perception and reality

According to USA Today, 24 million people went from thriving to struggling. I have to wonder how many of those people were really thriving when they thought they were. It’s sort of like that poll a while back, where people were asked where they thought they fell in the spectrum of class. A whole lot of people thought they were middle class because of the lifestyle they aspired to project as opposed to the assets they really possessed. Remember that saying, “If it’s on your ass, it doesn’t mean it’s an asset?” It’s so true here. Savings rates have been at perilous levels since the 90’s and living wage jobs have been on the decline for a while now. It’s just that the living wage job losses of the Clinton and Bush years and the mortgage loan fraud of those latter years is coming home to roost and resulting in an increase of pink slips, which are making people change spending habits. But were all of these people really thriving? I think a lot of people were living aspirational lifestyles, nice car, nice house, but maybe this is more about people doing less dreaming and more planning.