Stating The Obvious
Don’t you love a news headline that tells you something you already know? One of today’s top five articles to read on Yahoo is “Many workers live paycheck to paycheck.” If that is not a duh, I am not sure what is. Our current consumer based economy with the marketing driven need to buy has caused Americans to chase the elusive next best thing. I remember watching the Saturday morning commercials or leafing through the Sears catalog and making my wish list for Christmas. The only money I had was what I made mowing lawns or raking leaves. 30 years ago you would spend two hours mowing someone’s lawn and get maybe $5.00 or $10.00 if you were lucky. Now kids won’t touch that for less that $30.00 (I have not priced youth labor lately) and probably closer to $50.00. Kids with cars and jobs seem much more prevalent today and there is much more buying power that when I was a kid.
With all of that money sitting in the hands of our nations youth, it is no wonder that television and radio have targeted them as the prime subjects to beam the gotta have propaganda. There is that word again. You are not cool unless you have the cell phone, the IPOD, and the latest ring tone. Whether it is a TV show or commercial or magazine ad, it tells our children that they are not good enough, cool enough, smart enough or any other enough unless they get the latest thing. It does not help that Hollywood or the cult of music assists with this frivolous pursuit. It all boils down to the almighty dollar. Wrong altar to worship at.
The fun thing about the article is that is actually points out several reasons for living from paycheck to paycheck. One of them is eating out too much. When I can cook a meal for 10 people that costs less than $20.00 (it was roast pork tenderloin, rosemary Yukon gold potatoes and sweetened corn) and that is what you would pay for 2 in a restaurant, I can see why people live that way. The article said little about their pay. It was more about being responsible for what you earn and using it wisely. That is not something that we are going to learn from the media. It is a lesson that parents should impart to their children. Unfortunately many parents use the idiot box as a baby sitter which allows Madison Avenue to be a major player is their children’s lives. Turn off the idiot box and make them read a book or play outside. Playing sports or being involved with a music program demonstrate to our children that teamwork and practice are what matter in life. It is not what you can amass that makes you who you are.
Icool
Cobb
With all of that money sitting in the hands of our nations youth, it is no wonder that television and radio have targeted them as the prime subjects to beam the gotta have propaganda. There is that word again. You are not cool unless you have the cell phone, the IPOD, and the latest ring tone. Whether it is a TV show or commercial or magazine ad, it tells our children that they are not good enough, cool enough, smart enough or any other enough unless they get the latest thing. It does not help that Hollywood or the cult of music assists with this frivolous pursuit. It all boils down to the almighty dollar. Wrong altar to worship at.
The fun thing about the article is that is actually points out several reasons for living from paycheck to paycheck. One of them is eating out too much. When I can cook a meal for 10 people that costs less than $20.00 (it was roast pork tenderloin, rosemary Yukon gold potatoes and sweetened corn) and that is what you would pay for 2 in a restaurant, I can see why people live that way. The article said little about their pay. It was more about being responsible for what you earn and using it wisely. That is not something that we are going to learn from the media. It is a lesson that parents should impart to their children. Unfortunately many parents use the idiot box as a baby sitter which allows Madison Avenue to be a major player is their children’s lives. Turn off the idiot box and make them read a book or play outside. Playing sports or being involved with a music program demonstrate to our children that teamwork and practice are what matter in life. It is not what you can amass that makes you who you are.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
7:38 AM
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