It's Republicans of today who are fundamentally distorting the Bill of Rights with their kooky concepts like how their "religious liberty" means they can deny others access to prescription medicines, how they can compel people to participate in their feigned displays of "patriotism" and of course, how they can be the victim when they aren't allowed to oppress and deny the civil rights of others.
Sad to see their party corrupted by the malignant influence that used to control the Democrats.
SAD!!
Republicans don't deny access to healthcare; they just don't want to pay for others having a procedure they disagree with. I disagree with elective abortion, so I don't want my tax dollars to pay for you to have an elective abortion. I am against making abortion illegal because there are some situations I agree with abortion (such as a pregnancy which resulted from rape, or cases where either the mother's or fetus' life is in severe jeopardy). The Catholic Church is against contraceptives, so they don't want to pay from health insurance which pays for contraceptives, but that doesn't stop their employees from buying supplemental insurance or paying retail for contraceptives.
The country is so divided that you parrot your party's talking points without determining the validity of the claims.
Every example you just listed...is FICTIONAL ENTERTAINMENT. Not a science documentary. That you cannot tell an illusion from Hollywood from real life is very disturbing about your cognitive development. It is the same type of basic control that religion wields.
It's called Science Fiction. Do you honestly believe I don't know that science fiction is fiction? Science Fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and technological innovations. David Hartwell wrote: "Science fiction’s appeal lies in combination of the rational, the believable, with the miraculous. It is an appeal to the sense of wonder." In 1967 Issac Asimov wrote, "And because today’s real life so resembles day-before-yesterday’s fantasy, the old-time fans are restless. Deep within, whether they admit it or not, is a feeling of disappointment and even outrage that the outer world has invaded their private domain. They feel the loss of a 'sense of wonder' because what was once truly confined to 'wonder' has now become prosaic and mundane."
Things are things and people/animals are living beings. Making a robot play back a recording behaving as if it's fearing for it's life is manipulative.
Although we are no where near there yet, I'm not sure the average person knows that. At what point does a robot become a "living thing" because saying that a robot can never be living because of the material it is made out of is a little short sighted. Is a perfect silicon replica of a human brain not living? Does it not have rights just because it is a simulation on silicon? This would make the ideal slave force but I'm not sure it's ethical to clone human brains to silicon and then command them to work for you 24/7.
I'm in my 40s. The "Short Circuit" movies were part of my childhood and the books Bicentennial Man and Chromosome 6 made an impact in my youth. Also throw in Data from Star Trek and other such characters from other series. Alive / not alive and self-awareness are not as simple as they used to be. At some point we will have AI so complicated that we may begin wonder if it is actually intelligent.
LDS Mormonism begins teaching about the infallibility of its leadership to children as early as age 3. This is why you have entire generations of Mormons who don't dare question what the leadership says or does. They're taught that to question is tantamount to forfeiting their eternal salvation. It's a fundamental cult tactic.
That is categorically false. Catholicism teaches that the Pope is infallible, but Mormonism teaches that Jesus was the only perfect individual to live on the earth. Joseph Smith History (canonized and part of the Pearl of Great Price) was written by Joseph Smith Jr and clearly states that "I frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature." (JSH 1:28). LDS scripture says that when leaders speak "when moved by the Holy Ghost" it shall be scripture (D&C 68). In the April 1996 General Conference Elder Dallin H Oaks (of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) wrote that Joseph Smith Jr "was mortal and therefore subject to sin and error, pain and affliction" source
Any time the church gets enough negative press on an issue it changes its stance. It is first and foremost a for-profit corporation after all.
Categorically false. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a non-profit organization as per US tax law. Please provide evidence to support your claim the Church is a for-profit organization. The Church's commercial endeavors are properly taxed and are not funded by tithing.
Black people couldn't hold priesthood or attend temple (the pinnacle of LDS worship) before 1978. They changed their divinely inspired stance amidst social pressure. There are allegations that the BYU football program was being negatively affected. It happened before and it will happen again.
This question is more nuanced than you realized. Let me quote from the Church's page on race and the priesthood
In 1850, the U.S. Congress created Utah Territory, and the U.S. president appointed Brigham Young to the position of territorial governor. Southerners who had converted to the Church and migrated to Utah with their slaves raised the question of slavery’s legal status in the territory. In two speeches delivered before the Utah territorial legislature in January and February 1852, Brigham Young announced a policy restricting men of black African descent from priesthood ordination. At the same time, President Young said that at some future day, black Church members would “have [all] the privilege and more” enjoyed by other members.
There is no official reason provided as to why Blacks were denied the Priesthood beginning in 1852 - just lots of speculation. In 1857 the US Supreme Court declared that blacks possessed "no rights which the white man was bound to respect."
You gotta give the Mormons credit. Revising their divinely revealed teachings in response to a US federal government threat.
Most other religions would be afraid their followers would get suspicious.
Firstly, the LDS Church did not revise divinely revealed teachings. Why have a living Prophet and open canon if nothing ever changes;) Regardless, the teachings regarding polygamy did not change. Ever since the Book of Mormon was published and the Church formally established (1830) it was taught that polygamy is an abomination unless required by the Lord. Orson Pratt recorded that Joseph Smith started teaching polygamy in 1831, but the time to practice it had not yet come. In 1835, the Church declared "Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. (1835 Edition of D&C 101:4). It was not until 1843 when Joseph Smith Jr received a revelation indicating he should practice polygamy.
Responding to a US federal government threat would have meant stopping polygamy a lot earlier than 1890. The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862 made polygamy illegal. Other acts ( Poland Act of 1874, Edmunds Act of 1882, Endmunds-Tucker Act of 1887) didn't cause the Church to stop practicing polygamy. Even after the Manifesto of 1890 (Official Declaration 1 in the Pearl of Great Price) men continued to cohabit with existing wives. The Second Manifesto (1905) clarified that anyone entering into a new polygamous relationship or even performing such a marriage would be excommunicated.
Joseph Smith Jr founded The Church of Christ 6 April 1830; he later renamed it to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After he was killed his followers broke into splinter groups. The largest group followed Brigham Young to what is now Utah and retained the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are more than 150 sects which claim Joseph Smith Jr as their founder. The LDS Church wants to distance itself from the splinter groups (which includes polygamous sects), and thus asks the media to use the term "Mormon" when referring to the LDS Church with HQ in SLC, Utah. In 1890 the LDS Church officially declared it would not sanction new polygamous marriages.
Even when polygamy was practiced, incest was forbidden. In some instances two sisters shared the same husband, but that does not count as incest
I grew up on a farm. Doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, I've slaughtered pigs that I later helped eat. And have hunted deer, and ate them as well. You do not want deer eating up your entire truck garden. ..
Both my parents grew up on farms in a small country town. I helped hold sheep while my dad slit their throats. I remember harvesting a pig on the farm once, too. My family raised dozens of rabbits. They were mostly pets, but we harvested a few. My dad taught us boys how to humanely kill the rabbits and how to prepare them. It feels weird knowing you are eating Snowball. My dad used to hunt.
Whatever you are doing is horrible. Rapeseed is really bad for you.
Canola is genetically modified rapeseed. Natural rapeseed causes respiration problems for some people. The Canola modifications are supposed to get rid of that.
You are aware that soy is the second most feminizing food product on the earth and should only be consumed by women, right? Flax is number one, about 10 times worse than soy.
It is TERRIBLE for your health as a man, and yes, it does make you look, think, and act like a woman. You might think there is nothing wrong with that, but there is. You will understand this once you cut out the feminizing chemicals and start looking, thinking, and acting like a man. Also, your boy parts will be a lot less cancer prone.
I knew that too much soy messes with male's hormones, but hadn't heard of flax doing that. Quite surprising as to how many protein powders and drinks include these two products. I need to do more research.
The 'juice' inside a coconut has always been called milk AFAIR. It's a natural thing to do, to extend the use of a word to cover something 'similar'. We do it all the time, and in the case of these products which are pitched as cow's mile replacements, there seems even more reason to do so.
Close, but no cigar. [i]Coconut water[/i] is the clear liquid inside a coconut; [i]coconut milk[/i] is the whitish liquid squeezed from coconut meat (or by blending coconut water with coconut meat, then strained). [i]Coconut cream[/i] is yet another product.
Different scenarios have different cachability. A map with near-real-time traffic can be cached for a few minutes at most; a map of congressional district boundaries can be cached for months.
I like how the historic sections of historic cities in Utah are laid out. There are 8 city blocks to the mile and the street numbers increment by 100 for each city block. Center Street divides the city in half. North of Center Street are 100 N, 200 N, etc; south of Center Street are 100 S, 200 S, etc. Main Street divides the city in the other direction flanked by 100 E and 100 W.
Salt Lake County consolidated its street numbers when the cities grew together and emergency services ended up at 200 N 100 W in Salt Lake City instead of 200 N 100 W in Sandy. The central point of Salt Lake County's numbering system is the LDS temple located on Temple Square. Temple Square is flanked by North Temple, South Temple, West Temple, and Main Street. Most of the Valley follows this grid pattern, but things get loose on the foothills and lake shores. It's very easy to find almost any address.
Who would keep a million dollars in the bank if they had it? Interest rates are so low you may as well buy a ferrari.
Maybe not a million, but it would be wise to keep at least one year's salary as liquid assets for the unforeseen. I've been laid off 3 times in the last 20 years. My wife had a hard pregnancy where she went to the ER on a weekly basis (this was $150 per visit). The eventual miscarriage brought on postpartum depression and weekly counseling sessions ($45 per session) for a while. My mother-in-law passed away in Brazil and I had to get my wife there. Life happens, so you need a reserve.
At 75k you should be pretty well off. Compare your lifestyle with that of your fathers.
OK, let's compare 1985 Hawaii with 2018 Mountain West.
How much debt did they get into,
My parents rented a house on the North Shore; I am working on a 30-year mortgage. My parents' home had more square footage. In 1985 my siblings' ages ranged from 19 to 4. I have a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old. My mom paid off the last of their debt last year; I'm 2 years out for medical debt (I don't carry a credit-card balance)
how nice was the car they drove in,
My parents had a full-sized van and a sedan. Neither was super new at the time. I have an older minivan.
how often did they go out to eat,
About once a week my parents took us kids to a restaurant with 5 cent sliders. I take my wife and kids out to eat once a month.
did they have 2 laptops, tablets, cable, Internet and cell phones (all of which existed in 1985).
My parents had a desktop computer (1 MB RAM, 20MB hd) and cable tv (OTA was non-existent in that town). Dialup internet only reached my town in 1992. My parents had a landline. Currently I have a family laptop, cable tv, cell phone for myself and another for my wife, no tablet, no landline, and basic broadband internet. In 1985 we had a single tv in the house; the same is true with my current family.
Growing up, I got hand-me-downs from my brother who got it from a brother who got it from a brother, etc. As my sister was the youngest and the only girl she got new clothes and toys. As both my boys are young I'm constantly buying new clothes for the older son; when he outgrows something it goes to his younger brother. As we're potty-training both boys diapers are still a major expense (almost $100 / month) - an expense my parents didn't have in 1985 (at 4 years of age my sister had already transitioned to panties). As my younger son is extremely small for his age he is on a special diet ($65 / month).
Obviously healthcare costs are out of control. Their crazy skyrocketing seems to have begun around the same time the big insurers were demutualized. So yes, corporate profit- and rent-seeking seem to be the big causes.
Premiums for health insurance for my family is $425 / month.
On the other hand, despite what the well-meaning propagandists at Pravda.. er, NPR.. have to say, I frankly don't believe their bullshit line about the cost of food decreasing. I know some folks implicitly trust all official statistics.. but c'mon, sometimes they are so far removed from lived experience that they beggar belief.
I've seen the cost of eggs go from 80 cents a dozen to over $2 a dozen. Other foods have also skyrocketed (green bell peppers went from 20 cents to $1.50 for example).
Money's not worth what it used to. In 1985 my dad supported himself, my mom, and 7 children on $25k. Today I'm making $75k+ with a wife and two young children and I consider my situation more financially precarious than my father's back then. I've heard that a million dollars in the bank is considered upper-middle-class these days.
Well, back then did children have luxurious toys (e.g. smartphone)? Did your parent have 2 cars (for both)? Did your parent's car(s) have all luxurious stuff like today? Did they have online shopping so that people can easily spend their money? If you cut those unnecessary stuff I mentioned, $75k for a family of 2 kids should do quite OK.
My sons don't have a cell phone of any type (much less a smart phone). I only have one car. My parents had a 9-passenger van and a sedan. If any of us kids wanted a luxurious toy we had to get a job and buy it ourselves. Shopping from a catalog was a thing back then, but stores hadn't made their way to the internet.
With average mortgage of over $3k per month for a 3 bedroom home over here, $75k is by no means luxurious (rent for a 2 bedroom apartment can reach 1800).
When I went to Brazil to propose to my wife, AT&T charged me US$3 per minute to call home to the US; my phone was still under contract so they wouldn't unlock it for a SIM from a different carrier. AT&T may charge less when traveling to Canada or Mexico.
Ferrari may have a lower false positive rate, but they have a stratospheric false negative rate. You need to find a proxy for wealth sold by the hundred millions so that someone merely in the top quartile (not really that wealthy, 75k qualifies?) has a reasonable chance of owning one.
Money's not worth what it used to. In 1985 my dad supported himself, my mom, and 7 children on $25k. Today I'm making $75k+ with a wife and two young children and I consider my situation more financially precarious than my father's back then. I've heard that a million dollars in the bank is considered upper-middle-class these days.
Are firings and layoffs the same or different? I always thought layoff meant no fault on employee, just business needs change and position no longer tenable. So you get benefits from company and government. But if you're fired for being shitty at your job, you're not entitled to either (unless you negotiated it or company was just nice).
Didn't the guy pay into a pension for 25 years and he's entitled to that investment?
Admittedly I'm from Gen-X, so terms might have changed slightly. My understanding lines up with yours. Fired generally means the employee was at fault. People laid off due to the economy generally get a severance package of some sorts.
Slashdot Mirror
200% Wrong.
It's Republicans of today who are fundamentally distorting the Bill of Rights with their kooky concepts like how their "religious liberty" means they can deny others access to prescription medicines, how they can compel people to participate in their feigned displays of "patriotism" and of course, how they can be the victim when they aren't allowed to oppress and deny the civil rights of others.
Sad to see their party corrupted by the malignant influence that used to control the Democrats.
SAD!!
Republicans don't deny access to healthcare; they just don't want to pay for others having a procedure they disagree with. I disagree with elective abortion, so I don't want my tax dollars to pay for you to have an elective abortion. I am against making abortion illegal because there are some situations I agree with abortion (such as a pregnancy which resulted from rape, or cases where either the mother's or fetus' life is in severe jeopardy). The Catholic Church is against contraceptives, so they don't want to pay from health insurance which pays for contraceptives, but that doesn't stop their employees from buying supplemental insurance or paying retail for contraceptives.
The country is so divided that you parrot your party's talking points without determining the validity of the claims.
Every example you just listed...is FICTIONAL ENTERTAINMENT. Not a science documentary. That you cannot tell an illusion from Hollywood from real life is very disturbing about your cognitive development. It is the same type of basic control that religion wields.
It's called Science Fiction. Do you honestly believe I don't know that science fiction is fiction? Science Fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and technological innovations. David Hartwell wrote: "Science fiction’s appeal lies in combination of the rational, the believable, with the miraculous. It is an appeal to the sense of wonder." In 1967 Issac Asimov wrote, "And because today’s real life so resembles day-before-yesterday’s fantasy, the old-time fans are restless. Deep within, whether they admit it or not, is a feeling of disappointment and even outrage that the outer world has invaded their private domain. They feel the loss of a 'sense of wonder' because what was once truly confined to 'wonder' has now become prosaic and mundane."
Your need to personalize a cancerous growth of tissue is SAD.
Most of my sensors are broken. Are you truly calling embryos and fetuses "cancerous growth of tissues"?
Things are things and people/animals are living beings. Making a robot play back a recording behaving as if it's fearing for it's life is manipulative.
Although we are no where near there yet, I'm not sure the average person knows that. At what point does a robot become a "living thing" because saying that a robot can never be living because of the material it is made out of is a little short sighted. Is a perfect silicon replica of a human brain not living? Does it not have rights just because it is a simulation on silicon? This would make the ideal slave force but I'm not sure it's ethical to clone human brains to silicon and then command them to work for you 24/7.
I'm in my 40s. The "Short Circuit" movies were part of my childhood and the books Bicentennial Man and Chromosome 6 made an impact in my youth. Also throw in Data from Star Trek and other such characters from other series. Alive / not alive and self-awareness are not as simple as they used to be. At some point we will have AI so complicated that we may begin wonder if it is actually intelligent.
Sorry, but I fail to see how my post qualifies as "troll". Couldn't you find the "-1 I don't agree but can't intelligently debate" moderation?
Dumb dumb dumb dumb...
Do you really get your information about Mormonism from South Park???
LDS Mormonism begins teaching about the infallibility of its leadership to children as early as age 3. This is why you have entire generations of Mormons who don't dare question what the leadership says or does. They're taught that to question is tantamount to forfeiting their eternal salvation. It's a fundamental cult tactic.
That is categorically false. Catholicism teaches that the Pope is infallible, but Mormonism teaches that Jesus was the only perfect individual to live on the earth. Joseph Smith History (canonized and part of the Pearl of Great Price) was written by Joseph Smith Jr and clearly states that "I frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature." (JSH 1:28). LDS scripture says that when leaders speak "when moved by the Holy Ghost" it shall be scripture (D&C 68). In the April 1996 General Conference Elder Dallin H Oaks (of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) wrote that Joseph Smith Jr "was mortal and therefore subject to sin and error, pain and affliction" source
Any time the church gets enough negative press on an issue it changes its stance. It is first and foremost a for-profit corporation after all.
Categorically false. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a non-profit organization as per US tax law. Please provide evidence to support your claim the Church is a for-profit organization. The Church's commercial endeavors are properly taxed and are not funded by tithing.
Black people couldn't hold priesthood or attend temple (the pinnacle of LDS worship) before 1978. They changed their divinely inspired stance amidst social pressure. There are allegations that the BYU football program was being negatively affected. It happened before and it will happen again.
This question is more nuanced than you realized. Let me quote from the Church's page on race and the priesthood
There is no official reason provided as to why Blacks were denied the Priesthood beginning in 1852 - just lots of speculation. In 1857 the US Supreme Court declared that blacks possessed "no rights which the white man was bound to respect."
You gotta give the Mormons credit. Revising their divinely revealed teachings in response to a US federal government threat.
Most other religions would be afraid their followers would get suspicious.
Firstly, the LDS Church did not revise divinely revealed teachings. Why have a living Prophet and open canon if nothing ever changes;) Regardless, the teachings regarding polygamy did not change. Ever since the Book of Mormon was published and the Church formally established (1830) it was taught that polygamy is an abomination unless required by the Lord. Orson Pratt recorded that Joseph Smith started teaching polygamy in 1831, but the time to practice it had not yet come. In 1835, the Church declared "Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. (1835 Edition of D&C 101:4). It was not until 1843 when Joseph Smith Jr received a revelation indicating he should practice polygamy.
Responding to a US federal government threat would have meant stopping polygamy a lot earlier than 1890. The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862 made polygamy illegal. Other acts ( Poland Act of 1874, Edmunds Act of 1882, Endmunds-Tucker Act of 1887) didn't cause the Church to stop practicing polygamy. Even after the Manifesto of 1890 (Official Declaration 1 in the Pearl of Great Price) men continued to cohabit with existing wives. The Second Manifesto (1905) clarified that anyone entering into a new polygamous relationship or even performing such a marriage would be excommunicated.
same thing. pests.
super-applicable captcha: "incest"
Is it time to invoke No True Scotsman?
Joseph Smith Jr founded The Church of Christ 6 April 1830; he later renamed it to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After he was killed his followers broke into splinter groups. The largest group followed Brigham Young to what is now Utah and retained the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are more than 150 sects which claim Joseph Smith Jr as their founder. The LDS Church wants to distance itself from the splinter groups (which includes polygamous sects), and thus asks the media to use the term "Mormon" when referring to the LDS Church with HQ in SLC, Utah. In 1890 the LDS Church officially declared it would not sanction new polygamous marriages.
Even when polygamy was practiced, incest was forbidden. In some instances two sisters shared the same husband, but that does not count as incest
I grew up on a farm. Doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, I've slaughtered pigs that I later helped eat. And have hunted deer, and ate them as well. You do not want deer eating up your entire truck garden. . .
Both my parents grew up on farms in a small country town. I helped hold sheep while my dad slit their throats. I remember harvesting a pig on the farm once, too. My family raised dozens of rabbits. They were mostly pets, but we harvested a few. My dad taught us boys how to humanely kill the rabbits and how to prepare them. It feels weird knowing you are eating Snowball. My dad used to hunt.
Whatever you are doing is horrible. Rapeseed is really bad for you.
Canola is genetically modified rapeseed. Natural rapeseed causes respiration problems for some people. The Canola modifications are supposed to get rid of that.
You are aware that soy is the second most feminizing food product on the earth and should only be consumed by women, right? Flax is number one, about 10 times worse than soy.
It is TERRIBLE for your health as a man, and yes, it does make you look, think, and act like a woman. You might think there is nothing wrong with that, but there is. You will understand this once you cut out the feminizing chemicals and start looking, thinking, and acting like a man. Also, your boy parts will be a lot less cancer prone.
I knew that too much soy messes with male's hormones, but hadn't heard of flax doing that. Quite surprising as to how many protein powders and drinks include these two products. I need to do more research.
The 'juice' inside a coconut has always been called milk AFAIR. It's a natural thing to do, to extend the use of a word to cover something 'similar'. We do it all the time, and in the case of these products which are pitched as cow's mile replacements, there seems even more reason to do so.
Close, but no cigar. [i]Coconut water[/i] is the clear liquid inside a coconut; [i]coconut milk[/i] is the whitish liquid squeezed from coconut meat (or by blending coconut water with coconut meat, then strained). [i]Coconut cream[/i] is yet another product.
Indeed. Caching is not a new concept.
Different scenarios have different cachability. A map with near-real-time traffic can be cached for a few minutes at most; a map of congressional district boundaries can be cached for months.
I like how the historic sections of historic cities in Utah are laid out. There are 8 city blocks to the mile and the street numbers increment by 100 for each city block. Center Street divides the city in half. North of Center Street are 100 N, 200 N, etc; south of Center Street are 100 S, 200 S, etc. Main Street divides the city in the other direction flanked by 100 E and 100 W.
Salt Lake County consolidated its street numbers when the cities grew together and emergency services ended up at 200 N 100 W in Salt Lake City instead of 200 N 100 W in Sandy. The central point of Salt Lake County's numbering system is the LDS temple located on Temple Square. Temple Square is flanked by North Temple, South Temple, West Temple, and Main Street. Most of the Valley follows this grid pattern, but things get loose on the foothills and lake shores. It's very easy to find almost any address.
Who would keep a million dollars in the bank if they had it? Interest rates are so low you may as well buy a ferrari.
Maybe not a million, but it would be wise to keep at least one year's salary as liquid assets for the unforeseen. I've been laid off 3 times in the last 20 years. My wife had a hard pregnancy where she went to the ER on a weekly basis (this was $150 per visit). The eventual miscarriage brought on postpartum depression and weekly counseling sessions ($45 per session) for a while. My mother-in-law passed away in Brazil and I had to get my wife there. Life happens, so you need a reserve.
At 75k you should be pretty well off. Compare your lifestyle with that of your fathers.
OK, let's compare 1985 Hawaii with 2018 Mountain West.
How much debt did they get into,
My parents rented a house on the North Shore; I am working on a 30-year mortgage. My parents' home had more square footage. In 1985 my siblings' ages ranged from 19 to 4. I have a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old. My mom paid off the last of their debt last year; I'm 2 years out for medical debt (I don't carry a credit-card balance)
how nice was the car they drove in,
My parents had a full-sized van and a sedan. Neither was super new at the time. I have an older minivan.
how often did they go out to eat,
About once a week my parents took us kids to a restaurant with 5 cent sliders. I take my wife and kids out to eat once a month.
did they have 2 laptops, tablets, cable, Internet and cell phones (all of which existed in 1985).
My parents had a desktop computer (1 MB RAM, 20MB hd) and cable tv (OTA was non-existent in that town). Dialup internet only reached my town in 1992. My parents had a landline. Currently I have a family laptop, cable tv, cell phone for myself and another for my wife, no tablet, no landline, and basic broadband internet. In 1985 we had a single tv in the house; the same is true with my current family.
Growing up, I got hand-me-downs from my brother who got it from a brother who got it from a brother, etc. As my sister was the youngest and the only girl she got new clothes and toys. As both my boys are young I'm constantly buying new clothes for the older son; when he outgrows something it goes to his younger brother. As we're potty-training both boys diapers are still a major expense (almost $100 / month) - an expense my parents didn't have in 1985 (at 4 years of age my sister had already transitioned to panties). As my younger son is extremely small for his age he is on a special diet ($65 / month).
Obviously healthcare costs are out of control. Their crazy skyrocketing seems to have begun around the same time the big insurers were demutualized. So yes, corporate profit- and rent-seeking seem to be the big causes.
Premiums for health insurance for my family is $425 / month.
On the other hand, despite what the well-meaning propagandists at Pravda.. er, NPR.. have to say, I frankly don't believe their bullshit line about the cost of food decreasing. I know some folks implicitly trust all official statistics.. but c'mon, sometimes they are so far removed from lived experience that they beggar belief.
I've seen the cost of eggs go from 80 cents a dozen to over $2 a dozen. Other foods have also skyrocketed (green bell peppers went from 20 cents to $1.50 for example).
Money's not worth what it used to. In 1985 my dad supported himself, my mom, and 7 children on $25k. Today I'm making $75k+ with a wife and two young children and I consider my situation more financially precarious than my father's back then. I've heard that a million dollars in the bank is considered upper-middle-class these days.
Well, back then did children have luxurious toys (e.g. smartphone)? Did your parent have 2 cars (for both)? Did your parent's car(s) have all luxurious stuff like today? Did they have online shopping so that people can easily spend their money? If you cut those unnecessary stuff I mentioned, $75k for a family of 2 kids should do quite OK.
My sons don't have a cell phone of any type (much less a smart phone). I only have one car. My parents had a 9-passenger van and a sedan. If any of us kids wanted a luxurious toy we had to get a job and buy it ourselves. Shopping from a catalog was a thing back then, but stores hadn't made their way to the internet.
With average mortgage of over $3k per month for a 3 bedroom home over here, $75k is by no means luxurious (rent for a 2 bedroom apartment can reach 1800).
No they donâ(TM)t
When I went to Brazil to propose to my wife, AT&T charged me US$3 per minute to call home to the US; my phone was still under contract so they wouldn't unlock it for a SIM from a different carrier. AT&T may charge less when traveling to Canada or Mexico.
And how much will you pay for using it abroad? How much do u pay a month? I guess much more than our European friend
AT&T charges US$3/minute for using voice outside of the country.
Ferrari may have a lower false positive rate, but they have a stratospheric false negative rate. You need to find a proxy for wealth sold by the hundred millions so that someone merely in the top quartile (not really that wealthy, 75k qualifies?) has a reasonable chance of owning one.
Money's not worth what it used to. In 1985 my dad supported himself, my mom, and 7 children on $25k. Today I'm making $75k+ with a wife and two young children and I consider my situation more financially precarious than my father's back then. I've heard that a million dollars in the bank is considered upper-middle-class these days.
Are firings and layoffs the same or different? I always thought layoff meant no fault on employee, just business needs change and position no longer tenable. So you get benefits from company and government. But if you're fired for being shitty at your job, you're not entitled to either (unless you negotiated it or company was just nice).
Didn't the guy pay into a pension for 25 years and he's entitled to that investment?
Admittedly I'm from Gen-X, so terms might have changed slightly. My understanding lines up with yours. Fired generally means the employee was at fault. People laid off due to the economy generally get a severance package of some sorts.
I'm posting this now from my Comcast connection.
"The misinterpretation on which the s'mores story hinges is hiding in the humble preposition with."
In this case "with" acts as a noun -- the word "with" and not a preposition.