the high cost of living and raising families

[chelidon]

Big thanks to alobar for posting the text of this excellent article by Jodie Janella Horn.

Excerpt: 'Strapped' for Adulthood
By Jodie Janella Horn, PopMatters. Posted January 3, 2006.
A new book explores the societal and financial reasons that today's twenty- and thirtysomethings are finding it nearly impossible to stay afloat.

I didn't need Tamara Draut to tell me that I'm strapped, but I did need her to tell my mom.

In the five years since I graduated from college, the same argument has arisen again and again. I insist that it's much harder to make a living now versus when she was my age in the mid-'70s. My mom disagrees, and continues to wonder why I haven't taken her advice and purchased a home. I inform her that a down payment on a condo in Los Angeles, where I live and work, would be greater than the sum total of all the money I've made this year. She again tells me the story of how she and my father saved the money for their first down payment while she was a drugstore clerk and he was an oft-unemployed electrical engineer. I tell her those days are over, at least in California, and she doesn't believe me. Repeat as necessary.

This ongoing fight with my mom had reached an all-time high recently because my husband and I have begun to panic about our future. Unless, somehow, we can genetically engineer offspring that needs neither food nor diapers, our hopes of being able to afford a child are not great. In addition to cash flow issues, my job does not provide paid maternity leave, and our insurance doesn't cover much, let alone pregnancy.

As a result of this stress, I have developed a recurring fantasy of taking President Bush, grabbing him by the hair and slamming his face on his desk repeatedly while screaming, "Family values? I'll show you family values. I'm moving to Canada so I can afford to have a family." Hell hath no fury like a lioness without cubs.
(Full article here)

Comments

[coraljune.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for this. How timely, and how true.

[rainysummerday.livejournal.com]

Oh yea, I had a little chat with the recently departed Reagan about what it was like coming of age after he cut all the college funding except the beloved but small Pell grant and made the criteria for getting financial aid extremely difficult. I was lucky to get help in jumping through the hoops so I could have the good fortune to go into debt to pay for college (where would I be if I woundn't have gone?) but I have a huge debt load from those years so yea, my house dream is on hold too...would someone please explain this to my dad and step-mom?

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Ah-yup. All those great Republican taxcuts...in fact, almost everything the Republican administrations have done since Reagan, up to and including this enormous "wartime" deficit spending by Bush Jr, have traded short-term benefits (usually for the rich) in return for the future of this country. The future's been mortgaged, and now we're all paying.

[blue-sky-48220.livejournal.com]

I have developed a recurring fantasy of taking President Bush, grabbing him by the hair and slamming his face on his desk repeatedly while screaming, "Family values? I'll show you family values. I'm moving to Canada so I can afford to have a family."

Oh, this is a lovely image. Thanks for posting the link.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Yer very welcome, my pleasure!

[swansister.livejournal.com]

Ok, I will now show my ignorance.

I really sympathize but at the same time feel frustration!

Why do folks choose to stay, live and work in areas with such a high cost of living. Here in WV,nice homes can be bought in the $100,00-$200,000 range. Land and homes are much cheaper.... Of course the pay scale isn't as hight but at least we can afford to have a home and children. I just can't fathom not making a move to a more affordable place to live.

And even though my town is small, we still have culture, arts and theatre here!

Swan

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

I hear ya, that's one of the big reasons we got out of the D.C. area and out to the country, and we actually did own a home (though we couldn't afford to buy it now!). But even here, where the unemployment rate is among the lowest in the country, I know a lot of people are struggling, in part because so many jobs are low-wage, and, to be fair, urban refugees like me tend to push up property costs as we emigrate in. One of my housemates works for WIC (Women Infants and Children, nutritional assistance for low-income mothers), and there are a growing number of hungry people out there.

I think, in part, picking up your life and moving across the country is something you're much more inclined to do if you have some money, if you've travelled to other places before (or moved across country before), if you have a good sense of job prospects elsewhere, and if you're well-educated. So, it could probably be said that at least some of the people who could most benefit by getting out of high-cost areas, are those least likely to be able to do it.

And that said, there is an element of choice, and perceptions of prospects in and around urban areas being better. There are certainly more jobs in and around the city, but also more people competing for those jobs, and a much higher cost of living. Heck, it took me a year to put together a work situation that I could do from here, and during that whole year, I had to fly back and forth every week between home and "the city." Which sucked rocks, but I did it. And that's another piece of it -- to change your circumstances often requires a big leap of faith, and a period of seriously hard times. And some of those gambles fail, so it's much harder to contemplate making such a leap if you're really already right on the edge...

[swansister.livejournal.com]

You have made some excellant economic points. I guess I have more of a globally minded head in that I see opportunities in many areas other than the urban ones.

Also, I'm not really a city girl and can see no real reason to want to live in such close quarters at such a high price, if I could live rurally or reasonably close to a city. The closet big city to my home is approximately 2 hours in any direction. As well, I can visit my friends up in Baltimore any time I want to. So I can get my city fix!

I do understand how hard it is to make ends meet. Not too long ago I was a single mother without any real monetary resources to make change happen. My circumstances improved with my marriage.

I sometimes can be too idealistic and critical of the choices of others! A fault of mine.

Thanks for your perspective,

Swan

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

I'm with ya on the city life -- no more for me, thanks. I'm 2 hrs from Boston, that's close enough! And I have more good live music, restaurants and microbrews within an easy drive than I did living near D.C., and "rush hour" now means another couple of cars on the highway. And the cost of living is much, much less overall.

I also hear ya about single-momhood. I grew up with a single mom from about 7-18, more or less below the poverty line the whole time. We were pretty much stuck (though, stuck in Hawaii, so I don't feel at all bad for myself -- beaches and hiking trails are free). That's a very hard road to walk, no matter who and where you are!

One thing I note out here in the woods is the surprisingly high number of people who never go more than a short distance from home, for whom, for instance, an hour down to Manchester, the nearest "big city," all of 100,000 people (200,000 if you count the surrounding towns and suburbs), is further than they ever want to go. Seems weird to me, but I grew up mobile, and moved a lot.

Anyhow, I think you raise a good question, and I think there's merit to it -- my concern is that many more will start to ask it. I like my woods sparsely populated! ;>