Why, they're just not working hard enough, I'll bet some of them only have TWO jobs, not three or four! Slackers!

I have wondered for several years now who buys all these $300,000 homes in Knox County. Stats relating to our average household incomes seem to indicate that most of us can't afford them.

I've wondered the same, and it's just not Knox County, its across the US. It's not like hundreds of high-paying jobs have been created to pay for them.

Yes, car prices increased exponentially; it's related to the same easy credit phenomenon. I sat through an excellent lecture on that a while back. I'll try to look if the speaker has anything online.

In addition to inflation, one also has to consider that the average worker's wages have stagnated. The real buying power of a worker in 1973 was considerably greater than it is today.

The housing market has created the illusion that this isn't the case; increasing property values have masked that fundamental decline in buying power. What's more, people borrowed against those increased values, which means they're now saddled with unsecured debt (and for a lot of people, indentured servitude, since they're no longer allowed to declare bankruptcy).

Yes, that's true. Part of the onus has to be put on consumers for their failure to save. But I don't think one can read too much into the availability of cheap consumer goods like TVs (conservatives like to babble on about how everyone now has a microwave, which is supposed to prove that all boats are rising) or the expansion of the service economy, making it easy to outsource one's lawn work.

The bottom line is that, despite the trappings and appearance of wealth, most Americans are far less financially secure than they were 35 years ago. And a major reason for that has to do with what used to be called public policy.

What gets me is that even before the subprime lending fiasco, people were being enticed to get home equity loans, up to 125% of their property values (which would not even technically be an "equity" loan), to pay off other debt including credit cards.

So if you follow that logic, you are buying a 15 or 30 year mortgage to pay off a pair of shoes or an expensive dinner that cost two or three hundred dollars and that you maybe shouldn't have bought in the first place that will now end up costing you thousands of dollars after interest, long after the shoes are worn out and the dinner is a forgotten burp. And now your house is in hock, too. But I guess you have the bonus of turning unsecured debt into secured debt.

Idiocracy, indeed.

My daughter worked in the mortgage part of a bank and years ago she saw this home equity disastor coming. Everybody was doing it, and people were buying expensive houses that cost too much because mortgages were cheap.

Part of the blame has to go to the "live-for-today" mentality. And those feelings always come from a feeling of hopelessness.

Also the government is acting like a loose horse when it comes to spending and finacial repsonsibility, so many people feel like it's okay if they act that way too.

Why not?

In a world where so few political leaders, celebrities, and corporations are held accountable for anything, it's easy to understand why a lot people have given up on trying to be honest and prudent.

Yes, car prices increased exponentially;

However, car features have increased phenomenally as well.

In 1973 it was a luxury (and an option) on most cars to have airconditioning, radios (must less tape decks), carpet, power windows, auto on lights, auto off lights, remotes, cup holders, re-configurable seats, anti-theft, decent tires, sun roofs that didn't leak, etc, etc, etc.

Part of the blame has to go to the "live-for-today" mentality. And those feelings always come from a feeling of hopelessness.

I disagree. I think it's due to optimism - I'll get a raise, I can't lose MY job, the folks will bail me out, etc. Either that or pure cluelessness.
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Less is the new More - Karrie Jacobs