Quote:
Originally posted by pan6467
As for Onetime, People don't "own their own home" more now than in the past. In fact look at the numbers and you'll find people in fact owe more on their homes than before. Not because the homes are more expensive (which they are) but because they have Equity loans and second mortgages.
You need to understand and this is what is killing this country faster than any split in parties (which is just an diversion to keep from focussing on the bigger problem). That problem is that debt runs the nation. Therefore credit has to be expanded more than ever before. If we force people to live within their means as they did in the past, we would definately lose our standard of living and face severe financial problems.
So yeah, people own the 2-3 cars, and this and that for a better lifestyle, but they are also deeper in debt, have no savings and while they may have more saved for retirement, they'll also be paying more debt off than the previous generation. And when they die the creditors will take all they can, and the kids become responsible for the outstanding debts and then the snowball effect really starts.
What we need to do is swallow the pill now to protect the future generations and cut all debt, live within our means and figure out a way to build a capitalist / free market system that doesn't feed on debt. The only way for that to happen is to distribute fairly the wealth.
Yes, the man who takes the risk deserves more than the one who just works and doesn't. BUT, both should be able to live debt free and enjoy a decent standard of living.
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In 1965 homeownership rates were at 63% they are now near 69%. While people may owe more on their homes now than before it is because they cost more. Only about half of homeowners have ever refinanced their homes. The homeowner debt to disposable income ratio has increased by only a couple of percentage points over the past 2+ decades (11.62 in Q1 1980 to 13.91 in Q3 2003) while home values have gone up by multiples of that. While consumer debt is increasing it is far from the epidemic you are convinced of.
Redistribution of wealth would cause far more problems than we have now or we can potentially have in the future going down our current path.