COVID-19 numbers

[twocoach]

Perhaps you and I suffer from the same affliction. "Most people are capable of having 6months of financial reserves" is not a statement that I have made at all, let alone a direct quote. So obviously my efforts to be brief have resulted in my not being clear.

There are a number of folks in this country who are perfectly capable of saving more that the zero that they have. That 45% of our nation has zero savings should be shocking. 45% of our country should not be that close to financial disaster.

Your statements weren't brief, but I apologize if I took them the wrong way. They're below if you forgot what you said....

Oh, and if everyone had actually done what fimancial advisors have been telling us to do forever (keep at least 6 months of your full household expenses in savings) then more folks would be able to be patient and let this thing run its course.

But instead some folks choose year upgrades to the latest iPhone, seventeen different streaming services they dont use, a gym membership they don't use, too much car, too much house, too much eating out, the list is endless.

And when they missed their second paycheck, they were totally fucked. Panic over money causes people to do stupid shit, like protest for the right to subject yourself to a deadly virus as soon as possible.

Bullshit.

It's not impossible at all. I lived for years off shitty tips at the restaurants I worked at and managed to save money despite making shit money.

Once we moved past near paycheck to paycheck living, my wife and I continued to make sacrifices to save for exactly these types of events. We chose to put money towards two extra house payments a year and now we have no mortgage to worry about.
You just have to make the sacrifices necessary to live within your means. THAT is what people seem to find "impossible". I could hundreds of dollars a month in bullshit unnecessary expenses out of virtually everyone's lives.

The only scenarios that makes it impossible is having kids you cannot afford or an unplanned accident or medical expense.

Either way, I think we are getting off track. No big deal. There is plenty of blame to go around on who/why we are "rushing to reopen"....i personally am not seeing the people who should have more reserves being the main culprits of rushing to reopen in my area..especially because many are getting more in unemployment with the added monthly bonus that runs thru July than they even make working their full time job...but again that's anecdotal evidence. Are there individual salon workers rushing? Sure. I know a few personally. I also know the owners of the largest salon in my city were rushing. Same with many restaurants owned by people living in 500k+ homes with plenty of financial reserves. Greed was driving those decisions, not lack of financial reserves.

I simply felt you were blaming the wrong people. No big deal. Plenty of blame to go around. From trump, down to the individuals who refuse to wear masks.

We cannot do anything about billionaire business owners wanting to get back to making billions.

What we can do is put a little in savings so that a desperate need for cash doesnt force us to go to work earlier than necessary. Did I state that this was the ONLY reason states are rushing to open? No. It's just the only reason that we have any control over.

[twocoach]

Anyways, saw the latest projects of nearly 200,000 dead by October 1st. That's not good.

[TDub]

There it is again. If theyd just be more like me.



I dont disagree with you that mich money is wasted....but I disagree with your approach and your original premise. Also, as i have been told over and over again, wasted to me is not wasted to everyone.

So its not a problem that 45% of Americans have zero savings?!?

This has nothing to do with "be like me". This is me trying to have a conversation about how to figure out how we as a society could better survive another year like 2020.

We as every day citizens cannot pass legislation to have bigger stockpiles of emergency supplies. We cannot coordinate with the WHO and health officials around the world to build better monitoring and notification procedures. All we can do is protect ourselves and our families.

Good grief. Never in my life did I think "people should evaluate their expenditures and their jobs to see if we could be better prepared for a crazy year of disasters" would be so argued against.

Reading comprehension is not your strength

[twocoach]

There it is again. If theyd just be more like me.



I dont disagree with you that mich money is wasted....but I disagree with your approach and your original premise. Also, as i have been told over and over again, wasted to me is not wasted to everyone.

So its not a problem that 45% of Americans have zero savings?!?

This has nothing to do with "be like me". This is me trying to have a conversation about how to figure out how we as a society could better survive another year like 2020.

We as every day citizens cannot pass legislation to have bigger stockpiles of emergency supplies. We cannot coordinate with the WHO and health officials around the world to build better monitoring and notification procedures. All we can do is protect ourselves and our families.

Good grief. Never in my life did I think "people should evaluate their expenditures and their jobs to see if we could be better prepared for a crazy year of disasters" would be so argued against.

Reading comprehension is not your strength

My premise is that some folks could have more in savings and a little less in expenses, creating a little more comfort with their financial status allowing them to make judgements based more on health and safety and less on desperation to not lose everything.

My approach towards that would be an honest evaluation of household expenses as well as some thought about the vulnerability of our jobs to think about what risk could be posed. I doubt many of us had the thought of "would I be out of work if a pandemic hit and society closed down" but it's now a question that needs to be asked. Can anyone guarantee that we won't have something like this happen again in our lifetimes? Are we putting as much into savings as we probably could to help us better survive if this does happen again? It's likely the answer to both is no.

That doesn't seem very controversial.

[Deleted User 310]

We've gotten so far off track.

We should start a "financial responsibility for the middle class" thread...then I think we'd probably agree on nearly everything.

Financial responsibility for the lower class would be much harder for most of us to relate to. You pointed out you could find 100$ a month for most people, and i agree you probably could.....well @ $1,200 a year it would take them almost a decade to save enough for 6 months of financial reserves. Even shitty apartments/houses in most urban areas probably run $500+ per month in rent. Then factor in that many people have children ("that they can't afford"...your words not mine)....and you've got an environment where saving money is nearly impossible for a significant portion of our population, even if they truly tried hard to have no expenses that were for non essential things (...but come on, who really wants to live like that in reality where they do nothing but work eat sleep repeat with no spending on ANYTHING else).

[twocoach]

We've gotten so far off track.

We should start a "financial responsibility for the middle class" thread...then I think we'd probably agree on nearly everything.

Financial responsibility for the lower class would be much harder for most of us to relate to. You pointed out you could find 100$ a month for most people, and i agree you probably could.....well @ $1,200 a year it would take them almost a decade to save enough for 6 months of financial reserves. Even shitty apartments/houses in most urban areas probably run $500+ per month in rent. Then factor in that many people have children ("that they can't afford"...your words not mine)....and you've got an environment where saving money is nearly impossible for a significant portion of our population, even if they truly tried hard to have no expenses that were for non essential things (...but come on, who really wants to live like that in reality where they do nothing but work eat sleep repeat with no spending on ANYTHING else).

Don't get your undies in a wad about the 6 month thing. Anything saved is better than nothing saved, which is where nearly half of our nation is now.

And you're right. People don't WANT to live like that. They WANT to live like they have more money, AKA beyond their means, which is a problem at all income levels. It just has less margin for error in the lower income levels.

[Deleted User 310]

This was about rushing to reopen. Just to circle back...i still don't think you've convinced me that those people who don't have 6 months of reserves were a significant problem.

1) many of those people work jobs that never closed. Gas stations. Grocery stores. Garbage men. Etc.

2) those who did fit your description probably are making more on the unemployment with added $500 bonus going on right now.


Yes, self employed people, like barbers/whatever you call women barbers (beauticians?) did in many instances want to rush to reopen because they didn't originally qualify for any assistance....but I've seen a lot of middle class and upper middle class or even upper class who were rushing to reopen...many ignoring the risks to their employees. Insurance sales people. Dentists. Chiropractors. Those were the vocal protestors in my area more so than those who didn't have the ability to have 6 months of reserves.

[PhDhawk]

Ahhh.
This is becoming my favorite episode of "Twocoach knows best".

[CrimsonNBlue]

We could all use a little more empathy for everyone.

The "bootstrap" speech always ends up reeking of one thing: privilege.

[twocoach]

We could all use a little more empathy for everyone.

The "bootstrap" speech always ends up reeking of one thing: privilege.

It's why I would love to see more governmental money spent to help provide folks the tools needed to move them further from disaster. Better schools, better social services, better small business loan programs, better health care. I have tremendous empathy for those who are struggling right now. It's something overwhelming.

But when I talk about the government doing more, it turns into "shut up, you,'re just enabling freeloaders" and when I talk about people also needing to be more personally responsible for their own success it turns into "shut up, you're just priviledged."

So maybe the only way to not get told to shut up is apparently to say, "life is great, everything is fine" but that would probably result in "maybe for you, but.....". People just bitch and complain about everything, creating a forum where nothing can be discussed.

[twocoach]

Ahhh.
This is becoming my favorite episode of "Twocoach knows best".

I have made no attempt to promote my ideas over anyone else's because frankly, not many are offering any ideas. Most arent doing much but to say "you're ideas are dumb". Just trying to talk about things that might actually help. What the fuck good is it to just bitch and complain?

[PhDhawk]

You're right. Self righteous condescension will fix everything. Tell us all how to live.

[MICHHAWK]

I do not believe that the country rushed into the re-open.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Well that settles it.

[PhDhawk]

I'm sure the 890 who died yesterday agree.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I'm sure the 890 who died yesterday agree.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The omelet being tee times, boating and haircuts.

[TDub]

I'm sure the 890 who died yesterday agree.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The omelet being tee times, boating and haircuts.

Lets just hope they have a bank account.

[PhDhawk]

I'm sure the 890 who died yesterday agree.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The omelet being tee times, boating and haircuts.

Those eggs were mostly old anyway. Most woulda died in the next 20 years anyway. So they don't matter.

[PhDhawk]

I'm sure the 890 who died yesterday agree.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The omelet being tee times, boating and haircuts.

Lets just hope they have a bank account.

Twocoach coulda found some shit they were wasting money on.

[TDub]

I'm sure the 890 who died yesterday agree.

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The omelet being tee times, boating and haircuts.

This is also where I get confused. Not directed at CnB, more at 2coach and a few others.

If haircuts, boating, and golf are no goes, how can a protest where people are shoulder to shoulder shouting, droplets flying ,acceptable.



Yes, im not blind, i understand the reasons,but i can also understand the impact that might have on the spread of this virus.