Author Topic: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"  (Read 13384 times)

nereo

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #50 on: November 26, 2018, 10:31:59 AM »
Try not to take it too personally - the "latte factor" bit was big 20 years ago, too. Older generations will always have some folks that like to gripe and make generalizations about the younger generations.

Thank you for saying some and not lumping us all together.  My only complaint about the younger generation is that not enough of them vote.

my depression era grandparents would have gottne a kick out of the idea of $7 coffees

A 7$ coffee in 2018 would have cost just under 48 cents in 1929 when you account for inflation.  (http://www.in2013dollars.com/1929-dollars-in-2018?amount=0.48)

I thought something similar - people see those depression-era photos where kids are selling apples for 10˘ and fail to realize that almost all the raw ingredients available today are far, far cheaper than they were in the 20s/30s.  Of course we've sacrificed a hell of  a lot in order to make the cheapest food distribution chain possible, but that was our national goal and we've accomplished it in spades.

DS

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #51 on: November 26, 2018, 10:39:29 AM »
$7 coffee.. or $7 mocha frappa woof woof?

GuitarStv

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #52 on: November 26, 2018, 10:47:37 AM »
Try not to take it too personally - the "latte factor" bit was big 20 years ago, too. Older generations will always have some folks that like to gripe and make generalizations about the younger generations.

Thank you for saying some and not lumping us all together.  My only complaint about the younger generation is that not enough of them vote.

my depression era grandparents would have gottne a kick out of the idea of $7 coffees

A 7$ coffee in 2018 would have cost just under 48 cents in 1929 when you account for inflation.  (http://www.in2013dollars.com/1929-dollars-in-2018?amount=0.48)

I thought something similar - people see those depression-era photos where kids are selling apples for 10˘ and fail to realize that almost all the raw ingredients available today are far, far cheaper than they were in the 20s/30s.  Of course we've sacrificed a hell of  a lot in order to make the cheapest food distribution chain possible, but that was our national goal and we've accomplished it in spades.

It's still expensive for the time, but not that expensive.  Apparently a cup of coffee cost about 25 cents in 1930 (https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/historical-look-at-the-cost-of-a-cup-of-coffee.html/).

Cassie

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #53 on: November 26, 2018, 12:59:23 PM »
Most people back then were having their coffee st home. My parents were born in 1920.  No one ate out except for the wealthy.

sol

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #54 on: November 26, 2018, 01:08:16 PM »
Most people back then were having their coffee st home. My parents were born in 1920.  No one ate out except for the wealthy.

We like to call that "rising standard of living" but I'm not so sure.

The idea that every American would have two cars in the driveway and all electric appliances and the ability to buy fresh fruit of any type all year long was a complete surprise to my grandmother who grew up plucking chickens to feed the farm hands.  Computers in everyone's pocket?  Robots on the moons of Saturn?  Overnight delivery of any item you can imagine?  My kids have never even seen a chicken feather or a dirt floor, much less dealt with them as part of daily life.  Things are definitely better now than they used to be, in many respects. 

But some of that abundance isn't really helpding.  Yes, the global fast food industry has made it possible for people of moderate means to eat out for every meal, but we've discovered that's not really so good for you.  My grandfather encouraged all of his kids to get educations and office jobs, because working with your hands sucks, but we've discovered that sitting at a desk for 40 years isn't so good for you.  Those magical pocket computers are amazing, but most people primarily use them for social media and that's definitely not so good for you.  Sometimes the progress we so desire turns out to be less helpful than we were hoping.


letsdoit

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #55 on: November 27, 2018, 09:07:55 AM »
Most people back then were having their coffee st home. My parents were born in 1920.  No one ate out except for the wealthy.

We like to call that "rising standard of living" but I'm not so sure.

The idea that every American would have two cars in the driveway and all electric appliances and the ability to buy fresh fruit of any type all year long was a complete surprise to my grandmother who grew up plucking chickens to feed the farm hands.  Computers in everyone's pocket?  Robots on the moons of Saturn?  Overnight delivery of any item you can imagine?  My kids have never even seen a chicken feather or a dirt floor, much less dealt with them as part of daily life.  Things are definitely better now than they used to be, in many respects. 

But some of that abundance isn't really helpding.  Yes, the global fast food industry has made it possible for people of moderate means to eat out for every meal, but we've discovered that's not really so good for you.  My grandfather encouraged all of his kids to get educations and office jobs, because working with your hands sucks, but we've discovered that sitting at a desk for 40 years isn't so good for you.  Those magical pocket computers are amazing, but most people primarily use them for social media and that's definitely not so good for you.  Sometimes the progress we so desire turns out to be less helpful than we were hoping.

and no tuberculosis, etc. means that soon we'l have 9Billion ppl on same planet
and air conditioners and cars everywhere mean bangladesh will disappear

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #56 on: November 27, 2018, 10:29:06 PM »
Most people back then were having their coffee st home. My parents were born in 1920.  No one ate out except for the wealthy.

We like to call that "rising standard of living" but I'm not so sure.

The idea that every American would have two cars in the driveway and all electric appliances and the ability to buy fresh fruit of any type all year long was a complete surprise to my grandmother who grew up plucking chickens to feed the farm hands.  Computers in everyone's pocket?  Robots on the moons of Saturn?  Overnight delivery of any item you can imagine?  My kids have never even seen a chicken feather or a dirt floor, much less dealt with them as part of daily life.  Things are definitely better now than they used to be, in many respects. 

But some of that abundance isn't really helpding.  Yes, the global fast food industry has made it possible for people of moderate means to eat out for every meal, but we've discovered that's not really so good for you.  My grandfather encouraged all of his kids to get educations and office jobs, because working with your hands sucks, but we've discovered that sitting at a desk for 40 years isn't so good for you.  Those magical pocket computers are amazing, but most people primarily use them for social media and that's definitely not so good for you.  Sometimes the progress we so desire turns out to be less helpful than we were hoping.

I think we've just managed to redefine basic concepts in a way that only benefits large corporations. For instance, there's a mammoth gap between our great grandmother's idea of what constitutes 'food' and what the current fast food industry thinks it is. The same thing applies to things like jobs, happiness, contentment etc etc. We have all the technology but I'm pretty sure that previous generations would find our lives to be shallow, completely unattached to a larger meaning and pointless in comparison. Most of us don't really know what extended family, ancestry, attachment to place, task satisfaction, life/death, or a higher purpose are. We're just rats running on really shiny new wheels.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #57 on: November 28, 2018, 08:49:27 AM »
Most people back then were having their coffee st home. My parents were born in 1920.  No one ate out except for the wealthy.

We like to call that "rising standard of living" but I'm not so sure.

The idea that every American would have two cars in the driveway and all electric appliances and the ability to buy fresh fruit of any type all year long was a complete surprise to my grandmother who grew up plucking chickens to feed the farm hands.  Computers in everyone's pocket?  Robots on the moons of Saturn?  Overnight delivery of any item you can imagine?  My kids have never even seen a chicken feather or a dirt floor, much less dealt with them as part of daily life.  Things are definitely better now than they used to be, in many respects. 

But some of that abundance isn't really helpding.  Yes, the global fast food industry has made it possible for people of moderate means to eat out for every meal, but we've discovered that's not really so good for you.  My grandfather encouraged all of his kids to get educations and office jobs, because working with your hands sucks, but we've discovered that sitting at a desk for 40 years isn't so good for you.  Those magical pocket computers are amazing, but most people primarily use them for social media and that's definitely not so good for you.  Sometimes the progress we so desire turns out to be less helpful than we were hoping.

I think we've just managed to redefine basic concepts in a way that only benefits large corporations. For instance, there's a mammoth gap between our great grandmother's idea of what constitutes 'food' and what the current fast food industry thinks it is. The same thing applies to things like jobs, happiness, contentment etc etc. We have all the technology but I'm pretty sure that previous generations would find our lives to be shallow, completely unattached to a larger meaning and pointless in comparison. Most of us don't really know what extended family, ancestry, attachment to place, task satisfaction, life/death, or a higher purpose are. We're just rats running on really shiny new wheels.

Indeed: the whole jerk-people-around-and-move-them trend that has been common in both the military and in large corporations has systematically destroyed most of those things, particularly family, ancestry, and attachment to place.

When kids are yanked out of school every year or three, moved to another city or even another country, and forced to integrate into a new peer group, they do NOT do what adults do and build an instant network or "plug in" to an existing one. They must re-learn social standards, trends, and such. They learn that creating and maintaining lasting friendships or family connections simply isn't important.

When kids are shuttled back and forth between parents' homes because their parents were too fucking immature to get married and treat each other decently afterwards, or because one parent's job requires that individual to make a lengthy commute, deployment, or location change, and the marriage cannot tolerate it, the kids learn that "religious vows" are basically a bunch of mouth noise and that there's no such thing as devotion to a higher purpose, because there IS no higher purpose than scratching the itch between one's legs. The merry-go-round of new "mommies", "daddies", "brothers", "sisters", and "grandparents" guarantees that they learn not to attach to extended family.

I read articles grousing about how aging people are butt-hurt because nobody wants their expensive furniture, china, decorations, or tachotchakayas (whatever the fuck that means, I probably didn't spell it right and it's not a word in any of the eight languages I've studied... still it shows up in New York publications all over the place along with "woke", "vacay", and "brekkie"). Apparently Generation X and the Millennial generation just don't caaaaaaare enough about their elders and their elders' precious piles of expensive collectible shit. It's because we spent our childhoods having to throw out our belongings, our toys, our clothing, and everything else WE were attached to, to support Daddy's career or Mommy's next marriage. The elder generation did its absolute best to teach us that material goods didn't matter, so it shouldn't be surprised when we agree with them that THEIR material goods don't matter either.

The anti-Mustachian portion of the population is dealing with the lack of connection by buying large amounts of crap, and then either hoarding it due to a genuine inability to prioritize or to decide which items are important or necessary... or going "minimalist" by throwing things out and re-re-re-replacing them.

The Mustachian portion of the population has the ability to determine which belongings are important, and to emphasize and maintain what is important without wasting resources acquiring and discarding surplus. But I'm not sure whether it's a result of embracing a more ancient value system (related to property) or accepting the values our elders attempted to foist upon us without embracing them themselves.

letsdoit

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Re: Bloomberg: "The ‘Radical Saving’ Trend Is Based on Fantasy"
« Reply #58 on: November 28, 2018, 09:21:21 AM »
Most people back then were having their coffee st home. My parents were born in 1920.  No one ate out except for the wealthy.

We like to call that "rising standard of living" but I'm not so sure.

The idea that every American would have two cars in the driveway and all electric appliances and the ability to buy fresh fruit of any type all year long was a complete surprise to my grandmother who grew up plucking chickens to feed the farm hands.  Computers in everyone's pocket?  Robots on the moons of Saturn?  Overnight delivery of any item you can imagine?  My kids have never even seen a chicken feather or a dirt floor, much less dealt with them as part of daily life.  Things are definitely better now than they used to be, in many respects. 

But some of that abundance isn't really helpding.  Yes, the global fast food industry has made it possible for people of moderate means to eat out for every meal, but we've discovered that's not really so good for you.  My grandfather encouraged all of his kids to get educations and office jobs, because working with your hands sucks, but we've discovered that sitting at a desk for 40 years isn't so good for you.  Those magical pocket computers are amazing, but most people primarily use them for social media and that's definitely not so good for you.  Sometimes the progress we so desire turns out to be less helpful than we were hoping.

I think we've just managed to redefine basic concepts in a way that only benefits large corporations. For instance, there's a mammoth gap between our great grandmother's idea of what constitutes 'food' and what the current fast food industry thinks it is. The same thing applies to things like jobs, happiness, contentment etc etc. We have all the technology but I'm pretty sure that previous generations would find our lives to be shallow, completely unattached to a larger meaning and pointless in comparison. Most of us don't really know what extended family, ancestry, attachment to place, task satisfaction, life/death, or a higher purpose are. We're just rats running on really shiny new wheels.


there is a certain level of comfort needed b4 society says, 'we are shallow.'
i.e., if you asked most ppl in 1910 or 1880 about shallowness, they would just want some time away from farm work and maybe a pair of shoes for the kids