Living Beyond Our Means or Simply Living?

Lately I’ve been hearing lots of conversations about how people in our country are living well beyond their means.  Often times the root of all our financial problems are resolved in a matter of minutes; blame it on the people who are addicted to buying and have no idea how to save.  I’ve often wondered are people really living lifestyles of the rich and famous on a shoe string budget or is it simply getting harder to get by on an average wage?

While their is clearly a segment of our population that is living well beyond their means and buy everything on credit, I think most people are simply struggling to get through daily life.  There’s no doubt that the cost of living has skyrocketed over the past 5 years.  Gas prices have shot through the roof and the pain at the pump has resonated throughout our economy.  The cost of transporting goods has sent food prices to the moon and putting a healthy meal on the table is far from cheap.  Furthermore a night out to the movies with 2 kids is going to set you back $50 bucks.  Meanwhile we all know that our paychecks haven’t exactly followed the same pay of increase.  As our presidential candidates would say, is Joe Plumber really living a lavish lifestyle or he simply trying to make ends meet while feeling the crunch of rising prices and flat income levels?

I’m like many other people and don’t understand how people making 50k a year can drive a $85,000 SUV, pull a new boat, eat out every other night, and carry a $500 dollar gym bag.  It’s obvious that these people are living life full of debt but then I see the countless other people who are simply trying to keep food on their kids plates, clothes on their backs, and gas in the mini van.  These people aren’t trying to make it on the cover of any magazine, they’re simply trying to make it through the end of the week without going broke.   So which is the majority, people living well beyond their means or people simply trying to make ends meet?