It's not ok

There’s an insidious prejudice that has become as socially acceptable as smoker bashing. Those who struggle (or fail) financially are regarded by a breed of self-righteous people as lazy, gluttonous losers that got what they deserved because they never learned to live within their means. I’d like to offer of a real-life scenario and I would welcome any solutions:

I’ll use the median household income in the U.S. is $46,326 as gross pay. Net pay would be around $3200.

Now the debits:
650 rent (cheapest they could find)
125 ambulance bill (financed in order to avoid wage garnishment)
285 insurance (car, life, rental)
250 heating
135 electricity
120 water
150 telephone, Internet, TV (basic package – waiting for contract to expire)
25 3 pay-as-you-go cell phones for emergency use for family
500 gas for two cars (live in rural area with long commutes; could move closer to jobs but would cost at least $400 more for rent so it wouldn’t save money) (cars are getting 25-29 mpg)
$125 little over minimum on credit cards (only emergency items were charged on the card, no luxury items)
80 student loan
50 Rx/supplements, etc.
50 car maintenance

This leaves $655 for groceries (not just food but things like toilet paper, etc.), clothing, gifts, vet and doctor bills, savings, etc. Even on a good month that leaves only $5 per day per person for food for a family of four. With this income level a family would not qualify for food stamps. Sometimes the months are not so good. Maybe someone had to go to a doctor. Maybe there was one of the multitude of fees due at school. Maybe someone had a birthday. Maybe it’s the middle of winter and the heating price was more than double what it usually is. Since this is based on median income there are many families who have less than this.

Now here are some suggestions from “experts” on “ways to trim your spending:” (I can’t fathom who these people are talking to but here we go…)
· Avoid paying ATM fees by using the ATM at your bank. (People do this?)
· Never shop for recreation. (WTF?)
· Before spending over $100 on an item wait at least 24 hours. (If I spend more than $25 I have to budget at least a month in advance.)
· Buy generic. (Who doesn’t?)
· Don’t buy new clothes until your current wardrobe is paid for. (That’s hilarious! My wardrobe is older than my kids except for the sale rack nabs.)
· Think twice before buying anything that needs to be dry cleaned. (Derp.)
· Own an economy car – preferably a used economy car. (Let’s see…one vehicle is 19 years old, another is 12 years old, and the last is 9 years old. Is that used enough?)
· Stop subscribing to magazines you don’t read. (WTF?)
· Vacation at off season rates. (What is a vacation?)
· Save spare change. (What is spare change?)
· Take lunch to work. (We often just skip lunch. Even food from home costs money.)
· Skip latte and take your coffee to work. (Um… yea.)
· Cut cable to basic. (Here’s a better idea—once the contract is over, cut the cable.)
· Don’t buy videos – rent them. (Here’s a better idea – check them out from a library.)
· Go to matinee movies instead of during regular hours. (I haven’t been to a movie during regular hours in about 30 years and the matinee showings are considered huge splurges that might happen four times per year.)
· Have hair appointments every six weeks instead of every four. (I cannot begin to fathom getting my hair cut every four weeks. I get my hair cut twice per YEAR IF I have the money. There have been years where I only cut it myself. It doesn’t look great but…)
· Do your own manicures. (WTF?)
· Color your own hair. (Say a prayer first. But if you can pull it off that’s great.)
· Avoid fast food. (Who can afford fast food? May as well get that latte. Actually you can get a venti brewed coffee at Starbucks for around $2 and if it replaces lunch that’s a pretty good deal.)
· Run the dishwasher and washing machine only when full. (I didn’t know that people did otherwise.)
· Set your thermostat at 68 degrees in the winter and turn the heat off at night. (Where in the hell does this person live? Turning the heat off at night in the winter in some places is lethal.)
· Plan errands to use the least mileage. (Derp.)
· Don’t carry PMI mortgage insurance unless you really need it. (Why in the name of sanity would anyone voluntarily carry PMI insurance?)

I do not know these people who spend money like this. But I bet many of them are the same people who think the homeless guy didn’t plan ahead or the people who file for bankruptcy are just irresponsible or the people who lose their homes to foreclosure were greedy and bought a bigger house than they should have.

One person said to me, “There are always choices. You could get government assistance.” Please give me a pie chart on how relying on government assistance is living within one’s means?
I want to hear from people with real solutions on how the large numbers of people who make modest incomes are supposed to never use a credit card, save money for retirement, eat decent food, get an education, and have a decent roof over their head. No more bullshit suggestions about skipping the latte and manicure. Let’s hear it.

Wisdom has Whiskers

I woke up on a snowy morning with one of our cats sitting next to me meowing. I petted her and she purred happily, rubbing her head against my hand. She was absolutely content and, like every other cat, exceptionally beautiful. Then I tried to pull her closer and she pulled back, resisting. Her message was “I’ll happily come to you as long as I’m free and choose to do so. Try to dominate me and our relationship will quickly sour.”

I could see the lesson.

The purpose of life is to be happy, grow/learn (spiritually), and perpetuate life all while treating others as you want to be treated. The Earth’s abundance is more than adequate to meet these needs. Yet, no amount of resources is enough to satisfy a populous driven by the desires to acquire, conquer, and control. Those are twisted desires that can never be satisfied. Greed is the cancer of the Earth.

When one disrespects or insults another person a seed is planted that you do not want to grow; but, like any seed, it has the tendency to do so. It doesn’t matter if it is a stranger or a loved one, damage is done. Spiritual maturity is not threatened by a different opinion or the freedom or success of another. Light is not afraid of the dark.

We, as a species, spend enormous resources (supposedly) in search of life outside of Earth. (I personally think it is really more about greed for resources again.) Earth is inundated with life – at least at the time being. The animals have so much to teach us if we would just pay the least bit of attention. No animal is confused about its purpose. They don’t have to decide what to be or do. They just be and do what they are. If they have food, water, shelter, and whatever social network their species requires, they are happy and life is good. Each human was born with talent and passion for something.

Many might respond with “but we’re not animals” or “but we’re superior to animals.” If you can’t see that you are an animal then you have a very long road ahead of you and I wish you luck because you are going to need loads. Some qualify that notion with the fact that we drive cars or write books or whatever. Yes, we’re tool makers. We are unique (at least on this planet) and we have great potential. But that doesn’t put us above our environment. Should we actually live up to our potential one might be able to debate whether or not we are superior to other animals. But so far (as a species) we have proven the opposite – our performance proves that we are inferior to other animals. The very need to refer to oneself as superior proves that one is not.

I think our greatest flaw is that as a whole we have allowed a sociopathic minority to hijack us. Maybe it has been out of an amalgam of fear and laziness. Maybe our innocence, wherever it existed, was simply used as a weapon against us. I am always amazed that humans, for all our supposed “intelligence,” act so Russian-Roulette stupid. I briefly toyed with the idea of making a list; but that would be redundant. The Crux blog is my list and my fodder shall not soon run dry.

But here is a tiny example: People argue endlessly about what constitutes the natural human diet. A lifetime could be spent reading the arguments and they get really ugly, sometimes threatening violence. Probably the most common plan of attack is to insult the opposition’s intelligence or education. Yawn.
Cats, like most other animals, make their own Vitamin C (super nutrient proven to cure cancer). That’s why they can thrive on meats alone. A few animals cannot make their own Vitamin C and must get it from their diets. They are primates (humans included, of course), guinea pigs, and fruit bats. What does that tell us? Don’t think too hard. It’s right in front of you. And no, it doesn’t mean that every single human should be a vegan. Look at the diets of primates – particularly the apes, and START there. Tweak to find your individual best diet. It’s not complicated if you just ignore the reams of stupidity that exist to brain wash us into buying Product X.

We are drowning in misinformation. Why is corn the primary ingredient in most dog and cat food? Give a cat an ear of corn and you’ll get that incredulous look that says “and you can drive a car?” The majority of everything man-made that you see is designed to influence you, not to inform you. Everything. Every magazine (not just the covers), newspaper, commercial, TV program including (and especially) news, movie, web site, non-fiction book, product label, store sign, logo, CD/DVD/game cover, flyer/brochure/business card, free “literature” from the government and non-profits, tons of junk mail, mannequins in store windows, blogs...everything. I hope to influence you to think independently even if you disagree with me. Dissonance can be revolutionary.