(AP Photo)
Certainly anyone who lived through the Great Depression and may have had to wait in lines for hours at a time for petty things like food or a job must be shocked at how bad this economy is today. People who are younger like me and the generation before me will remember the gas lines of the 70's and the odd/even purchasing system and the double digit inflation during that same time. But seeing that picture above of that line in Miami, well, I never thought things would come to this.
I think someone in the media should poll some of those people wait in those lines for toys like iPhones or PlayStations and ask them who they think should pay for their health insurance or what they think of $4.15/gallon gasoline. Sure, they may say that the government should cover their health benefits or they may say ExxonMobil is evil but they have no problem reverse-cadging Apple and AT&T and handing them their money, but, hey "I want an iPhone. Gimme gimme gimme gimme. Let the government pay for my health care, I just spent my monthly premium on an iPhone. I can't afford to fill my car but I can afford an iPhone and monthly service contract."
Nonetheless, people certainly have the right to spend their time and money as they please. I just don't get it, though. All levels of government do a good enough job taking my money and the best part is that I don't have to wait in line for them to do it.
If you are one of those who do wait in lines for gadgets, just take a moment to think and be thankful that today in America, images like this, only exist in statues.
How many people really own iPhones in the US?
I've seen like two people with one so far
My main point is that many people, enough to make the news usually, seem to have the money and the time to stand in line, sometimes for days, in order to fork over hundreds of dollars to big companies like Apple, Sony, Nintendo, etc. Yes, I know people do it for concert tickets, movies sometimes, and other stuff like that. I just wonder who has the time to commit to such a thing. Things can't be that bad for everyone if you can take some time off from work to wait in line. And, if you aren't working and still have money to waste on unnecessary toys like an iPhone or a PlayStation, then maybe your personal economy isn't as bad as the political candidates and the media try to tell you it is.
I've only seen one iPhone myself and that was last year when the original came out. The guy at the table next to me at a hot dog place was using it.
Basing one's perception of the economy on people who wait in line to buy iPhones isn't what I'd call an 'unbiased sample'.
...neither is running a story about how a family cannot afford meat or that a mom has to work in a strip club to pay her bills. Some people have to take a second job. Some people have time and money to wait in line to buy an iPhone. Good economy/bad economy, there will always be people who have it rough and have it good. It's not all bad like the press wants you to believe.
Overall, it's fair to say there's been a general downturn and loss of stability.
Yes, but we've gone through it before and it's not all doom and gloom and a lot of it has to do with people not managing their personal economy better. Buying new gadgets like iPhones instead of paying down CC debt, putting into a child's college fund, putting into a retirement account, etc. I, of course, do two of those three, (no CC debt for me), and other savvy things, I rule!
I imagine that bank failures have little to do with people buying iPhones
I didn't say they did.
Hm. Interesting.
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