如果美国的经济这么好，为什么还有那么多美国人在苦苦挣扎呢?

原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：魏晋余孽 转载请注明出处

Banh Dau
“Struggling” is a relative term. Someone “struggling” in the US is not the same as struggling elsewhere. Struggling in the US may mean “can’t afford a car”, while struggling somewhere else may mean “try to have enough food everyday”

“挣扎”是一个相对的词。在美国挣扎的人和在其他地方挣扎的人是不一样的。在美国苦苦挣扎可能意味着“买不起车”，而在其他地方苦苦挣扎可能意味着“尽量每天能有足够的食物”。

Sadie Jacob, Mother, ex wife, single and over 40, dog mom
I don’t know the answer to this question, but my personal story may offer some insight.
Twleve years ago, my then husband and I bought a house. The house cost $229,900. Three bedroom, 2.5 bath and 1380 square feet. Little tiny yard and a two car garage. The house was tucked behind another house and was about 15 years old. It was a great starter home for our little family of three. Two income household, we were young and moving up in the world. The house was a tight fit for our budget, but we made it work.
Fast forward to today. I’m divorced for a long time now. I make about the same as the combined income of twelve years ago. Unfortunately, that will no longer allow me to buy a home. Not even close. I still live in the same town. That same nice little starter home sold last year for $389,500. There are only three homes on the market in my town that are listed for less than $300k and they need pretty significant work to be move in ready. Soooo…..home ownership isn’t really an option. I can’t move to a different area unless I want to take a significant pay cut. The type of work I do is specific to the area I live. Also, moving, even into a different rental will cost a minimum of $3000, but more likely closer to $4500. I live 45 min outside of the closest big city, so I’m not in an expensive urban area. Even out here, my rent increased by $485 a month over 5 years.
I’m fortunate!!! I chased a career and increased my income dramatically over the last 5+ years. If I was at the same job (which was a good job, not entry level) that I had 5 years ago, I’d be making about $1.00 more per hour than I did then. Wage stagnation is insane. I was a cashier at a grocery store 20 years ago. Back then, I made $14.85/hr. That same job with the same experience doesn’t pay much more than that today. 20 years ago I could rent a brand new apartment for $680/month. That same apartment is 20 years old now and rents for $1450/mo.
So yes, the economy is great. Many, like me, have great jobs that are better than they’ve ever had before. Unfortunately, my lifestyle has not improved in any way over the last 5 years. Sure, I make more money, but life is so much more expensive now that it doesn’t seem any better than it was in the past.
And for all the judgmental penny pinchers out there:
My super fancy and unnessesary cell phone is paid by my employer.
The last new shoes I bought were purchased a year ago.
I spend a grand total of about $300 per year on clothes for myself. Just enough to keep my work clothes in decent shape.
I have very little debt. Just some lingering medical bills that I’m working on.
I do have a small car payment. Nothing fancy and it’ll be paid off in the near future.
My big splurge is weekend travel to watch my kid play sports and a couple super budget trips to see my best friend who moved to a different country.
Even if I didn’t spend any extra money on this stuff, I still couldn’t afford to buy a home.
If someone like me, who is comfortably middle class is struggling to get ahead, I can’t expect that individuals or (God forbid) families earning less than me are finding much more success with the American dream.

我不知道这个问题的答案，但我个人的故事可能会提供一些见解。
十二年前，我和当时的丈夫买了一栋房子。这座房子价值229,900美元。有三间卧室，2.5间浴室，1380平方英尺。一个小院子和两个车库。这所房子紧挨着另一所房子，大约有15年的历史。对我们这个三口之家来说，这个房子是一个很好的开始。两个人都有收入的家庭，我们也年轻，在社会上不断上升。这房子很适合我们的预算，我们把它建好了。
很快就到了今天。我离婚很久了。我现在的收入和十二年前的收入总和差不多。不幸的是，这将不再允许我买房子。甚至没有买的希望。我仍然住在同一个镇上。去年，这幢漂亮的小房子以389,500美元的价格售出。在我居住的镇上，市场上只有三套挂牌价低于30万美元的房子，搬进去前还需要进行大量的准备工作。所以......拥有住房并不是一个真正的选项。除非我想大幅度减薪，否则我不能搬到别的地方去。我所做的工作是根据我所居住的地区而定的。此外，即使是搬到不同的地方，租金也至少要3000美元，但更有可能接近4500美元。我住在离最近的大城市45分钟车程外，所以我不是住在物价昂贵的城区。即使在这里，我的月租在5年里也涨了485美元。
我很幸运！在过去5年多的时间里，我一直在追求事业，收入也大幅增加。如果我做5年前同样的工作(这是一份好工作，不是入门级的工作)，我每小时会比那时多赚1美元。工资停滞是疯狂的。20年前我在一家杂货店当收银员。那时，我每小时赚14.85美元。同样的工作，同样的经验，没有比今天的工资高多少。20年前，我可以每月花680美元租一套全新的公寓。那套公寓现在已经20年了，月租1450美元。
是的，经济很好。很多人，像我一样，拥有比以前更好的工作。不幸的是，我的生活方式在过去的5年里没有任何改善。当然，我挣了更多的钱，但是现在的生活比以前贵多了，看起来也不比以前好多少。
对于那些喜欢评头论足的吝啬鬼们:
1.我的超级豪华和不必要的手机是由我的雇主支付。
2.我上一双新鞋是一年前买的。
3.我每年为自己买衣服总共花了300美元。刚好能让我的工作服保持得体的状态。
4.我的债务很少。只有一些我正在处理的医疗账单。
5.我有一笔小轿车的贷款。没什么特别的，很快就会还完。
我最大的挥霍就是周末去看我的孩子做运动，还有几次超预算的旅行是去看我最好的朋友，她搬到另一个国家去了。
即使我没有在这些东西上多花一分钱，我还是买不起房子。
如果像我这样的中产阶级正在为出人头地而奋斗，我就不能指望收入比我低的个人或家庭在实现美国梦的过程中获得更大的成功。

Annie Brewer, Manager at a Grocery Store
I understand that I’m a bit of an outlier but I’m going to respond to this question anyway.
I bring in about $700 a month between my public job (I work part-time) and my writing business. My daughter is my roommate so we split the bills. We live in an small, inexpensive rental house, keeping our bills low. As a result, my half of the recurring expenses are $200 in summer but go up to $300-$350 during the winter due to heating expense.
I can walk to my public job so I don’t own a vehicle currently. I shop online for things I can’t find in town (and even heavier items that I can). That saves me a small fortune each month. I pay friends to take me places occasionally but that is rare.
We have clothes on our backs, food to eat, and never have to worry about utility bills being disconnected due to nonpayment. We’ve got money for extras.
I’ve got money left over each month, even in winter, that I save up to invest.
I am far from struggling, despite the fact that I live well below the official poverty line.
That said, many of my friends and acquaintances constantly struggle just to pay their bills, despite the fact that they make more money than I do, so I started asking questions.
They believe that a vehicle is a necessity, even if they live within walking distance to work. I personally disagree with this. In my personal situation I consider a vehicle to be a luxury, an expense I am unwilling to possess. I would rather use my money to increase my investments and add to my savings account each month instead of giving it to the government for taxes and tags; give more to the mechanic for maintenance and repairs, the gas stations for fuel, and the insurance companies for insurance to keep it legal and safe.
They believe that they HAVE to spend $100 or so a month for cable, whereas my daughter and I split an Amazon Prime account to watch movies on. We occasionally purchase a movie we can’t find on there or watch movies at the local theatre instead.
They believe that they have to own an expensive smartphone and pay $50 a month or more for phone service. I rarely travel, so I just use Google Voice on my iPad to make and receive phone calls while at home. That costs me nothing.
My friends tend to eat out a lot more frequently than I do. I eat out once or twice a month, depending upon circumstances. Other than that I eat at home.
The books I read are either scrounged from the giveaways at the local library or purchased used online or at thrift stores. Most of my friends rarely read, so they don’t have this expense at all.
I invested in a small twin-tub washing machine, hanging my laundry on drying racks instead of going to the laundromat. I save $30 or more a month compared to my friends by doing this. The washer cost me $70, so it paid for itself in less than three months.
I occasionally splurge. For the most part I only purchase items on sale if it is something I need at the time. I buy nonperishables in bulk when it makes financial sense. For instance, I go through 1–3 composition notebooks a month since I keep a Bullet Journal and have a lot going on in my life. Instead of paying $1 or more each, I stock up when WalMart has their back to school sale and offers them for 50 cents apiece. I do the same with paper and other items I use heavily.
For instance, I use OdoBan for cleaning, deodorizing, and keeping my home healthy since it kills germs and viruses. I can’t find it locally. Since it costs almost $20 a gallon to order it online, I waited until I found a five gallon bucket of the stuff for $47. That will last me for SEVERAL years at half of the cost I would normally pay.
Instead of paying $1 for two melamine cleaning erasers (Magic Erasers), I bought 100 of those things on Amazon for under $8.
My friends think me insane but the little things I do to save money and live beneath my means REALLY make a major difference. I was able to drop around $100 fetching my injured daughter home from the bus station two hours away without batting an eye, whereas just a few years ago that expense would have left me crying, if I could have afforded to pick her up at all.
I am far from a Spartan in my lifestyle. I indulge myself without guilt, yet I am still able to invest in the stock market and add to my savings accounts on a monthly basis.
Most of my friends don’t even have a week’s wage saved back for emergencies.
In Summary
I believe that the reason most Americans are struggling because they refuse to live within their means, look for creative ways to stretch their money, and insist upon spending every penny they receive instead of setting money aside for emergencies or to invest towards their financial future.
It makes a significant difference.

我知道我是一个局外人，但我还是要回答这个问题。
在我的公共工作(兼职)和写作之间，我一个月能赚700美元。我女儿是我的室友，所以我们分摊费用。我们住在一间租来的小房子里，费用很低。因此，我在夏季的一半经常性开支是200美元，但在冬季由于加热费用会上升到300美元- 350美元。
我可以步行上班，所以我现在没有车。我在网上买我在城里找不到的东西(甚至能找到的更重的东西)。每个月都省下一笔钱。我偶尔花钱请朋友带我去，但这种情况很少见。
我们有衣服穿在身上，有食物吃，而且从来不用担心水电账单因为拖欠而被切断。我们有多余的钱。
我每个月都有剩余的钱，即使在冬天，我也会存起来投资。
尽管我的生活水平远低于官方规定的贫困线，但我一点也不挣扎。
也就是说，我的许多朋友和熟人总是在为支付账单而苦苦挣扎，尽管他们挣的钱比我多，所以我开始问问题。
他们认为交通工具是必要的，即使他们住在步行上班的距离之内。：我个人不同意这一点。就我个人而言，我认为车是奢侈品，是我不愿意拥有的一种花费。我宁愿用我的钱来增加我的投资，每个月增加到我的储蓄账户，而不是把它付给政府的税收;付给机械师更多的维护和修理，付给加油站更多的燃料，付给保险公司更多的保险来保证它的合法和安全。
他们认为每个月要花100美元左右买有线电视，而我和女儿为了看电影而开了亚马逊Prime账户。我们偶尔会买一部在网上找不到的电影，或者去当地的电影院看电影。
他们认为，他们必须拥有一部昂贵的智能手机，每月支付50美元或更多的话费。我很少旅行，所以我在家时只用iPad上的谷歌语音来打电话和接电话。那不花我一分钱。
我的朋友们比我更经常在外面吃饭。我一个月出去吃一两次，视情况而定。除此之外，我都在家里吃饭。
我读的书要么是从当地图书馆的赠书里借来的，要么是从网上或旧货店买的。我的大多数朋友很少读书，所以他们根本没有这种花费。
我买了一台小的双盆洗衣机，把要洗的衣服挂在晾衣架上，而不是去洗衣店。与我的朋友相比，我这样做一个月可以节省30美元甚至更多。这台洗衣机花了我70美元，所以不到三个月就收回成本了。
我偶尔挥霍。在大多数情况下，我只会在我需要的时候购买打折商品。只要经济上可行，我就会大量购买非易腐物品。例如，我一个月要用1-3本作文笔记本，因为我有一个子弹日记，在我的生活中有很多事情要做。我没有花1美元或更多的钱，而是在沃尔玛返校大甩卖时囤积，并以每只50美分的价格出售。我用同样的方法处理我经常使用的纸张和其他物品。
例如，我用OdoBan来清洁，除臭，保持家里的健康，因为它能杀死细菌和病毒。我在本地找不到。由于在网上订购一加仑汽油几乎要花20美元，所以我一直等到找到一桶5加仑的汽油才花了47美元。这将使我持续几年的费用只有我通常支付的一半。
我没有花1美元买两个三聚氰胺清洁橡皮，而是花了不到8美元在亚马逊上买了100个这样的东西。
我的朋友们都认为我疯了，但是我为了省钱和量入为出所做的一些小事情真的会产生很大的影响。我花了大约100美元，把受伤的女儿从两个小时车程外的汽车站接回家，而没有眨一下眼睛。而就在几年前，如果我有能力去接她，这笔钱会让我哭个不停。
我的生活方式远非斯巴达式的。我放纵自己，没有罪恶感，但我仍然能够投资股票市场，每月增加我的储蓄。
我的大多数朋友甚至没有存下一周的开支以备不时之需。
总之
我认为，大多数美国人之所以陷入困境，是因为他们拒绝量入为出，寻找富有创造性的方法来节省开支，坚持把收到的每一分钱都花出去，而不是把钱存起来以备不时之需或投资于未来。
这有很大的不同。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Dan Holliday, lived in The United States of America
Because the economy isn’t so great. It’s good for some. It’s not for others. In the part of the country I’m from (the Midwest), it still sucks. The Midwest was the industrial heartland of the US where a kid could graduate high school and get a job at a steel mill or an auto manufacturer and have a family. That’s not the case any longer. Worse, for some, the sacrifice of chasing a higher income means moving a distance that would be more painful than struggling. So they make do with a lot less than the generation before.
There’s a flip side to this as well. We normalize whatever luxuries we have. Once normalized, they become a necessary component for existence.
WE think we’re not spoiled but we’re no different than —say— Paris Hilton going into a breakdown because her hair stylist made her late for her nail appointment. We all roll our eyes, “Cuz, when Paris suffers, we all suffer.” But the thing is, she’s simply normalized the luxuries to which she’s become accustomed. So do you. I know I am uncomfortable when my cable goes out. God forbid the electricity goes out for a few hours in summer and my AC isn’t running full blast.
This is us. Never mind that 95% of Americans live on more wealth with more “stuff” and more freedom than most of humanity. That doesn’t matter. Americans have normalized a big house, two cars, a family vacation, loads of presents under the tree every year and that’s our God-given right. Take that away, and it wouldn’t be much different than taking away Paris’ fancy meals at Le Cirque or the running water from a housewife in 1960. We’ve normalized our luxuries now and because they’re normalized, we want more. We always want more. That insatiable drive to have more has brought us all the social and technological advancements we enjoy but it can also be slavery to things we’ll never obtain.

因为经济不是很好。对有些人好，对有些人不好。在我的家乡(中西部)，情况仍然很糟糕。中西部是美国的工业中心，在那里，一个孩子可以从高中毕业，在钢铁厂或汽车制造厂找到工作，组建家庭。但现在不再是这样了。更糟糕的是，对一些人来说，为了追求更高的收入而做出的牺牲意味着，与他人保持距离比苦苦挣扎更痛苦。所以他们用的比上一代少很多。
这也有不利的一面。我们使我们所拥有的任何奢侈品都正常化。一旦标准化，它们就成为生存的必要组成部分。
我们认为自己没有被宠坏，但这和帕丽斯.希尔顿精神崩溃没什么区别，因为她的发型师让她去美甲店约会迟到了。我们都翻白眼，“因为，当巴黎遭殃时，我们都会遭殃。”但问题是，她只是把她已经习惯的奢侈品常态化了。你也是。我知道当我的电缆坏了的时候我很不舒服。上帝禁止在夏天停电几个小时，而且我的空调没有全速运转。
这就是我们。别介意95%的美国人生活在比大多数人更多的财富、更多的“物质”和更多的自由之中。这并不重要。美国人已经将大房子、两辆车、一次家庭度假、每年圣诞树下的礼物都常态化了，这是上帝赋予我们的权利。如果把这些都拿走，这和1960年从一位家庭主妇那里拿走巴黎人在马戏团吃的大餐或自来水没有多大区别。我们已经将奢侈品标准化了因为它们已经标准化了，我们想要更多。我们总是想要更多。贪得无厌的欲望给我们带来了我们所享受的社会和科技进步，但它也可能成为我们永远得不到的东西的奴隶。

Al Nolf, former Senior Chief (E-8) at United States Navy (1968-1989)
“You can lead a horse to drink, but you can’t make him water.” Were you watching as 800,000 government employees who earn incomes considerably more than the average families in the US nearly “starved to death” after missing 30 days pay? Therein lies your answer.
I’d be willing to bet that their children all have the latest gaming systems, that none of them bothered to purchase a freezer and extra food stocks or establish an “Emergency fund for themselves. They play golf every weekend, drive a new car every year or two, and wear the best labels…none have ever shopped at a thrift store in their lives. When it came time to survive without soda, bottled water, and eating Micky D 3 times a week, they were unprepared.
There are people in the US who are really struggling, but you won’t read about them in the media or see them on TV. They don’t spent every dollar they make on weed, toys and junk food and then cry havoc. They sacrifice, make do, stay home, eat canned food, and they do what they have to do to survive. They are the elderly, the disabled, and those cast aside, and neglected by society.
For the first time in the US there are more jobs than workers to do them. The elderly, disabled, and homeless veterans are exempted from those jobs by circumstances that they cannot control. The economy is strong, people who have investments such as 401(k)s are making money. …again, the same destitute segment of our population is left behind.
Why are they struggling? because they always did, they always will. They have nothing to invest, can not work toward a better life & situation, and must face continued sacrifice.
That doesn’t apply to young, lazy, live-at-home people who feel that they are too important to accept employment positions that pay less than $100,000 a year with benefits. Those criers are “Brats” who insist on being accepted into a lifestyle beyond their ability. “There’s no jobs!” they cry… McDonald’s is hiring… “I’m not doing THAT!” they say. “I’m more of the..Executive Type” … and so they “Struggle”.

“你可以牵马喝水，但不能强迫它喝水。”你是否看到，有80万名政府雇员的收入远高于美国普通家庭，他们在失去30天的工资后几乎“饿死”?这就是你要的答案。
我敢打赌，他们的孩子都有最新的游戏系统，没有人会费心去买冰箱和额外的食物储备，或者为自己建立一个“应急基金”。他们每个周末都会去打高尔夫球，每一两年就开一辆新车，穿最好的名牌……在他们的生活中，没有人在旧货店购物过。对没有苏打水、瓶装水和每周吃三次米奇D的状况，他们业毫无准备。
在美国，有些人确实在苦苦挣扎，但你不会在媒体上读到他们，也不会在电视上看到他们。他们不会把挣来的每一块钱都花在大麻、玩具和垃圾食品上，然后大闹一场。他们牺牲，凑合，呆在家里，吃罐头食品，他们做他们必须做的来生存。他们是老人、残疾人和被社会抛弃和忽视的人。
在美国，就业岗位首次超过工作人数。老年人、残疾人和无家可归的退伍军人因无法控制的情况而被赶出这些工作岗位。而经济强劲，但是是那些在401(k)退休计划上进行投资的人正在赚钱。再一次，我们的贫困人口被甩在了后面。他们为什么会挣扎?因为他们总是这样，且他们总是会这样。他们没有任何东西可以投资，不能朝着更好的生活和处境努力，他们必须面对不断的牺牲。
但这种情况并不适用于那些年轻、懒惰、宅的人，这批人觉得自己太重要了，不能接受年薪不到10万美元的福利工作。这些哭哭啼啼的人是“顽童”，他们坚持要接受超出他们能力的生活方式。“没有工作！“他们哭喊道……麦当劳在招人时……他们又说”我不会做那种工作的!”......所以他们会“挣扎”。

Matthew Bates, Teacher (2009-present)
I’m going to give an honest answer based upon my personal experience. People are going to accuse me of being judgmental or lacking empathy or whatever, assuming that I’m saying these things are true for everyone. They are not. These things are true for the people I know who are “struggling.”
Also, the bar for “struggling” isn’t set very low in the United States. Plenty of people think they’re “struggling” who still have it better than most other people in the world. So there’s that.
Still, I know several people who are American-level “struggling.” Most of them are old high school friends who grew up poor, just like me. We were in the same boat when we were teens in the 1990s, and now, in their late 30s, they’re still “struggling.” Our life paths went in different directions somewhere in our mid teens.
The other people I know who are “struggling” are people whom I managed when I was in retail management years ago.
Every single one of them who are “struggling” did one of these two things in their teens:
Drugs.
Had a child before they were married/could afford one.
In other words, they made bad decisions in their teens or early 20s, the ramifications of which lingered well into their adult life.
Neither of those things were forced upon any of them. They were warned of the consequences of both of those things (I was in those classes with my classmates all through middle school, where we were warned over and over not to do those things.)
The drug users mostly struggle to hold down anything other than a minimum-wage job, because they’re unreliable, unmotivated, or they’ve been fired from other places for stealing. Once you’re fired from one place, particularly in a small town, the word gets around to the other potential employers.
Many larger employers won’t hire anyone with a criminal record. A lot of the people I know who are struggling as adults because of drugs got in trouble with the law in their late teens and early 20s.
The other people who I know who struggle the most… the teen parents who now have teenagers of their own… were unable to focus on their education or careers when the rest of us were, because they were busy being single parents of young children.
Not all of the young, single parents went down that path, though. Some of them did very well for themselves. They all had parents who could support them while their children were young. That is, the baby’s grandparents helped out a lot, so the mother could keep going to school/focus on her education and career. The people without those supportive parents are just now, as their children are more independent, getting back to their own education and career advancement.
Anyway, like I said, this isn’t about everyone. It’s just about the people in my life who seem to be “struggling.” I’m sure other people have other experiences.

根据我的个人经验，我将给出一个诚实的回答。假设我说的对每个人都适用，人们又会指责我爱评判别人，或者缺乏同理心，或者别的什么。对于我认识的那些正在“奋斗”的人来说，这些都是事实。
此外，在美国，“奋斗”的门槛并不低。很多人认为他们在“挣扎”，但他们仍然比世界上大多数人过得更好。这是这样。
不过，我知道有几个人也像美国人一样在“挣扎”。他们大多是高中时的老朋友，和我一样，也是在贫困中长大的。上世纪90年代，我们还是十几岁的青少年，现在已经30岁尾巴了，他们还在“挣扎”。在我们十几岁的时候，我们的人生道路朝着不同的方向发展。
我认识的其他“挣扎”的人是几年前我在零售管理部门时管理过的人。
每一个“挣扎”的人在他们十几岁的时候都做过这两件事中的一件:
1.吸毒
2.在支付不起的结婚前，有了孩子
换句话说，他们在十几岁或二十出头的时候做出了错误的决定，其后果一直延续到他们的成年生活。
这两件事都不是他们被强迫做的。他们被警告这两件事的后果(我和我的同学在那些课堂上度过了整个中学，在那里我们被一次又一次警告不要做那些事)。
吸毒者除了一份最低工资的工作外，大多数人都很难保住其他工作，因为他们不可靠，没有动力，或者因为偷窃而被其他地方解雇。一旦在从一个地方被解雇了，特别是在一个小城镇，这个消息就会传到其他潜在雇主那里。
许多大公司不会雇佣任何有犯罪记录的人。我认识的很多人在成年后因为毒品而挣扎，他们在十几岁或二十几岁时就触犯了法律。
我认识的其他最挣扎的人，是那些现在已经有了自己孩子的十几岁的父母，他们无法专注于自己的教育或事业，而我们其他人则专注于自己的教育或事业，因为他们忙于做有孩子的单身父母。
然而，并不是所有年轻的单身父母都走上了这条路。他们有些人也做得很好。他们的父母都能在他们的孩子还小的时候支持他们。也就是说，婴儿的祖父母帮了很多忙，所以母亲可以继续上学/专注于她的教育和事业。那些没有父母支持的人现在的情况是，因为他们的孩子更加独立，他们能回到自己的教育和职业发展。
不管怎样，就像我说的，这不是针对所有人的。它只是关于我生活中那些似乎在“挣扎”的人。“我相信其他人也有其他的经历。

Michael DeBenedetti, Automotive Sales/Finance, Banking (2005-present)
I''''m going to offer an unpopular opinion, but please hear me out before blasting me. I have two thoughts on this subject, one being the transition of women entering the workforce in large numbers, and two being the availability of easy credit.
The US was built on a one income household basis. Generally, the husband worked and the wife stayed home yadda yadda yadda. With women''''s rights and more women wanting to work, we have transitioned to a near two income standard where both husband and wife work.
This is great for women, they are able to live up to their potential and do what they want to do rather than just stay at home raising kids as wax previously expected of them. Again, awesome. Also, men benefit because they don''''t have the stress of being the sole breadwinner, they get support from women so things are much more even. In theory, they should also get more time to enjoy their children, again another benefit.
Now, here''''s the thing that I never see discussed. When women started entering the workforce in droves, the supply of labor was effectively doubled (I know not quite doubled, just get the idea). What happens if there''''s a higher supply of people available to work with the same amount of work to do? Wages in that scenario have nowhere to go but down, which I believe has led to the wage stagnation that we are incessantly complaining about these days. Why would companies increase wages when they have a steady supply of cheap labor always available?
My next point is, look at jobs that have and still are traditionally done by men, construction, trades, the dangerous/dirty work. Those jobs are still paid very well and can support a family with one income. There is not as much supply for labor as with jobs that are more commonly unisex, and the work is physically demanding and hard. Why would someone do that when they could get a comfortable office job if the pay was the same? They wouldn''''t.
Suffice to say, our current economic model does not support a two income household, specifically because the amount of labor available is too high for companies to pay people incomes that enable them to support themselves financially, let alone a family. Add in the fall of the traditional family structure, and easy credit for college (more people graduating dilutes the pool of graduates further, lowering pay for people with advanced degree) and virtually everything else, we''''ve trapped our middle class into a lifetime of lower earnings while giving them easy access to credit, meaning they will spend their lives accruing debt to stay one step ahead of poverty, leaving the rich to continue to get richer collecting money on interest payments, while the middle/lower class never gets out of their debt cycle to create wealth.
I''''m not saying these changes to society are bad, I love the fact that women can and do work, and I would venture to say they can perform 99.9% of jobs the same as a man, but what''''s happened is that we haven''''t done anything to counteract these additions to the workforce and the wealthy have taken full advantage of that. They can pay lower wages, leaving more profit for themselves. They can give people access to easy credit (on the guise that they are doing people a favor), knowing they are just taking people''''s money in interest payments that they could be using to create wealth. Again, leaving more profits for themselves and essentially stealing any possible wealth from the working class for themselves.
If people didn''''t have access to easy money, they would be much more cognizant of their spending. There would be no $1,000 iPhones sold to people that make $1,000/mon. But there sure as shit are now as those folks can pay the phone off for $50/mon in perpetuity, always upgrading when the new model comes out and continuing to make that payment.
Here''''s a scenario that''''s done thousands of times a day at a car dealership: "Oh, you just bought your car two years ago with no money down and now you want to trade it for something new? You don''''t have any cash available to put down? No problem, we can "take care of you" by rolling the negative equity into the new loan. Oh, that would make the payment too high? No problem, we''''ll just extend the loan to 84 months so you can keep your payment down, because we care about you. See you again in two years!"
When meeting with a mortgage officer: "Oh, you want to buy a house but you don''''t have any cash? No problem, let''''s just liquidate your 401k to get the cash you need now, retirements not for a long time, you''''ll have plenty of time to reinvest. Also, we can take advantage of our low down payment/Grant programs so you can purchase and start building wealth with that house we are taking care of you with buying! Oh, you don''''t need any savings for this, the house will be your asset and they always gain value. If any problems come up with the house that you don''''t have cash for, just put it on a credit card. In a few years the house will have surely gained value, come see me and I''''ll help you with a cashout refinance so you can pay off all that debt and re-up into a new 30 year loan. And a few years after that, we can do it again! I''''m so glad we can take care of you, these options are so great you''''re lucky they''''re available!"
Too many people working for lower wages in an economy that allows for way too easy credit for low to moderate income people is the reason people are suffering. We''''re constantly inundated with things we are led to believe we need to buy while having easy financing pushed on us that permits us to believe we are still able to live "The American Dream", when in reality the working class is stuck in a constant debt cycle, never able to get out from underneath it, never able to create wealth to pass on or just to have as a buffer to protect them.
We are competing against ourselves for work, people are willing to work for lower and lower wages simply because other people are willing to. This is the best benefit of unxs. They don''''t allow people to work for less than what the unx wage scale permits. A move back to unxization would do great things to help increase wages in the US, but then we need to work on legislature that reduces the ability of unxs to be rampant with corruption.
Next, we need to reduce the availability of easy credit. Yes, those that don''''t make as much won''''t be able to buy as much. Good. They''''ll have more left over for themselves to actually live and survive and put something away. Sure, companies aren''''t going to be able to see the amount of growth they do now because not as many people are able to purchase their products. That''''s a good thing. Stock prices will suffer, and those that own them will take a tremendous hit. Oh well, they still have enough to survive. And those that don''''t will have more leftover to do so, needing less government help to survive, lowering what we need to collect in taxes, which will leave those with less with even more at the end of the day.

我要提出一个不受欢迎的意见，但请在批评我之前先听我说完。在这个问题上，我有两个想法，一个是大量女性进入劳动力市场的社会变化，另一个是容易获得的信贷。
美国是建立在单收入家庭基础上的。一般来说，丈夫工作，妻子则呆在家里干这干那。随着妇女权利和越来越多的妇女想要工作，我们已经过渡到丈夫和妻子都工作即有两份收入的标准。
这对女性来说很好，她们能够发挥自己的潜力，做自己想做的事情，而不是之前期望的那样呆在家里抚养孩子。再说一次,这很好。此外，男性也从中受益，因为他们没有独自养家糊口的压力，他们得到了女性的支持，所以事情会更加平衡。从理论上讲，他们也应该有更多的时间来享受跟他们的孩子相处，这又是一个好处。
现在，这里是我从未见过的讨论了。当女性开始成群结队地进入劳动力市场时，劳动力的供应实际上增加了一倍(我不知道是不是增加了一倍，我只是有这个想法)。如果有更多的人可以做相同数量的工作怎么样?在这种情况下，工资只能下降，我认为这导致了工资停滞，我们最近一直在抱怨工资停滞。当公司有稳定的廉价劳动力供应时，为什么还要提高工资呢?
我的下一个观点是，看看那些过去和现在仍然由男人做的工作，建筑，贸易，危险/肮脏的工作。这些工作的薪水仍然很高，可以支撑一个只有一份收入的家庭。劳动力的供给并不像通常男女通用的工作那么多，而且工作需要体力和艰苦。如果薪水一样的话，当人们可以找到一份舒适的办公室工作时，他们为什么要做这种工作呢?他们不会的。
可以这么说，我们目前的经济模式不支持两份收入的家庭，特别是因为可用的劳动力数量太多，公司无法向人们支付足以让他们在经济上自给自足的工资，更不用说养活一个家庭了。加上传统家庭结构的衰落，还有大学贷款更容易(更多的人毕业进一步稀释了毕业生的数量，降低了高学历人群的工资)以及事实上我们把我们的中产阶级困在了低收入的生活中，却让他们很容易获得贷款，这意味着他们将终生负债以保持贫困，这让富人通过收利息继续变得更富，而中产阶级和下层阶级却从未走出债务循环和创造财富。
我并不是说社会的这些变化是不好的，我喜欢女性可以工作，我敢说她们可以像男性一样做99.9%的工作，但事实是，我们没有采取任何措施来抵消这些劳动力的增加，而富人却充分利用了这一点。他们可以支付更低的工资，为自己留下更多的利润。它们可以让人们轻易获得信贷(打着帮别人的幌子)，知道他们只是用大家的钱来支付利息，他们可以用这些钱来创造财富，再一次把更多的利润留给他们自己，从工人阶级那里窃取任何可能的财富给他们自己。
如果人们没有唾手可得的钱，他们会更清楚自己的支出。不会有1000美元的iphone卖给1000美元/月的人。但是现在肯定有很多垃圾，因为这些人可以永远支付50美元/月的手机，总是升级，当新型号出来，就继续支付。
这是一个每天在汽车经销商那里发生数千次的场景:“哦，你两年前刚买了一辆车，没有首付，现在你想换辆新车吗?你没有现金可以付帐吗?没问题，我们可以通过将负资产滚入新的贷款来‘照顾你’。噢，那样的话付款就太高了。没问题，我们只要把贷款延长到84个月，这样你就可以少付一些，因为我们关心你。两年后再见!”
当你遇到一个抵押贷款官员:“哦，你想买房子，但你没有现金?没问题，让我们把你的401k变现，拿到你现在需要的现金，退休时间不会太长，你有足够的时间再投资。此外，我们可以利用我们的低首付/赠款项目，让您可以购买和开始创造财富的房子，我们正在帮助您购买!哦，你不需要为此存钱，房子将是你的资产，它们总是增值的。如果房子出了什么问题，你没有现金，就用信用卡支付。几年后，房子肯定会增值，来找我吧，我会帮你用现金再融资，这样你就能还清所有的债务，重新获得30年的新贷款。再过几年，我们可以再来一遍！我很高兴我们能照顾到你，这些选择太好了，你很幸运有这些选择!”
太多的人在低工资的经济环境中工作，这使得低到中等收入的人很容易获得贷款，这就是人们受苦的原因。我们总是被我们认为需要购买的东西淹没，而我们却被轻易的融资推给我们，让我们相信我们仍然能够实现“美国梦”，在现实中，当工人阶级陷入持续的债务循环时，永远无法从中脱身，永远不能创造财富来传承，或者只是作为缓冲来保护他们。
我们和自己竞争工作，人们愿意为越来越低的工资工作仅仅是因为其他人愿意。这是工会最大的利益。他们不允许人们以低于工会工资标准的工资工作。回归工会化对提高美国的工资水平大有裨益，但是，我们需要在立法方面努力，降低工会腐败猖獗的能力。
其次，我们需要降低宽松信贷的可获得性。是的，那些没有赚到那么多钱的人将无法买到那么多东西。很好。当然，公司将无法看到他们现在的增长，因为没有那么多的人能够购买他们的产品。这是一件好事。股票价格将受到影响，持有股票的人将遭受巨大打击。好吧，他们还有足够的钱赖以生存。而那些没有这样做的国家将会有更多的盈余来做这些事情，需要更少的政府帮助来生存，降低我们需要征收的税收，这将使那些拥有更少的人最终拥有更多。

Jerry Myers, works at Pine Island Storage
There is no prosperity for anyone except the very wealthy in the USA.
Workers are working for the same money that they got in 1978 dollars. The wealthy have sucked up all of the growth and profits and given none to the workers. Not only that they own our Government and their stooges in the GOP passed huge tax cuts to give them more money to save.
We need to eliminate the stranglehold that businesses have on their employees. In the past, the unxs were instrumental in setting the standards for the nation and our Government supported the unxs. Now the Government supports the “right to work” for slave labor rates as they fight unxs for their donors.
People are struggling because wages are so low that many have to work two jobs plus have their wife work just to support their family. The cost of medical coverage is so expensive that they struggle to pay it or risk no insurance and total economic collapse in the event of a life-threatening disease.
Those who are getting by feel fortunate, but they still face the ravage of a disease or work threatening accident where they would lose it all. Meanwhile, our banks and those with great investment capital wait for the opportunity to grab up the assets that the working man loses for dimes on the dollar.
These are not good times with a “Chicken in every pot!” Most people do not own a home and others do not own a pot.
Why are 12% of Americans existing below the poverty level and 14% of the children are not sure that they will get three meals a day? Because the wealthiest people reap all of the profits and profit gains and share nothing with the workers who produce those profits. The United States is a state of GREED!! It is controlled by the Greediest and the Government is bought to support them, the donors.

在美国，除了非常富有的人以外，没有人能过上富裕的生活。
工人们的工资和1978年的工资是一样的。富人吸收了所有的增长和利润，却没有给工人任何好处。他们不仅拥有我们的政府，而且他们在共和党的走狗们通过了巨大的减税来带给他们更多的钱。
我们需要消除企业对员工的束缚。
过去，工会在制定国家标准方面发挥了作用，我国政府支持工会。现在，政府支持为奴工争取“工作权”，而与工会斗争。人们生活艰难，因为工资太低，很多人不得不做两份工作，还要让妻子工作来养家。医疗保险的费用是如此之高，以致于一旦发生危及生命的疾病，他们要么难以支付，要么面临没有保险和经济全面崩溃的风险。
那些勉强度日的人过的还算幸运，但他们仍然面临着疾病或威胁工作的事故的蹂躏，这种事会让他们将失去一切。与此同时，我们的银行和那些拥有大量投资资本的银行，却在等待机会，以攫取劳动者损失的每一美元资产。
现在不是“家家有鸡吃”的好时候了。大多数人没有自己的家，而其他人连自己的锅碗瓢盆都没有。
为什么有12%的美国人生活在贫困线以下，14%的孩子不确定他们是否能一日三餐?因为最富有的人获得了所有的利润和收益，而创造这些利润的工人分享不到。美国是一个贪婪的国家!!它是由最贪婪的人控制的，而政府是用来支持他们的。

Margaret MacDonald, Nurse Practitioner
I work as a Nurse Practitioner in a rural health clinic in a poor area. I estimate 80–90% of our patients are on Medicaid and/or Medicare.
Some of these folks are poor due to unfortunate life circumstances - severe physical/mental disabilities, etc. Of course, the elderly in this area have limited incomes.
I do think that the de-industrialization of America, along with exporting so many jobs to countries like India and China, has hit the lower and lower middle classes very hard. In the past, a high school graduate could get a decent job in manufacturing that would allow them to purchase a home and provide a decent life for those families. Now, many such people have no option but to take minimum wage jobs.
Another factor is that the cost of higher education has escalated to ridiculous levels. When I first went to college, it was very common for students to work their way through college and graduate with very little to no student debt. That is simply not the case now, as the cost of education has risen far faster than incomes.
In addition, certain areas of the country have an absurd cost of living, like any coastal city in California. People who rent there often really have no way to save money to buy their own home or even build up emergency savings.
But the majority of poor people are poor due to bad choices:
Not getting an education beyond high school, some not even completing high school. A four year college degree is not necessary to make a decent living; there are lots of good vocational training programs available.
Having children at a very young age and out of wedlock, often with multiple fathers.
Having more children than one’s income can support.
Inability to manage one’s finances. I see people crying poverty who are obviously buying alcohol, eating out, and buying drugs.
Lack of a strong work ethic.
Refusing to move to a better area with more opportunity.
Culture of poverty being acceptable - living on welfare, claiming disability
Let me give you an example of what successful people do: my own brother, who only has a high school education, went through some difficult life circumstances when he was young. He started his own business, and at first had very little money. He and his family slept and lived in their business, which they could not afford to heat at night. They slept bundled up in all their coats and jackets in the winter. Fast forward 10 years: they had built a good solid small business and purchased a nice middle class home. Fast forward another 10 years: they had expanded their business and then purchased their “dream home.” In short, they made a lot of sacrifices to get started.
I was fortunate enough to go to college. My previous career was in business, and it was normal for new young professionals to live very thriftily - we shared living accommodations, usually with very little furniture. We drove basic cars. This was done to save money. When I got my first apartment of my own, the only furniture I had was a futon chair that unfolded into a bed. I only bought my work clothes (suits were required then) at sales or discount stores like Ross, etc. Yet, today, many young people expect to finish school and then immediately have an upscale life. They expect their first apartment to look like something out of Architectural Digest. They expect the same for the first (starter) home they purchase. God forbid they have to paint a room!

我在一个贫困地区的农村卫生所当护士。我估计80-90%的病人都在用医疗补助和/或医疗保险。这些人中的一些是由于不幸的生活环境——严重的身体/精神残疾等而导致贫穷的。当然，这个地区的老人收入也有限。
我确实认为，美国的去工业化，以及向印度和中国等国家输出大量就业机会，对中下层阶级造成了沉重打击。在过去，一个高中毕业生可以在制造业找到一份体面的工作，这样他们就可以买房子，为家庭提供体面的生活。现在，许多这样的人别无选择，只能从事最低工资的工作。
另一个因素是高等教育的成本已经上升到荒谬的水平。我刚上大学的时候，学生们靠自己的努力读完大学，毕业时几乎没有学生贷款，这很常见。但现在的情况并非如此，因为教育成本的增长远远快于收入的增长。
此外，美国某些地区的生活成本高得离谱，就像加利福尼亚的任何海滨城市一样。在那里租房的人通常真的没有办法存钱买自己的房子，甚至没有应急储蓄。
但大多数穷人之所以贫穷，是因为他们做出了错误的选择:
1.没有接受过高中以上的教育，有些人甚至没有完成高中学业。要过上体面的生活，四年的大学学历没有必要的;有很多好的职业培训项目。
2.在很年轻的时候就有了孩子，而且是非婚生子女，通常有多个父亲。
3.一个人的收入不足以供养多个孩子。
4.无法管理自己的财务。我看到有人哭穷，但他们显然是在买酒、下馆子、买毒品。
5.缺乏强烈的职业道德。
6.拒绝搬到一个有更多机会的更好的地方。
7.接受贫困文化——靠福利生活，声称自己残疾。
让我给你一个成功人士的例子:我的弟弟，只有高中学历，在他年轻的时候经历了一些困难的生活环境。他开始了自己的生意，一开始没有多少钱。他和他的家人吃住都在他们自己的公司，他们无法负担在晚上的暖气费。冬天他们裹着所有的大衣和夹克睡觉。10年后他们做成了一个不错的稳固的小企业，并购买了一个不错的中产阶级房子。又过了10年，他们扩大了业务，然后买下了他们的“梦想之家”。简而言之，他们为了起步做出了很多牺牲。
我很幸运上了大学。我之前的职业是经商，年轻的职场新人生活节俭是很正常的----我们住在一起，通常只有很少的家具。我们开的是普通车。这样做是为了省钱。当我有了自己的第一套公寓时，我仅有的一件家具是一把蒲团椅，它可以展开成一张床。我只在像罗斯这样的大卖场或折扣店买工作服(那时需要西装)。然而，今天，许多年轻人希望完成学业后立即过上高档生活。他们希望自己的第一套公寓看起来像出自《建筑文摘》。他们对自己购买的第一套房子也有同样的期待。但愿他们不用粉刷房间！

Rex Newborn, former Accountant, retired (1984-2004)
You can tell what a struggle it is to live in the US by the mass exodus of people out of the country. Our president is trying to build a wall on our southern border to keep us in.
There are people in the US who are struggling. Some cannot afford all the tattoos they want. Others have trouble staying current with designer jeans, jewelry, and whatever footwear their favorite NBA star says they need, not to mention the obligatory life sustaining phone contracts. Others have maxed out their credit and now can’t buy even a $4,000 set of custom wheels and tires to go on their ride. Some have gotten 100% financing on houses and been foreclosed on because they didn’t anticipate having to make all the payments.
I have plenty of money, and if I knew anyone who was hungry I’d feed them. There probably are some hungry kids, but I don’t know how to get to them. A very obese woman (250 lbs. or so) approached me for money in a parking lot and told me that she had 5 hungry children at home. My mouth went off before my brain engaged and I just blurted out. Why don’t you give them some of what you are eating? She called me names in English and some others I didn’t understand. Guess I deserved it, but I was giggling like a school girl by the time I got to my car.
I stopped donating to tax-exempt charity organizations years ago. What I do to offset my guilt is tip the shit out of stressed out looking waitstaff. And, since I live alone I eat out just about daily. I give generous bonuses to workers like the ones who recently re-roofed my house. It isn’t hard at all to get overpaid if you do good work for me. Plus, I’m currently carrying $13,000 on my books in loans due from friends and one relative.
I have a lot of sympathy for the underpaid. I used to be one of them. I don’t have much for the underworked. It isn’t that hard to get a job in the US, unless one is disabled or has a bad track record. Well, there are some who are so specialized they can only do one kind of work for a high rate of pay.
I would do more but I have some large expenses, too. The top 3 are federal income tax, insurance, and food. I eat well and I have a lot to insure. Still, the FIT is more than the food and insurance combined. Fortunately, my social security is enough to cover my taxes. I thought taxes would be lower when I was retired and over 65. Sheeeit. If you are planning retirement, better re-figure that one.
We all struggle with something.

你可以从大量人口的外流看出，在美国生活是多么艰难。我们的总统正试图在我们的南部边境建一堵墙，把我们关在里面。
在美国，有些人正在苦苦挣扎。有些人负担不起所有他们想要的纹身。还有一些人很难跟上潮流，不买设计师设计的牛仔裤、珠宝和他们最喜欢的NBA球星说他们需要的任何鞋子，更不用说那些必须履行的维持生活的电话合同了。另一些人已经透支了他们的信用额度，现在连一套价值4000美元的定制车轮和轮胎都买不起。有些人获得了100%的房屋贷款，却被取消赎回权，因为他们没有预料到要支付所有的贷款。
我有很多钱，如果我知道谁饿了，我就会养他们。可能有一些饥饿的孩子，但我不知道怎么去找他们。一个非常胖的女人(250磅)。在一个停车场向我要钱，告诉我她家里有5个饥肠辘辘的孩子。我还没来得及动脑筋，就脱口而出“你为什么不给他们一些你正在吃的东西呢?”她用英语骂我，还说一些我听不懂的话。我想这是我应得的，但是当我上车的时候，我像个女学生一样咯咯地笑。
我几年前就停止向免税的慈善组织捐款了。我所做的弥补我内疚的是给那些看起来很紧张的服务员小费。而且，由于我独自生活，我几乎每天都在外面吃饭。我给工人们慷慨的奖金，就像最近给我重新盖屋顶的工人一样。如果你为我做好工作，得到超额报酬一点也不难。另外，我目前的帐面上还有1.3万美元是朋友和一个亲戚借给我的。
我很同情那些薪水低的人。我曾经是他们中的一员。我没有多少钱给那些工作不努力的人。在美国找工作并不难，除非你是残疾人或有不良记录。嗯，有一些人是如此专业，他们只能做高工资的工作。
我想多做一些，但我也有一些很大的开销。排前三的分别是联邦所得税、保险和食品。我吃得很好，我有很多东西要保险。尽管如此，为了健康的花费比食物和保险加起来还要多。幸运的是，我的社会保险足以支付我的税金。我认为等我退休了，超过65岁的时候，税收会更低。。如果你正在计划退休，最好重新规划一下。
我们都在为某些东西挣扎。

Edward Jameson, BA in Economics
I have a different take.
It used to be okay to be poor.
Years ago, there wasn’t something wrong with you if you were poor. Being poor was just a fact.
Of course, this does not apply to minorities. Our society deems minorities to be deficient no matter how successful they are.
Think I am wrong? Look at President Obama.
Obama is going to prove to be a middle-of-the-pack President. That still makes him more successful in politics than 99.99% of all politicians.
But yet, somehow President Obama was deficient. And while I can make obxtive criticisms of what he did, Yet someone else, making reading my critiques is going to think there was something “wrong” with President Obama.
But the larger symptom is that if you are poor, you must somewhow be defective.
This message is much more pervasive than we give it credit.
And the stress of not being poor is killing people.
As others have observed, being poor in the United States isn’t obxtively awful. I have been poor, and it was not that bad.
But the messaging that if you are poor you are diseased or broken is absolutely heinous.
Here is the the thing: people in earlier generations didn’t stay poor.
But now we have multi-generational poverty among even whites.
Is it due to poor decisions?
Fuck no.
It is due to internalizing the message of being broken or diseased.
That message hurts.
And that is why people are getting angrier and more violent. That is the real reason that people—especially men—are becoming mass shooters.
Because they fucking want to hurt people.
Why? Because people are hurting them all the time.
We do not think we’re doing it.
We do not believe we are being as judgmental as we are.
We don’t think that our judgmental attitudes are abusive and psychologically violent.
Even white people who explain black poverty by racism are adding to the problem.
It’s not that the argument is false. It is that white people who make this argument are telling black people that they are broken.
White people may not believe this.
This is why people hate liberals.
I’m not defending conservatives here. Conservatives are people who believe that some people are better than others and that the law should reflect that fact.
But in their lust to lift everyone out of poverty, liberals have made poverty into a disease.
I am not saying we should stop trying to lift people out of poverty.
But we should stop treating poverty as a disease. It is not a disease.
Poor people are not broken.
Or they weren’t until we started making them that way.

我有不同的看法。
过去，贫穷是可以接受的。
几年前，如果你很穷，也没有什么问题。贫穷只是一个事实。
当然，这并不适用于少数群体。我们的社会认为，无论少数人多么成功，他们都是有缺陷的。
你认为我错了吗?看看奥巴马总统。
奥巴马将被证明是一位中庸的总统。但这仍然使他在政治上比99.99%的政治家更成功。
然而，某种程度而言，奥巴马总统是有缺陷的。虽然我可以客观地批评他的所作所为，但如果是其他人，读了我的评论，就会认为奥巴马总统确实出了什么问题。
但是更大的症状是，如果你很穷，你一定有什么缺陷。
这种信息比我们想象的要普遍得多。
摆脱贫穷的压力正在杀死人们。
正如其他人所观察到的，在美国贫穷并不是客观上的糟糕。我一直很穷，也没那么糟糕。
但是，如果你很穷，那么生病或破产这样的事是绝对令人发指的。
事情是这样的:前几代人并没有一直贫穷下去。
但现在我们甚至在白人中也存在多代同堂的贫困。
是因为糟糕的决定吗?
当然他妈不是。
这是由于内在的破坏或患病。
这就是为什么人们越来越愤怒，越来越暴力。这就是为什么人们——尤其是男人——正在成为的真正持枪罪犯原因。
因为他们就是想伤害别人。
为什么?因为人们一直在伤害他们。
我们不认为我们正在这样做。
我们不相信自己像现在这样爱评判别人。
我们不认为我们的判断态度是虐待和心理暴力。
甚至用种族主义来解释黑人贫困、白人也在加剧的这个问题。
这就是为什么人们讨厌自由主义者。
我不是在为保守派辩护。保守派认为有些人比其他人更好，法律应该反映这一事实。
我并不是说我们应该停止努力帮助人们摆脱贫困。
但是我们应该停止把贫穷当作一种疾病来对待。它不是一种疾病。
穷人没有破产。
或者直到我们开始把他们搞成那样。

Peter T Mayer, Founder | Designer | Creative
People struggling in the US > or = middle class in many other countries.
I spoke to a friend of mine in the US. He works in some government job. His wife works in telemarketing. They have two kids. They live in a two bedroom apartment that they rent.
He wants to buy a house but he said he can’t afford it. He thinks life is hard and it is difficult to get ahead financially.
I told him after he kept complaining that he is way wealthier than most of my friends back in Hungary. And Hungary is not a third world country. Think about all those poor souls living in third world countries in really poor conditions.
So struggling is relative.
On another note struggling has a sort of cultural or subcultural aspect. In Hungary many of my friends, even in their late 30s and early 40s don’t have kids, or have only one child. The reason is simple economics. If they cant afford a child, they won’t have one. Even though I’m Hungary education and healthcare is free.
Having a child or children is not cheap. And children need time for raising them up which means when you have kids you might have to put your dreams or goals on the shelf, either temporarily or even permanently. So ideally you have kids when your career is at least on its path, even if you just started.
One time I saw in CNN a man who had 20 something kids from more than a dozen women. How do you think these kids will grow up? Their father won’t help them for sure, especially with a low level job.
Finally, education needs to be mentioned here as well as part of struggling. Those who drop out of high school will have poor opportunities in life. In most cases lack of education and the “free” time that these dropouts find themselves in will make them make poor decisions and will get them attracted to the wrong crowd.
One last thing. Many immigrants come here and improve their lives gradually basically starting out with nothing. They start with cleaning and construction or factory jobs but then eventually find better paying jobs and maybe even start some school. This is a mentality question here.
Some people need to look in the mirror and find the cause. In themselves. Sometimes it is them and not the neighbor, the government, the system, the whatever else that is the root of the problem but their own mentality and way of thinking.
As an example, there is a shortage of truck drivers in the USA. They make decent money. You can work in it for two years save money and move on. Maybe you can start studying. Another option is work for a moving company. I did it for years. You can make 3000 dollars a month. Rent a cheap room, eat Ramens for two years and save.
There are opportunities for everyone in the US. With the right mentality and motivation of course.
On the other hand, most people in developing countries don’t have these same opportunities unfortunately. Just think about it.

在美国挣扎的人，在其他许多国家则是中产阶级。
我和一个在美国的朋友谈过。他在政府部门工作。他的妻子在电话销售部门工作。他们有两个孩子。他们住在租来的两居室公寓里。
他想买一所房子，但他说他买不起。他认为生活很艰难，很难在经济上获得成功。
他比我在匈牙利大部分的朋友都要富有，还不停抱怨，然后我告诉他，匈牙利不是第三世界国家，想想那些生活在第三世界国家的穷人，他们的生活条件真的很差。
所以苦难是相对的。
另一方面，苦难挣扎本身也有一种文化或亚文化方面的关系。在匈牙利，我的很多朋友，甚至在30多岁、40出头的时候都没有孩子，或者只有一个孩子。原因很简单，就是经济。如果他们养不起孩子，就不要了。尽管我们匈牙利人，教育和医疗都是免费的。
有一个或多个孩子花费并不便宜。孩子们需要时间来成长，这意味着当你有了孩子，你可能不得不把你的梦想或目标束之高阁，无论是暂时的还是永久的。所以理想的情况是，当你的事业至少已经走上正轨时，即使你才刚刚开始，你就有了孩子。
有一次，我在CNN上看到一个男人，他有20多个孩子，来自十几个女人。你觉得这些孩子会怎么长大?他们的父亲肯定不会帮助他们，尤其是在有份低水平工作的情况下。
最后，教育也是苦难的一部分。那些高中辍学的人在生活中会有很差的机会。在大多数情况下，缺乏教育和这些辍学者发现自己处于的“自由”时间会使他们做出错误的决定，并将他们引到错误的人群中。
最后一件事。许多移民来到这里，基本上是白手起家，逐渐改善他们的生活。他们开始从事清洁、建筑或工厂工作，但最终会找到薪水更高的工作，甚至可能会去上学。这是一个心态问题。
有些人需要照照镜子找出原因。是在于自己。有时问题就在于自身，而不是在于邻居、政府、系统、以及其他任何东西，根源就在于他们自己的心态和思考方式。
举个例子，在美国卡车司机短缺。他们赚了不少钱。你可以在这工作两年，存点钱，然后继续进步。也许你可以开始学习了。另一个选择是为搬家公司工作。这个我就做了很多年。你一个月能挣3000美元。租一个便宜的房间，吃两年的拉面，然后存钱。
在美国，人人都有机会。当然要有正确的心态和动力。
另一方面，不幸的是，大多数发展中国家的人还没有这样的机会呢。自己想想看吧。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Rick Clark, Bachelor Military History and Wars , M:idea, School of Film & Media Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (1968)
While studying the Gini Coefficient I came across a great example that explains a number of things. There is an island out in the Gulf, that island has 10 people working on a farm and they need people with experience to come down and work. The average salary is $100,000 a year. Several people answered the ad and went to the island to work. When they got there they found out that there were indeed 10 people who worked the farm. Nine of them were slaves and paid no salary, the owner made a million dollars a year. The farm owner didn’t lie, the average salary was indeed $100,000 per man.
The 64 richest people own over 50% of the world’s wealth. Here the top .01% own the majority of our wealth. The DOW is at 26,000, it’s up by thousands of points. How did that help the middle and lower class Americans?
A strange thing happens in the financial world. As income rises people borrow more money. Our debt load is probably more than can ever be paid back. Student loans alone total more than a trillion dollars. After graduation from college you expect to make a good salary. And as a rule you do, but waiting in the wings is a debt that may take you a lifetime to repay. Not only can it destroy your life but anyone who might have cosigned for you. Many parents have lost their homes trying to send their kids to school. Of all the major nations we are the only ones who do not ensure our children free education and healthcare.
Those people who are struggling know that as hard as times are now they are going to get worse. They see most of the wealth going to the richest. They see the mergers that cost jobs. To make ends meet they have to hold two jobs, They see the low employment rate as a cruel lie. Is it any wonder that so many people voted in November, 2016 for a candidate that was willing to promise anything that would get him a vote.
If you are a conservative and truly can’t understand why so many people complain about their struggles in what sounds like the good times…be warned. Every time a nation goes through this kind of divided situation a massive change comes, and it comes quite quickly. Here’s a couple examples, Germany in the 20s, Russia in the last part of the first decade of the 20th Century. Think of Italy in the 20s, The U S in the late 20s and 30s. You can go back further and look at the U S in the late 1850s. Politics is a pendulum, go to far in one direction and quite quickly you’ll find yourself to far in the other direction.
If you are a conservative, I hope you will understand that everyone dreams the same dream. They want to make a fair salary, they want their kids to be better of than themselves. The other dreams that you have for you and your family are shared by everyone, especially those that feel themselves struggling against a tide that washes them back into a nightmare of no hope.

在研究基尼系数时，我遇到了一个很好的例子，它解释了很多事情。海湾里有个小岛，岛上有10个人在农场工作，他们需要有经验的人过来工作。平均年薪是10万美元。几个人看到招聘广告，去岛上工作了。当他们到达那里时，他们发现确实有10个人在农场工作。他们中有9人是奴隶，没有工资，老板每年挣100万美元。农场主没有撒谎，平均工资确实是每人10万美元。
64位最富有的人拥有世界50%以上的财富。这里0.1%的富人拥有我们大部分的财富。道琼斯指数目前为26000点，上涨了数千点。这对美国的中下层阶级有什么帮助呢?
金融界发生了一件奇怪的事情。随着收入的增加，人们会借更多的钱。我们的债务负担可能永远都无法偿还。单是学生贷款总额就超过了一万亿美元。大学毕业后，你希望有一份不错的薪水。通常情况下等待你的会是可能需要你一生才能偿还的债务。它不仅会毁了你的生活，也会毁了任何可能与你联合署名的人。许多父母为了送孩子上学而失去了家园。在所有的主要国家中，我们是唯一不能确保我们的孩子得到免费教育和医疗的国家。
那些正在挣扎的人知道，尽管现在的日子很艰难，但他们还会变得更糟。他们看到大部分的财富都流向了最富有的人。他们看到了以就业为代价的企业合并。为了维持生计，他们不得不做两份工作，他们认为低就业率是一个残酷的谎言。难怪在2016年11月有那么多人投票给一位愿意承诺任何事情以获得选票的候选人。
每当一个国家经历这种分裂的局面，就会出现巨大的变化，而且变化的速度非常快。这里有几个例子，20年代的德国，20世纪第一个十年的最后一个阶段的俄罗斯。想想20年代的意大利，20年代末和30年代的美国。你可以追溯到更远的过去，看看19世纪50年代末的美国。政治是一个钟摆，在一个方向上走得很远，很快你就会发现自己也在另一个方向上走得很远。
如果你是保守派，我希望你能明白，每个人都有同样的梦想。他们想要一份公平的薪水，他们想让自己的孩子比自己过得更好。你为你和你的家人做的其他梦，每个人都有，尤其是那些觉得自己在与潮水抗争，把自己冲回没有希望的噩梦的人。

Casey McNamara, Management in a Big Management Consulting Firm
There is a zone of null influence. This slows growth for many.
The western world masks this zone, but it exists, and is arguably one of the biggest threats to our long term economy.
Here’s what I mean:
A perfect economy would work something like this (these aren’t proven numbers, just illustrative).
The bottom 20% grow their income at 15% a year.
The 20–60% grow their income at 7% a year.
The 60–90% grow their income at 4% a year.
The 10% grow their income at 2% a year.
Under this economic model, the people constantly constrained for cash are increasing their ability to spend on goods and the money gets immediately returned back into the economy. The wealthy still grow their wealth at a gross rate still higher than anyone, just less so percentage wise.
Instead, this model is flipped. Because of the investment economy, the wealthiest grow their already existing wealth at a larger percentage. The middle to lower classes have a mostly stagnant income.
This will inevitably lead the collapse of our economy.
Why does this work out this way? Investments, or lack thereof for middle to lower class people.
Forget Bernie Sanders. Forget AOC. Forget socialism. Redistribution of wealth won’t solve this problem. What will solve the problem -Fighting the system rigged against people not born into wealth.
A) immediately get rid of investment incentives that the rich primarily leverage (ie in mortgage interest and capital gains tax deductions)
B) provide extra incentives to lower income investors (ie keep zero capital gains tax for investors with incomes less than $75k)
C) find a way to get companies to bump 401K matches up to (at least 10%) for lower income investors. This may not be something we should mandate, but it’s a worthy topic of discussion. Healthy retirement funds are critical to the longevity of our economy.
D) fix the stupidity that targets poor people. Why do student loans have a an interest rate 3x higher than mortgages ? Yeah yeah, I get that there is higher risk, but high interest rate loans are also a huge contributing factor as to why middle class earners never have spare money.
I am not a believer in socialism. But in order for capitalism to work efficiently, let the wolves take care of themselves while providing extra incentives for those who need it. And especially don’t feed the wolves at the expense of all others - as our current system is designed.

有一个无效影响区。这减缓了许多国家的经济增长。
西方世界掩盖了这个区域，但它确实存在，可以说是对我们长期经济的最大威胁之一。
我的意思是:
一个完美的经济体应该是这样运作的(这些都不是经过验证的数字，只是说明性的)。
底层20%的人以每年15%的速度增长他们的收入。
20-60%的人以每年7%的速度增长他们的收入。
60% - 90%的人以每年4%的速度增长他们的收入。
10%的人以每年2%的速度增长他们的收入。
在这种经济模式下，现金不断受限的人们增加了购买商品的能力，而钱又立即回到了经济体系中。富人的财富增长速度仍然高于所有人，只是百分比有所下降。
相反，我们的这个模型是翻转过来的。由于投资经济，最富有的人以更大的比例增长他们现有的财富。中下层阶级的收入基本停滞不前。
这将不可避免地导致我们经济的崩溃。
为什么会这样呢?投资，或中下阶层的人缺乏这种能力。
忘了伯尼·桑德斯吧。忘了AOC吧。忘了社会主义吧。财富的再分配不会解决这个问题。解决问题的办法是，与针对非出生在富裕家庭的人的体制作斗争。
A)立即取消富人主要利用的投资激励(如抵押贷款利息和资本利得税减免)
B)为低收入投资者提供额外的激励(即对收入低于7.5万美元的投资者免征资本利得税)
C)想办法让公司为低收入投资者增加401K(至少10%)。这可能不是我们应该强制要求的，但却是一个值得讨论的话题。健康的退休基金对我们经济的长久发展至关重要。
D)修正针对穷人的愚蠢行为。为什么学生贷款的利率是抵押贷款的3倍?是的，是的，我知道学生贷款有更高的风险，但高利率的贷款也是一个巨大的影响因素，为什么中产阶级的收入者从来没有多余的钱。
我不相信社会主义。但为了让资本主义有效运作，让狼群照顾好自己，同时要为那些需要的人提供额外的激励。尤其是不要以牺牲其他所有人的利益来喂养狼——因为我们当前的制度就是这样设计的。

Jackson Lawson, B.A. Political Science & History (1976)
An interesting list of responses to this question. I tend to side with those who believe that for most, living within your means, sharing resources with others in similar situations, and determining to find a path that works for you in the meantime is the only way out. Those who blame it on rising health and college costs have a point but the very entity that most seem to go to for a solution (government) is often a major sourse of the problem. When government pushes everyone towards college and tries to make it seem free with loans that the borrower doesn’t understand or has heard that he/she may not have to fully repay, everyone wants to play at student for a while. They may even borrow enough to cover their living expenses instead of working to meet basic needs. Health care costs have risen in direct proportion to government interference in health care. After Obamacare made it significantly worse, the left wants to double down. But insurance is first a matter of efficiency in claims handling and I trust private companies to be significantly more efficient than government.
In the end, I think the primary reason people seem to be struggling are two:
The first was alluded to in another answer. The workforce has grown significantly and greater supply tends to hold down wages when the number of jobs hasn’t caught up. Automation has had a huge impact here as more and more work is done by machines and fewer jobs are available. But as the economy has grown, the labor market is tight, and wage growth is beginning and will continue if the number of available jobs outpaces the supply of workers.
Secondly is a matter of attitude. What is it to struggle? Is it always a bad thing and something to be avoided? Can good come from it?
When people struggle and feel sorry for themselves, they become victims in their own minds and that mentality usually leads to a need for even greater struggles. A victim can’t see that many of their problems are their own doing. It’s so much easier to blame others. Always - it’s not MY fault… The political left has successfully created a lot of large groups of victims. I am NOT saying that the struggles of African-Americans, for example aren’t real. Just that they’re at an additional disadvantage if they believe that they’re victims and therefore cannot succeed no matter what they do. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.
When people struggle without feeling sorry for themselves, however, they learn, grow, and their potential begins to improve. They don’t blame someone else because they didn’t get that great new job. They try and figure out what they need to do differently to win a future opportunity. They don’t have a cadre of people in their lives or ‘leaders’ with an interest in ensuring that they keep their victim status. Or if they do, they see through them and push on forward anyway. They have learned that victims never win but that people who refuse to be victims have a real shot.
On the other hand, when people don’t struggle in real ways, they quickly become weaker. Of course most people believe they struggle, and even the wealthy think they’re victims fairly often. But they don’t often dwell on it. They find a way to get done what needs to be done anyway. Usually creatively, occasionally dishonestly (like all people). If they don’t, their wealth won’t last and likely would never have existed. It’s not at all rare for wealthy families to discover that one or two generations later, the wealth is largely gone.
Of course there are well meaning people who do get crapped on by life. Even they often fall into the same categories. Look at the soldiers who’ve come home with no legs. They can feel sorry for themselves and live miserably in a VA hospital someplace or on the streets. But many have refused to be victims and have done amazing things.

对这个问题有一系列有趣的回答。我倾向于支持这样的观点:对于大多数人来说，量入为出，与处境相似的人分享资源，下定决心找到一条适合自己的道路是唯一的出路。那些将其归咎于日益增长的医疗消费和大学费用的人有一定的道理，但大多数人寻求解决方案(政府)的实体往往是问题的主要根源。当政府把每个人都推向大学，并试图让贷款看起来是免费的，借款人不理解或听说他/她可能不需要全部偿还，每个人都想在学生时期玩一段时间。他们甚至可能借到足够的钱来支付生活费用，而不是工作来满足基本需求。卫生保健费用的增加与政府对卫生保健的干预成正比。在奥巴马医改让事情变得更糟之后，左派想要加倍下注。但保险首先是索赔处理效率的问题，我相信私营公司会比政府效率高得多。
最后，我认为人们陷入困境的主要原因有两个:
第一个在另一个答复中有所提及。劳动力显著增长，当工作岗位数量没有跟上时，更大的供应往往会压低工资。自动化在这里产生了巨大的影响，因为越来越多的工作是由机器完成的，而可用的工作却越来越少。但是，随着经济的增长，劳动力市场吃紧，工资增长已经开始，如果就业机会的数量超过工人的供应，工资增长就将开始。
其次是态度问题。挣扎是什么?它总是一件坏事，需要避免吗?它能带来好处吗?
当人们挣扎并为自己感到难过时，他们就成了自己思想中的受害者，而这种思想通常会导致人们需要更大的挣扎。受害者看不到他们的许多问题正是他们自己造成的。责备别人要容易得多。总是——这不是我的错……政治左派成功地制造了大量的受害者。我并不是说非洲裔美国人的挣扎不是真实的。如果他们认为自己是受害者，因此无论做什么都不可能成功，那么他们就处于更不利的地位。这是失败的自证应验。
然而，当人们努力奋斗而不自怨自艾时，他们就会学习、成长，他们的潜能就会开始提高。他们不会因为没有得到那份好工作而责怪别人。他们试图找出自己需要做哪些不同的事情来赢得未来的机会。在他们的生活中，没有一个核心的人或“领导者”有兴趣确保他们保持受害者的地位。或者，即使他们这样做了，他们也会看穿他们，继续前进。他们知道受害者永远不会赢，但那些拒绝成为受害者的人有真正的机会。
另一方面，当人们不以真正的方式奋斗时，他们很快就会变得软弱。当然，大多数人认为他们在挣扎，甚至富人也认为他们经常是受害者。但他们通常不会细想。他们总能找到一种方法来完成需要完成的事情。通常用创意，或偶尔不诚实的行为(像所有人一样)。如果他们不这样做，他们的财富就不会持久，也可能永远不会再存在。富有的家庭发现一两代人之后，财富基本上消失了，这一点也不罕见。
当然也有好心的人会被生活欺骗。甚至他们也常常属于同一类别。看看那些没有腿的归国士兵。他们会为自己感到难过，悲惨地生活在某个地方或街上的退伍军人医院里。但许多人拒绝成为受害者，并做出了惊人的事情。