Our Quality of Life is Declining

[RobDownSouth]

What is declining is our overall purchasing power. Between inflation for the upper class' benefit...

Tell us again how hyperinflation is just around the corner.

Good thing you're 100% invested in gold!!

 

[Ramone45]

The very best quality I ever had was when I was 22 - living in a 2-man tent in the middle of nowhere Northern Territory. No electricity, no running water, no people.
Up with the dawn, to bed at dusk.
It was peaceful, serene, uncomplicated.
I owned nothing much except my clothes, the tent, a beat-up old truck and my dog.
Pure bliss

This is my point. I think we may all eventually be living like this. Not that it is entirely a bad thing. Some people are hypocritical. For example they are completely against the use and acquisition of fossil fuels (ie. Hydraulic fracturing) while at the same time they use more and more energy. If we keep resisting advances, we are going to have to start giving up stuff. I just don't think people are willing to make those sacrifices.

 

[KRCummings]

I'm thinking people are very confused as to what quality of life means. This thread is more about standard of living.

 

[Recidiva]

You're on a computer talking to people all over the world being able to communicate about issues that are socially complex.

Poor dear.

Not everyone buys rock bottom and the are other markets. Widen the lens.

Most luxury items are available online and brick and mortar stores are going bye bye in general.

 

[RobDownSouth]

The very best quality I ever had was when I was 22 - living in a 2-man tent in the middle of nowhere Northern Territory. No electricity, no running water, no people.
Up with the dawn, to bed at dusk.
It was peaceful, serene, uncomplicated.
I owned nothing much except my clothes, the tent, a beat-up old truck and my dog.
Pure bliss

No mosquitos down there on the far side of the world?

Lucky you!

 

[RobDownSouth]

I'm thinking people are very confused as to what quality of life means. This thread is more about standard of living.

Give this woman a cookie.

The concepts are not interchangeable.

 

[John Doe]

I'm thinking people are very confused[...]

Ya got that right, Sister.

 

[John Doe]

Give this woman a cookie.

Euphemism?

 

[Recidiva]

I don't think that the development of medical advances, immunization, antibiotics, refrigeration, social advances and being able to grow a damned tooth from urine cells is outweighed by the fact that some people buy cheap shit.

 

[Ramone45]

I'm thinking people are very confused as to what quality of life means. This thread is more about standard of living.

You're right. Standard of living.
I just wonder why everyone is so cheap anymore. Even people who have resources are ridiculously cost conscious. Cost seems to be the most important issue . I wonder what they are doing with the money they save. I'm accused of being materialistic because I factor in the quality of an item when I purchase it. For example, I just bought a really expensive bicycle. It will last 20 years, God willing. My friends will buy four or five bicycles in that period, yet they call me extravagant.

 

[KRCummings]

You're right. Standard of living.
I just wonder why everyone is so cheap anymore. Even people who have resources are ridiculously cost conscious. Cost seems to be the most important issue . I wonder what they are doing with the money they save. I'm accused of being materialistic because I factor in the quality of an item when I purchase it. For example, I just bought a really expensive bicycle. It will last 20 years, God willing. My friends will buy four or five bicycles in that period, yet they call me extravagant.

What you're talking about is nothing new. You seem to think it is.

 

[Joeybagadonuts]

In general, the quality of products and services have eroded over the years, while prices continue to rise. There was a time when products will built to last and the customer I was always right.. Now they are built to break when the warranty runs out. If you call for customer service you will talk to a phone tree. If you are lucky enough to get a live person, you will speak to a front line person who's specific job is to insulate the decision makers in the company from the consumer. They will usually be pleasant and will give you and answer but it will be “no”.

 

[warrior queen]

No mosquitos down there on the far side of the world?

Lucky you!

Mosqiotoes everywhere!
But, they don't bite me for some reason.
All the other biteys do though!

 

[Debbie]

Everything is cheap. I went past a strip mall where the original stores were all replaced by Dollar General, Aldi, Save-A-Lot, etc. People only care about how much something costs; the quality of the item is not a consideration. Kohl's Stein Mart, Wal-Mart. All cheap crap. It is undeniable and it has been going on for 30 yrs. The disparity between haves and have-nots has to be corrected. We were lower middle class and we could afford to shop at nice department stores.

For me it is a buyers market.

I can choose to buy cheap products and get exactly what I pay for - cheap shit.

Or I can be selective and buy local quality products.

I agree things are more expensive than they were 10 years ago and 10 years from now people will be saying exactly the same thing.

If you don't like cheap crap then don't buy it.

 

[trysail]

In general, the quality of products and services have eroded over the years, while prices continue to rise. There was a time when products will built to last and the customer I was always right.. Now they are built to break when the warranty runs out. If you call for customer service you will talk to a phone tree. If you are lucky enough to get a live person, you will speak to a front line person who's specific job is to insulate the decision makers in the company from the consumer. They will usually be pleasant and will give you and answer but it will be “no”.

Sorry, but the fact of the matter is that the 1960 Ford Falcon was a piece of shit by comparison to a 1960 Mercedes 190— and you and I both know which one lasted longer.


The 1968 Pontiac Tempest was a piece of crap.
The 1972 Chevrolet Vega was garbage.
The Chevrolet Nova was a pile of junk.
The 1974 Volkswagen Beetle damn near lasted forever and it was less expensive!


Anybody who was watching knew perfectly well that Detroit was producing shit and was losing an entire generation (and every one to come). They were never going to get those customers back.


It was like watching a slow motion train wreck.

 

[richard_daily]

Tell us again how hyperinflation is just around the corner.

Good thing you're 100% invested in gold!!

200% invested in it even!

 

[richard_daily]

Sorry, but the fact of the matter is that the 1960 Ford Falcon was a piece of shit by comparison to a 1960 Mercedes 190— and you and I both know which one lasted longer.


The 1968 Pontiac Tempest was a piece of crap.
The 1972 Chevrolet Vega was garbage.
The Chevrolet Nova was a pile of junk.
The 1974 Volkswagen Beetle damn near lasted forever and it was less expensive!


Anybody who was watching knew perfectly well that Detroit was producing shit and was losing an entire generation (and every one to come). They were never going to get those customers back.


It was like watching a slow motion train wreck.

That's an excellent summation of the republican party.

 

[Recidiva]

Sorry, but the fact of the matter is that the 1960 Ford Falcon was a piece of shit by comparison to a 1960 Mercedes 190— and you and I both know which one lasted longer.


The 1968 Pontiac Tempest was a piece of crap.
The 1972 Chevrolet Vega was garbage.
The Chevrolet Nova was a pile of junk.
The 1974 Volkswagen Beetle damn near lasted forever and it was less expensive!


Anybody who was watching knew perfectly well that Detroit was producing shit and was losing an entire generation (and every one to come). They were never going to get those customers back.


It was like watching a slow motion train wreck.

And if you look at things like cars that existed then...that's one thing.

But let's look at entirely new markets that didn't exist then that have no comparison...cell phones, computers, things that make our lives exponentially better (potentially, you can also ruin your life with the tools provided.) The potential to survive life-threatening and infectious conditions has gone way up so that our life expectancy has increased by a huge margin and social mobility has increased.

I tend to think that people who want to live "in the old days" have memory loss or haven't read history.

 

[trysail]

Our quality of life is declining because we're well on the way to becoming an overpopulated third world country full of entitled malingerers and economic illiterates.

How much do you owe?
http://www.USDebtClock.org​

 

[warrior queen]

I'm thinking people are very confused as to what quality of life means. This thread is more about standard of living.

Fine.
Then quality of life means living longer, having access to medical treatment so you don't have to live in pain and don't routinely die young, having better food and more of it - that sort of thing?
In which case, quality of life is better for almost everyone in developed countries.

 

[trysail]

The damn lifeguards at my pool are all Ukranians.


Know why? They can't find American teenagers who will do the job.


That is fucking sick.

 

[Joeybagadonuts]

Sorry, but the fact of the matter is that the 1960 Ford Falcon was a piece of shit by comparison to a 1960 Mercedes 190— and you and I both know which one lasted longer.


The 1968 Pontiac Tempest was a piece of crap.
The 1972 Chevrolet Vega was garbage.
The Chevrolet Nova was a pile of junk.
The 1974 Volkswagen Beetle damn near lasted forever and it was less expensive!


Anybody who was watching knew perfectly well that Detroit was producing shit and was losing an entire generation (and every one to come). They were never going to get those customers back.


It was like watching a slow motion train wreck.

that's only because American made cars have always been crap.

 

[Recidiva]

The damn lifeguards at my pool are all Ukranians.


Know why? They can't find American teenagers who will do the job.


That is fucking sick.

Oh come on. Teenagers are the same as they've always been, some are willing to work and get ahead and some aren't. Some who are going to try to get ahead now are going to spend a summer interning at a tech company, not as a lifeguard. Same with the Ukranians if they could, and some do.

And old codgerdom remains the same, except now it's spread to "get off my damned pool!"

 

[trysail]

Oh come on. Teenagers are the same as they've always been, some are willing to work and get ahead and some aren't. Some who are going to try to get ahead now are going to spend a summer interning at a tech company, not as a lifeguard. Same with the Ukranians if they could, and some do.

And old codgerdom remains the same, except now it's spread to "get off my damned pool!"

Riiiiiiiight. That makes perfect sense. They advertise for lifeguards and don't get enough respondents even though you hear the pols and the media wailing and moaning about there not being enough jobs for U.S. adolescents.


So the lifeguard company has to go all the way to the Ukraine to find kids willing to do the job? And you know what? They aren't gonna go home. The one I talked to yesterday is going to try to get a student visa so he can study computer networking. He's never going to go home. He's polite; he's responsible; he's ambitious.


I don't want to hear this crap about the lack of summer jobs for U.S. teenagers.

 

[RobDownSouth]

200% invested in it even!

Nope, that was last year.

Now he's 100% invested in gold, 100% invested in stocks and 100% invested in bonds.

He's a renaissance man.