Homeless people coming to your favorite campground!

^ So the big surprise here is most are comparing their own little slice of heaven (or he!!) and some areas seem more favorable due to income, some due to cost of living, some for both, some for neither. And we aren’t even talking about whether you enjoy that part of the country.
And magically the same skills, trades, professions aren’t met with the same amount of success in differnet areas. But as typical, not everyone has lived in differnet geographic regions so stereotypes aren’t necessarily accurate.
Someone in IT or computer science would have a hard time making a living in the middle of cornfield MN and a bean farmer would swear the world is coming to an end living in SF or Phx. So the bean farmer swears that you have to work 3x as hard for half the money in SF and the computer guy is unemployed in central MN because the only IT job is the computers at the town library.

Then one if em turns to drinking and drugs and we support him because he’s oppressed.
I get it. Part of the reason for my career success if you can call it that, is moving where the work is.

Well, where we live, here's the published 2019 income averages for our township having ~18,000 population or the local area having ~70,000 population:

Charter Township Of Grand Haven Data & Demographics (As of July 1, 2019)
POPULATION
Median Household Income
$80,400
Average Household Income
$101,648

Copied and pasted

Hint: It sure isn't on the Detroit or the S.E. side of the state but nearly 200 miles west on a very huge clean deep freshwater lake.

Cost of living is 89% of the national average, zero slums or rundown areas, and averages around 3% unemployed.

Look it up and see for yourself!

Thus the $96,000 household comment isn't that much or out of the ordinary in well run desireable population areas. Probably not even close to that amount of income in the poorly run localities in our state or other states especially for either the east or west coast states in the U.S.A. We sure wouldn't live on either coast but that's our choice and we sure are happy! Seems some people like to live in those other areas though and constantly pay the piper and then complain and complain.

CavemanCharlie wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
Who ever said our parents had more with less hours is looking back with rose colored glasses. It was a struggle for them just as it is a struggle today. Our expectations have changed. We want more material things today then our parents, that comes with a price. How much of your life are you willing to trade for those items.

Oh, I don't know about that.

I'm 56 and growing up my dad was able to purchase a 250 acre farm just buy going to work on it everyday. There were us 4 kids plus my mom who didn't work in town. She just took care of the house and helped out on the farm in the fall. We didn't have things as nice as people do now just because they hadn't yet invented a lot of those things yet.

These days if you want to farm you are going to need At Least 1500 acres, and your wife is going to work in town. And you are not going to live very well on that either. You would just be getting by and not getting ahead as my parents were able to do.

My parents went through the great depression, I think that qualifies as a struggle. They did not achieve prosperity until after WW2.

colliehauler wrote:
Who ever said our parents had more with less hours is looking back with rose colored glasses. It was a struggle for them just as it is a struggle today. Our expectations have changed. We want more material things today then our parents, that comes with a price. How much of your life are you willing to trade for those items.

Oh, I don't know about that.

I'm 56 and growing up my dad was able to purchase a 250 acre farm just buy going to work on it everyday. There were us 4 kids plus my mom who didn't work in town. She just took care of the house and helped out on the farm in the fall. We didn't have things as nice as people do now just because they hadn't yet invented a lot of those things yet.

These days if you want to farm you are going to need At Least 1500 acres, and your wife is going to work in town. And you are not going to live very well on that either. You would just be getting by and not getting ahead as my parents were able to do.

Lwiddis wrote:


“unkempt & disheveled appearance.”

Did you look unkempt and disheveled in the ‘60s?

Q. - DO you look unkempt and disheveled in 2020....:@

A. - Often before noon! - ROTFLMAO

IMO - OP (thread starter) -
Get a life (elsewhere) - suggest Newport Dunes (Newport Beach, CA)....*IF* you can afford it..:R

~

Anyone living in their RV full-time is not necessarily homeless, unless you mean they don't own a brick & mortar home. I started my full-timing life years ago by living in motorhomes (class A and C). I had all the amenities I needed and never missed a "normal" residence.
My motorhomes were pretty good looking, too.

I eventually graduated to a fifth wheel, which I eventually had to quit following a sudden disability 5 1/2 years ago. I would return to RVing if my circumstances permitted, since there's no other lifestyle that suits me. Having to live at assisted living facilities and currently in extended stay hotels hasn't been a great experience.

And on the subject of addiction...
What % of middle and upper class have addiction issues compared to lower class ?

Can find stats to support anything, but it’s a lot. What’s the excuse there? Why aren’t they all homeless and destitute? It’s a problem across all socioeconomic classes.

Part of the problem is old folks, like me , only remember or comprehend half of some of the statements were retorting.
But let’s take this another direction. Many are saying the poor are homeless because of addiction problems. And they can’t be held responsible for that. Not their fault, turn old malls into homeless zoos, give them enough food water and heroin to be happy. What that cost? Buy the property, maintain it, clean it (like 5x as much as a mall would need cleaned). Employ enough round the clock armed security or police to keep the place from getting totally destroyed and pillaged for copper. Yup great plan.
Don’t tell me the animals would be well behaved in the zoo. Heck, we were awarded a $50M contract because tweakers removed all the copper from a live active lift bridge, 200’ in the air. They could chew through low voltage wiring in a mall with their teeth before breakfast!

ScottG wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

ScottG wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
Median income....BS
The avg working wage earner, does not earn $31 per hour
Don't know how they calculate those numbers
Maybe take CEO salaries and Government salaries and avg that out ???

It's BS to quote "median" rather than average.
The avg last year was $48,000 (or $23/hr). That's a heck of a lot less than $63K.

That would be the average wage for an indivdual, not a household. So a household with both spouses working and making that average US wage would make $96,000 a year, far over the US median household income.

Yeah, they've got it made..

You make a statement like that and live in the PNW!

westernrvparkowner wrote:

ScottG wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
Median income....BS
The avg working wage earner, does not earn $31 per hour
Don't know how they calculate those numbers
Maybe take CEO salaries and Government salaries and avg that out ???

It's BS to quote "median" rather than average.
The avg last year was $48,000 (or $23/hr). That's a heck of a lot less than $63K.

That would be the average wage for an indivdual, not a household. So a household with both spouses working and making that average US wage would make $96,000 a year, far over the US median household income.

according to the US Census Bureau

“Income in the Past 12 Months - Income of Households: This includes the income of the householder and all other individuals 15 years old and over in the household, whether they are related to the householder or not.”
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/note/US/INC110218

Median household income in 2018 was $63,179; that is for everyone in the household

Median individual income for 2019 has been reported at $40,100.