Thursday, September 11, 2014

Chapter 2



In reading this chapter, there’s one thing that really grabbed my attention. Not because it’s a major event but I feel that history is repeating itself in a scenes. Reasons to why Europeans left their lands raised a big flag to me and made me really wonder, could this happen again?
First, taxes were really high on them and at one point it became hard on them to live a healthy life style. Comparing it to the present, the rich is getting richer and the poor is going poorer with all the tax policies and people are being pushed out of their houses, jobs, and pretty much everything.
70-80% of the European were peasants, you may not see it the way I do. However, some of us are “slaves” to our jobs, superiors, Gov., or who ever provide the cash at the end of the day. Also, with the baby boomers and population rapidly increasing, its getting harder and harder to find fair opportunities and in the Europeans situation they were pushed out of their lands and properties by the property clam movement. People started to lose their living spaces and were pushed out to their point where there was no place to live. When you think about this part, I really feel like you can easily relate to it. Big corporations are pushing people out of their houses, apartments, and the rent controlled areas to get more money out of it. So where do the people go?

To me it made me fear what is the future holding. Reading and understanding past generations and their dilemmas makes me really think, what about us?

4 comments:

  1. very insightful post. you are right, it is uncanny how history is literally repeating itself and how people got divided again into an aristocratic class and the struggling one. I think the middle class these days is just like the lower class of the past. if the current situation continue, there is no telling of what would happen in the future. there is virtually no new land to explore :). based on past scenarios, people might migrate to other regions. go back to Europe maybe? or maybe Australia.
    Thanks for awesome post

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Fotoon, I think you make a very good point. It is becoming increasingly difficult to survive financially in modern American society. Education is expensive. Housing is expensive, Food is expensive. Consumer goods, expensive. There are a lot of low-pay, low-reward jobs, and a fair number of high-dollar, high-training jobs, but there isn't much in the middle any more. Most people have to live from paycheck to paycheck, and find it difficult or impossible to save. Credit card companies give people too much credit, and charge too much interest. We as consumers are encouraged to buy more than we can afford, and take on more debt than we should. And let's not forget medical care. We are one of the only nations in the industrialized world that does not make sure all citizens have medical coverage. The Affordable Care Act is a good first step, but it's far from perfect. Even though things here are tough, they are still better than in many other places, which is why we continue to see so many people trying to come here, especially from Latin America. From my vantage point, it's discouraging to see that what my parents had (a nice house of their own and a comfortable living on one middle-class salary) is becoming harder and harder to find in The United States.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i was just reading the other day how SF is the most expansive city to live in and how hard it is to make it through here.
      theres a study thats been going on to raise minimum wage just in SF to help ppl out
      however, I'm pretty sure that rents and expenses will also go up with that
      in the end its a lose lose thing

      Delete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete