've aged out of the shit.
 
evansusmc2 said:
So back in the day why I was in the training room with Rich Franklin I can say that at one point in time I was top 8 in the world?? Cool 😎
Click to expand...

Come on, think my dear boy, think.

If you are 8th best at something within some group it simply means irrefutably you are not in the top 7 in the world.

America is 27th within a subset of all countries, adding additional countries will not improve its rank. Maybe it could improve its quartile or decile but it's rank can only get worse.
 
mozfonky said:
that's right and on the flip side, some people are too lazy to dig for other workers. It's one reason I stopped doing that kind of work, I never charged much, never more than a 20 per hour so some people got dependent on me. One of my customers called me in a huff and desperately after I stopped doing moves saying he couldn't find anyone for less than fifteen grand to move his house. Took only a day, he gave me 4-5 hundred, that's a damned good day. I don't know why he couldn't find someone else but i care about most of my customers even though I've aged out of the shit.
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Moz, you bring up and interesting point here. The thing about digging is it has a major drawback. Let's say you are digging for insurance. Once you dig for insurance there is a high chance they will keep bugging you even if you are no longer interested. Some industries never leave you alone once you start digging so in rare circumstances it is easier not to dig.

Also, let me add that one thing that could make Americans better with money is if price gouging laws were actually enforced in the country. I can't speak for other countries but I know in America that price gouging is against the law in many states, and yet it is almost never enforced.
 
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