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May 19, 2009

Lynette and reader Tom F. rightly criticized me for this post earlier, where I lauded a New York Times article about Suze Orman.

It's true what they say ...

Orman's deal is that she tries to give people advice about how manage their money in a circumstance where wages and wealth for the average American are declining.

So, yes -- you can follow her advice and improve your standing relative to other folks. But the biggest financial problem for the average working family is that its piece of the pie is shrinking.

The "credit problems" that she helps people manage have come about, largely, because wages have not kept up with expectations that Americans have about their standard of living.

Some of these expectations are media-driven, yes, and have to do with desires for a lot of junk that people just don't need.

But some of these expectations are rooted in valid needs that people have for things like education, housing, medical care and retirement.

A lot of the junk that Americans buy -- portable electronics, kitchen gadgets, etc. -- has gotten cheaper over the last ten or twelve years, compared to incomes.

Housing, higher education, medical care and costs related to retirement, on the other hand, have exploded in cost. And it's really financial stresses related to these expenses that are the biggest cause of, for example, bankruptcy in our country.

So, yeah ... Suze Orman pretty much tells working Americans how to make the best of the shitty hand they are being dealt by the government:

The one where rich people and institutions bribe government to legislate them bigger and bigger slices of the pie every year, while working people suffer the emptying of their pockets, without a real ability to affect change.

This being said, you still do need to do whatever you can to optimize your ability to stay afloat ...

-- Aaron | Link

Comments

No no no...I didn't mean to critisize your posting about Suze Orman. Sorry for leaving that impression; I am in fact glad you did post her comments. I totally agree with her in that many Americans get themselves into a hole buying useless junk. But I find her holier-than-thou attitude very irritating. It's just too easy for the rich (and she IS rich) to lecture the poor about their bad choices. As I said previously, she was missing the fact that most Americans go into debt due to the skyrocketing costs of health care, among other things.
Anyway, sorry to leave the impression that I was critisizing you, Aaron. I should have clarified my comments better.

-- TomF. | May 20, 2009

I thought that the remarks left by you and Lynette were pretty good. Personal finance skills can only go so far when the deck is stacked against you!

-- Aaron | May 20, 2009