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    LadyDieAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:14pm

    Score! I’m as well off as 53% of the country! Livin’ the dream, bitches!

    BRB, feeling good about myself and not thinking about how my car is ten years old, how I live in a glorified efficiency apartment, and how my family demographic now necessitates a “flying to funerals” fund in addition to an emergency fund.

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      SlickWillieLadyDie
      6/02/15 5:19pm

      Exactly. I have a “good” job and I’d probably have a tough time deciding whether or not to use the ol credit card. The same one I’m about to max out to pay for a wedding.

      Finance bros aside, this is a fucking pathetic economy and grim future for anyone not old enough to have voted for Reagan.

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      myburneraccoutishotLadyDie
      6/02/15 5:21pm

      sounds like your life really sucks. why don’t you do something about it?

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    drk0lioAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:14pm

    Hamilton wants to know why I work in finance? $400 on the spot? Yeah, I’m good.

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      wi_ngodrk0lio
      6/02/15 5:27pm

      Cool comment. I’m sure all the bros at your office will totally high-five you for that.

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      Sisqocertifieddrk0lio
      6/02/15 5:35pm

      You can buy, like, any fedora you’ve ever wanted!

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    Masshole JamesAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:12pm

    We all know what’s coming. Which is why the government is so desperately trying to save the Patriot Act and other surveillance programs.

    GIF
    GIF
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      myburneraccoutishotMasshole James
      6/02/15 5:21pm

      lol, no, that’s not what’s coming.

      the worst that’ll happen is that you’re going to post something on the internet.

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      Cam/ronMasshole James
      6/02/15 5:23pm

      “Awesome, I’ll soon declare myself an emperor!”

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    Life is a PlaylistAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:22pm

    Too bad many took those vacations they couldn’t actually afford otherwise instead of banking it when they refinanced. Guess they can sell the Escalade.

    Far too many in the middle class fucked themselves not too long ago.

    My comment excludes the poor. That is a different problem.

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      Don'tPokeTheWhereLife is a Playlist
      6/02/15 5:26pm

      Yeah the American middle class are masters of bad decision making and teach that to everyone else. Yes you DESERVE that brand new Xbox/car/McMansion, don’t worry about tomorrow when you need that money.

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      Orlandu7Life is a Playlist
      6/02/15 5:52pm

      “I’m going to specifically talk about the middle class and exclude the poor from my complaint by referencing a car stereotypically associated with poor minority welfare abusers.”

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    Don'tPokeTheWhereAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:18pm

    “Thirty-nine percent of non-retirees have given little or no thought to financial planning for retirement and 31 percent have no retirement savings or pension.”

    Seriously? Are you counting on Social Security?

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      medrawtDon'tPokeTheWhere
      6/02/15 5:32pm

      I doubt many people are making a consciously informed choice that they don’t need to take care of their retirement planning because they assume they’ll get social security. (Though they ought to be able to, god dammit.) When you cut income down to a level where a person is essentially faced with a choice between having some kind of immediate pleasure or luxury, like, a few times a year even, vs. never doing that ever and setting aside money for the future ... very few people are going to make the “right” choice there. Both because our brains just seem to be wired to be bad at that sort of choice, and more specifically because all evidence both scientific and anecdotal suggests that living life like that is exhausting, and emotionally you come to need relief from it more than you need to be smart about your potential finances twenty years in the future. (Again, we’re talking about a huge overlap with the part of the population that can’t come up with $400 in an emergency.)

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      Orlandu7Don'tPokeTheWhere
      6/02/15 5:43pm

      Yes, I am in fact not buying into the eternal propaganda war by conservatives that “we’re going to destroy social security as soon as the voters let us, so you may as well just assume it’s going to not be there for you, it’ll make the transition easier”. The program’s finances are not in any way in any long-term jeopardy and removing the payroll cap would in one fell swoop fix them in perpetuity. Attitudes like yours are the result of an entirely manufactured crisis designed specifically to sap the public opposition to future attempts at social safety net cuts.

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    Citizen-KangAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:12pm

    Are you and HamNo two sides of the same coin? Scratch that...are you two the same side of the same coin? Has anyone ever gone on the record as having seen the two of you in the same room at the same time?

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      Adam WeinsteinCitizen-Kang
      6/02/15 5:16pm

      he’s the good looking one, i’m the smart one

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      Life is a PlaylistAdam Weinstein
      6/02/15 5:27pm

      He is far from better looking. Unless you're into too thin redheaded troll dolls.

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    Howard the DuckAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:12pm

    And the ruling Oligarchs wonder why we're mad at them.

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      myburneraccoutishotHoward the Duck
      6/02/15 5:22pm

      why are you mad people richer than you?

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      Howard the Duckmyburneraccoutishot
      6/02/15 5:26pm

      Because they only use their power for the betterment of self, instead of the greater good. There are a select few that do try, though.

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    flamingolingoAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 6:22pm

    This is an important post! The economy is increasingly bifurcated with an economy for the extremely wealthy that ends up making the overall picture seem rosier than it actually is for most of us.

    All the economic gains we’ve seen have been going to those at the very top of the income scale. That’s why we’re seeing greatly inflated prices for art and high end real estate but little to no inflation elsewhere (makes it clear why certain economists are so hellbent on predicting staggering inflation is just around the corner—they only seem to hang out with rich people).

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      cowabungabungaflamingolingo
      6/03/15 2:17am

      this is a price of pursuing GDP growth über alles while ignoring much more accurate indicators of human, social natural and economic well-being. did you know that according to most peoples’ understanding of economic health as it’s drilled into them by the media, an oil spill is great for the economy, because it raises GDP?

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    Don'tPokeTheWhereAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 5:19pm

    “Thirty-one percent of respondents report going without some form of medical care in the 12 months before the survey because they could not afford it.”

    It’s always something. In Sweden you forgo it because it takes a year to get an appointment sometimes. No specialist for you!

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      WhyitsFartingDon'tPokeTheWhere
      6/02/15 5:50pm

      Study of wait times for healthcare, with a focus on comparing Sweden internationally:

      http://webbutik.skl.se/bilder/artikla…

      It’s complicated, and the quality of data varies. The U.S. has no problem with wait times, because the uninsured and underinsured don’t have reasonable access to health care.

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    amtAdam Weinstein
    6/02/15 6:01pm
    • “Thirty-nine percent of non-retirees have given little or no thought to financial planning for retirement and 31 percent have no retirement savings or pension.”

    That is an absolutely terrifying statistic and is why companies need to offer pensions or 401K plans and make them have a minimum contribution. I save significantly for retirement but one of the only reasons it happens is because my employer can deduct it off my paycheck before I can get it (company plan), so it’s like I never had that money in the first place (company matching is another huge incentive for me).

    If I had it and had to invest manually, I’d never save anything and likely be in that percentage and I’m sure many more people would be in the same boat.

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      WestEggamt
      6/02/15 7:43pm

      Unfortunately, many people who have access to a 401(k) choose not to invest — either because they make so little to begin with that they feel they can’t afford it, other times because they don’t understand the ramifications. But if your employer matches a certain percentage, at least contribute that much — free money, people!!

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      Michael Zaiteamt
      6/02/15 11:34pm

      I worked at a place that had a matching 401k plan. It was for full time workers. that was about 10% of the employees.

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