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I have been seeing the “Middle class squeeze” comments coming up more frequently on blogs here in the US and on this one. I just wanted to throw out a thread just for this topic alone.
We feel the squeeze here in The Northeast US with real estate taxes rising, energy costs escalating, and with it the cost of everything you need to buy to live continuing to go up as the cost of transporting goods climbs. The prospect of working into our later years for economic survival is not one we look forward to.
The real possibility of us retiring in Costa Rica gives at least some hope of living out our years in relative comfort. I was wondering if any others feel Costa Rica is an answer to their similar concerns.I live in Florida at the moment and the insurance premiums for Hurricane coverage is now as much as the mortgage payments on many homes here. We are talking 5 to 10 thousand dollars a year in premiums. Add to that the normal expenses and in my case Health Insurance and you realize that the future does not include retirement unless some drastic lifestle changes are made.
tropicals, It was your earlier post on another topic that prompted me to start this one. I have a cousin in FL and I know what you mean. Costs are rising much too quickly and wages are becomming stagnant. The concept of retirement is changing very quickly. From the last generation to our’s the amount of time you have to work until retirement is taking people into a situation where health issues may start to crop up. Then enjoying the “Golden years” may not be a reality for some.
I have friends that have done incredibly well the last six years that don’t understand the plight of the majority. It is their opinion that it’s “your problem” not theirs. They are so busy with their “lives” that they can’t see anyone elses much less care what is happening to our country. Their wake up call is coming.
I am not sure how many people see other peoples financial issues. We live in a me society and if the increases in the cost of living doesn’t affect me because my income is keeping up with it I might think so is everyone elses. Pre Katrina how many Americans knew we still have a poverty issue as vast as it is. The entire world got a birds eye view into the great American secret and most of them were shocked by what they learned it wasn’t limited outsiders the majority of US citizens didn’t have a clue either. I would almost bet a lot of our politicians didn’t know the extent of the plight of the working poor. As far as the middle income goes I believe we will become extinct into the lower income with very few moving into the lower end of the wealthy. Between taxation increases in energy insurance housing food healthcare salary increases won’t keep up. So save and invest now if you want 1/2 a chance to live beyond existing. If inflation and increased housing costs continue in Costa Rica it won’t have the benefits we see today unless we buy a home there today for when we retire. I am not sure how much any individual can do to eliminate inflation other than conserve and voting for fiscally savy people but we can invest properly to stay even or get ahead of inflation with proper planing. The other thing that a middle class person should do while they are young is earn as much as they can while they are young and spend less than they earn invest the difference safely. If you are close to retirement age and aren’t prepared for it get prepared.
Vegas, You’re right on the money! We all have been “educated” into thinking its the other guy’s problem. The “me” society we’ve created will come back to bite us in the butt. Katrina was an eye opener to that extent and it looks like the carpet gets pulled over every situation like that. Most politicians didn’t realize the situation, I think, because they never looked for it! Too busy campaigning all the time to stop and figure out how to fix what we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Just to show you how much they don’t give a rat’s rump up here. I live in a fairly Republican district. Last election the local assemblyman was unseated in the primary by a guy who was trying to out “Republican” him. The incumbent lost the primary and the guy who wins goes and does a 180 degree turn the next day on his website and turns into a liberal. He just knew his constituency would vote the other guy out and now all those promises he made, like lower taxes, I’m sure are going to go down the tubes. Sometimes you just can’t trust these guys.Alfred News Flash we can never trust these politicians at least we can’t take them at their word. I think they are trained at birth to tell people what they want to hear. I remember going to listen to a guy running for the Senate at two different places with opposites in their views this guy told each group he agreed with their views and would support both sides of the argument. I was young and didn’t confront him with a question why he told the union he was in favor of unions last week and now he is telling this group of business owners he agrees that unions have too much power and business owners should be able to offer good benefits doing away with the need for unions any more. I felt like I was on Mars or somewhere on another planet. That’s when I learned to look at their voting records and disregard all of the rhetoric they spew.
I agree if society doesn’t change and stop the me me me thinking we are in big trouble as a people. We stopped taking responsibility for our actions nothing is our fault any more the world owes us everything. We have lost touch with reality in my opinion it’s everywhere from the top to the bottom. I don’t feel like I am that old but it seems like it was a lifetime ago when people cared about each other and looked out for one another. I grew up in a house with my parents and my grandmother siblings one TV dinners together talking to each other about our lives and the world. We volunteered at the Salvation Army every Thanksgiving serving dinner to less fortunate people. We also worked as children selling raffles for different charities. It was fun but it also gave us the opportunity to feel good about ourselves. I still volunteer at the Salvation Army almost every year. It’s not any big deal for me to do it and it makes me feel like I am doing some good. So to me it’s all about how you were raised, today with so many single parent homes or 2 wage earners so families can make ends meet children aren’t getting to experience doing family things this is all part of the break down of the middle class. Latch key kids unsupervised children and children hearing how hard their parents have to work just to buy them their new computer or video games. All the changes of specialty clothes and sneakers today’s kids have are screwing them up too. I had a bag of plastic army men and I was happy as could be maybe 3 changes of clothes including my Sunday outfit never felt like I was missing anything and I wasn’t. Plus we were middle class we didn’t want for anything but we didn’t have everything. It was such a different time and way of thinking and living. I don’t know when we started keeping up with the Jones and when he with the most toys wins I really can’t remember but I know it’s been all down hill since then.
Today its cable TV Pay Per View avoid social interaction take care of thyself screw him first. But, we all get laid to rest the same now as we did then and that’s reality so why go through the journey with so much stress slow down and the heck with the material stuff and enjoy the ride it’s a very short one. But, that’s just my opinion. Pura Vida !!!
Vegas, Looks like we had similar upbringings. I too had my parents, sibling and my grandmother living in the same house. Sundays we always were together to eat dinner. Being Italian, that always started at around 1 o’clock and lasted the rest of the day. We didn’t have much in the way of money either but we never lacked what truly mattered. My mother was a housewife and therefore she was always home when we arrived from school. We always knew that everything our parent did for us they did out of love, not worrying about having to have the same things the neighbors had. In fact I think we were the last on our block to get a color TV. I also did my part in volunteering. Neighborhood patrol where we lived at nights until I got married, adult counselor at church with my wife right after we got married. I saw a lot of kids there who had parents who didn’t care all that much, and they were into drinking and drugs at age 13. Some of them did do alright and one in particular grew up to be a NYC cop.
Today I’m still married almost 30 years to the same childhood sweetheart. My father in-law came to live with us after my mother in- law died, and before that my mother lived with us after my father died until she passed away. Today you’re lucky if kids even talk to their parents after they leave the nest. Extended families in my neighborhood growing up were the norm. Today where we live its the exception. It does seem like a long time ago since we lived that kind of life and yet it seems sometimes like yesterday.
I guess a great part of the reason my wife and I like CR is the fact that it brings us back to a time much like our childhood when things were simpler and family mattered.By the way, I had a bag of those same green army men too. I just have to ask you, did you ever put one of them on top of a bare lightbulb to watch them melt?
Boy, do I miss those days!Man Alfred I’m not sure if that’s a smile or a tear on my face remembering how great life was then. Yes it sounds like we shared very similar upbringings we are Sicilian and Sunday dinner hasn’t changed thru today. The smell of gravy simmering in the background with beef and pork or eggplant frying and the pasta waiting to boil fresh bread and rice balls giving off their aroma on the sideboard. But I am still preferred; peas. beans brocolirabe, or spinach and macaroni at least 2 evenings a week.
I grew up on a dead-end street in Brooklyn where we used a garbage can cover for a sled to slide down the hill at the end of my block into the train tracks where freight cars once rode. We made forts in front of our houses and stored our snowball ammunition for all out attacks on each other. After an afternoon of not realizing we were all wet and freezing we were called in for dinner to complete our homework take our bath then to bed. And yes I had melted many a soldier or cowboy on my desk lamp in fact the bulb had green brown and red plastic stuck all over it. We didn’t have a care at all it seems to me neither did our parents besides us getting our diplomas.
Our parents never were involved in our entertainment either except to advise when it was meal time or the end of the evening for it to come to its closure for that day. We never heard of a play date we rang each others door bells and said can Tommy or Billy come out and play. We always had enough kids for a game of stickball punch ball stoopball stoop baseball football hide and go seek or tag. All played right there in street outside of our homes we would go to the school yard for basketball softball or hardball. Simple life I guess it was for me it was a good life filled with awesome memories and friends I still see today. There were the drug users but we all knew who they were and they knew what would happen to them if they robbed anyone or their homes in the neighborhood too. That’s not to say they didn’t but they always got what they had coming to them when they were caught. We didn’t have one superstore franchise fast food restaurant or major chain store in the neighborhood in fact the first shopping mall didn’t hit Brooklyn until I was 14 or so. We knew our pharmacist grocer baker bread man milkman butcher and fruit/vegetable store owners all by name. We shopped without money it all went on the tab till Friday when our fathers got paid and straightened out the week’s expenses.
I agree with you Costa Rica takes me back to almost that same feeling and era where people mattered life was simple we ate fresh food purchased today’s menu and families were families. I hate shopping in all the big box stores and impersonal chain stores. I watched as they forced all the middle class shop keepers out of business. Even medical care went from the family doctor who made house calls to medical offices where you may or may not have the same Doctor caring for you each visit. I bring that up because I understand why its like it is; the cost of mal-practice insurance and lab equipment but, its one more nail in the coffin of the middle class. My plumber makes as much income as my Doctor and he doesn’t have the same student loans to deal with. I don’t no what the answer is maybe it really is progress if this is progress I want to go back to a time and place that progress hasn’t hit yet.
Oh man Vegas, This is like my own personal walk down memory lane. It was always Sunday dinner that was the best. And we always said “macaroni” and “gravy”, not pasta and sauce too. We did a lot of the same things you did. It was probably the best times of our lives. Not a lot of money and you didn’t care about it. We knew all the store owners, Tony the butcher, Benny the grocery store owner, The twins that owned the pharmacy and all the others. What a shame its gone. A real piece of Americana gone to the big box stores and malls. It brings a tear to my eye when I think back at all the memories of my family, Christmas at my aunt’s, Easter at our house. Thanksgiving was always subdued because my Grandfather died right after eating Thanksgiving dinner in our house. That was way before I was born but it was probably why Thanksgiving doesn’t have as festive a meaning to me as it probably should. Three generations were raised in that house. My Grandfather came from Salerno in 1903 at 16 years of age with $10 in his pocket and no relatives on this side to greet him. He managed to learn English, open his own business, and buy his family a house. And did it all before he died at 51 years old. Oh crap I’m 51! That’s when, to me, America was at its high point. You could be whatever you wanted to be.
Costa Rica reminds me so much about when I was younger I feel like a kid again when I’m there. I just hope it stays like that a little bit longer for guys like you and me and everyone else that wants to go there for their own reasons.This started out as a thread about middle class squeeze, but its evolved into a personal recollection of all the good things I have to be thankful for. I think if we ever meet up down there we will have a lot to talk about.
Now everone else, JOIN IN WILL YA! If you want to post about the squeeze, go ahead, if you want to post about you personal life experiences and how Costa Rica represents some of the things in your youth, well go ahead and do that too.
All of a sudden I feel Like Scott asking for input on a thread. Long live the czar!
Hey Alfred “51” I am 51 my father was 51 when I was born I wonder if there is something to that number. You grandfather came here in 1903 and my father was born here in 1904 a year after my grandparents came here. Yeah I would say we have a lot in common and would laugh till we cried if we ever started talking although I know they will be tears of joy remembering what NYC was like 40 years ago and what our childhood memories represent. The traditions that were started by our grandparents that we probibly still do today. My favorite two nights of the week were and are Christmas Eve and New Years Eve where we shared macaroni every type of fresh seafood and for desert Strufoli (fried dough with honey and sprinkles)and pastries from Cafe Ferrara Grand Street Little Italy NYC expresso with lemon twist & annizette.
We may have been middle class but on those nights we were the rich and famous as many as 50 people walking in and out eating drinking and laughing till late into the night.
They may have closed down the stores built their malls and big box superstores priced us out staying through retirement but they can’t steal or erase those memories. I am sure we will make a lot of new memories living in Costa Rica. I agree with you I also feel like a kid there and I really enjoy shopping in the farmers market and the taste of fresh fruit and veggies but mostly I love my cup of cafe con leche smoking a cigar no AC the breeze and the sounds of kids playing in the background. I guess that is the silver lining to them squeezing the middle class and the way I choose to deal with it.
Oh yeah Vegas, Sfogliatelle, Cannoli, San Giuseppe, Ooofah! That and fresh Italian bread are some of the things I might miss in CR. We always called espresso “black coffee.” Now I make it with Costa Rican beans exclusively. I will always remember Christmas Eve though. We always opened our presents on Christmas Eve. My in-laws especially had the seafood thing covered on Christmas Eve. Then afterwards we’d go out on the block where they lived to look at the lights. When we first got married we lived in their house and let me tell you, you could get a sunburn from the Christmas lights on that street! Every house tried to out do the other. One family was beyond beating. It took them two weeks just to set up the lights. And this was a 25 foot lot in front of their attached house. The balcony was even done up to overflowing. Con-Ed loved these people. They had an extra bank of outlets installed outside just for the lights. Every year the ornaments were redone with a new theme. This woman and her husband started decorating the next years ornaments in March to get ready for the next Christmas. Their son told me it took their entire basement to store them. On Christmas Eve the husband would come out dressed as Santa and give candy to all the kids. It went on all night long. The nightly traffic jams on the block lasted till well after New Years. The more we talk the more I remember.
Yeah, they can squeeze all they want, but the memories will always remain!
Funny how this thread totally morphed. I for one appreciate everything we’ve talked about here and feel somewhat validated for why I LOVE COSTA RICA! Another thing. Everyone, when I talk to them about CR, if they haven’t been there themselves, thinks I’m crazy. But you and I know better.
C’mon, anyone else have any stories about their middle class life, middle class squeeze, Costa Rica, or are me and Vegas gonna have to carry this thread alone!
Same here Alfred most people think I am making a crazy move. Even my 2 brothers show the contrast you stated. My younger brother who visited CR with me on one of my trips believes it’s a great move and wants to join me there in a year or so, while my older brother who has never been to CR tells me you’re crazy what’s there that you can have here and you’ll be back you can’t get any of the things you need there. But all of his comments are based on his opinion of something he knows nothing about. LOL hey but they both followed me to Las Vegas years ago after telling me Vegas isn’t NYC you are going to miss everything and everyone from NYC blah blah blah. I never went back to NYC to live and I will never leave CR to come back to the US to live. I don’t make decisions without doing my reseach in detail and having my mind 100% certain first. I follow a simple plan do your research make a plan follow the plan. I have been coming to CR for over ten years staying for very short visits at first just basic vacation then extended visits to make certain that I wasn’t just in love with the idea of living out my vacation. I also varied when I came and where I stayed, so I know 100% for certain where I want to live and that I will be not content but happy once I make my move. And now it’s just a month away and I am filled with excitement and not one drop of fear or concern. I am still finalizing some details confirming some things I don’t have a complete handle on but they are all the small things and I never sweat the small stuff I take care of the major issues and know all the rest will fit into place or I will adjust to those things that don’t.
Sound like Christmas Eve at either my house or yours and New Years at the others. And if anyone else wants an invite they better start posting. It’s a NY thing no work no food LOL.
Hey Vegas, The coincidence here is amazing. My older, and only brother, has the exact same opinion. I can’t even get him to go to check it out. He really does think I’m crazy. So far we visited twice. Once each of the last two years, and like you want to taste every part of CR. So far we’ve done the central valley and some of the Pacific coast. I also have done extensive research on Costa Rica and have probably read ten books on the subject. To show you how I think we were meant to live there, I’ll give you a little insight into how full of coincidence our odyssey is. It started about 7 or 8 years ago with a phone call from someone in CR looking for relatives in NY. This guy calls me up with the same last name as me and says he’s from CR and asks me if I speak Spanish. I say no, my relatives are Italian not Spanish and no I don’t speak any Spanish. He says you’ve got to be kidding, He goes on to tell me that CR is loaded with people with my last name. I’m thinking this guy is nuts so we just talk for a few minutes and I forgot about the call for years.
Then when trying to trace my family history, to help find out the possibility of where my last name started, I had some DNA testing done. What I found out was that a lot my genes are closely related to Spain. Oddly enough my closest recent DNA match is to a Sicilian in Westbury NY, and we might have shared an ancestor about 600 years ago. Anyway, I started to do Internet research on my last name and kept coming up with all these hits in CR. Now I’m thinking this guy with the phone call maybe isn’t so nuts. After about a six month of looking at all this information I find CR has the highest population of people with my last name in the world. About six to ten thousand there. So I said to my wife we have to go there and check this out. Because like what I’ve heard from many people, Costa Rica is a place you just feel drawn towards and can’t explain all the reasons you feel you should be there. So I checked it out by going there two years ago and picked up a book in Juan Santamaria museum about families living in Alajuela from the 1700’s. There it was in black and white, tons of ’em. Who would have thought? So that’s my crazy reason for going there in the first place. Pretty weird huh? But for some reason it just feels right to be there.
So if you are ever bored and want to drive yourself crazy do a DNA test and see what happens. You may not like the results but you certainly will have a lot of fun with it! I’ve contacted some people in CR with my last name and someone from the genealogy society there who is still looking for a newsletter that has my family name history in it. Things move slower down there and I haven’t heard from him in a couple of months. But he told me when he finds it he’ll send it up.
So that’s my weird story for the day. Hopefully we’ll meet up down there one day. Christmas or New Years eve sounds like would be great. Our permanent move is still along way off. Until then we’ll just keep on visiting and looking.By the way, I think I’m going to play “5151” today. Seems like too much of a coincidence to pass it up.
Good morning Alfred and other members:
I waited 24 hours to respond to you to see if we could get some others to voice their words. Either they are entertained by our stories or they have nothing to add. Let me continue with some more coincidence: My father’s youngest brother nicked named Babe real name was Alfred. He passed away very young by my family standards at the age of 51. I never met him he moved to Florida when he was married as a young man. I did meet his 2 children who are much older than I am when I was 12 or so. His son and my older brother have the same name reversed they were both named after our Grandfather. I am the only male sibling that had a male child my son is our family name sake at this point in time and at his birth my father requested that we name him after his baby brother. After a little negotiation with my ex-wife we agreed to give our son the middle Alfred. He is still our family’s only name sake my cousin never had any children nor has my younger brother and my older brother made women LOL. This is very scary for me because my son is an active duty US marine and although I could keep him off the battlefield due to him being my namesake I chose not to which is his wish.
I have no knowledge into DNA other than knowing it is used to identify paternity and aids law enforcement in solving crimes. I am interested in learning more about the way you used it for genealogy I find that very interesting. Several cousins and I spent a lot of time making a family tree that we started with our Great Grandparents who were the first to immigrate to the US the brought 3 children with them and had 11 children more after arriving through Ellis Island in 1903. Talk about strange stuff you learn they gave one of their fourteen children to a sister and brother-in-law to raise since they couldn’t have kids. Pretty weird stuff, no one knew this as until we started doing our research and working on our family tree. I have learned so much from creating our tree and we maintain it every 6 months. What I really like is having it blown up 4’x 8′ in color I stand back and study it on my office wall I can see the changes in trends like divorce which never entered my family till post 1960 and family sizes which slowly dropped from 14 children to a steady 6-8 all the way down to 0-2 in today’s generation. The other thing that made all the work we did priceless is being able to show my children where they come from and how easily they can check their extended family at a glance. This is not some simple tree either we have illegitimate children on here along with the other parents name children brought into the family by marriage. Maybe one of these years I will work backwards from my great grandparents till whenever. I thought you might enjoy that bit of my history. Did 5151 hit if not play it for a few more days before you give up. I wish you luck with it.
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