Tired of working harder and harder trying to keep up with the Joneses? Try this: Let them win. That’s right, send them a card, throw them a party and congratulate them on their win. Let them know you’re dropping out of the race.
You May Already Be a Winner!
Most people in the United States don’t consider themselves rich, but if you consider the following statistics, you might just change your mind.
- Half the World - nearly three billion people - live on less than $2 a day. Almost one billion of those are kids.
- Experts say that the dollar amount needed to provide basic healthcare, water sanitation and education to the world is about $11 billion - the same amount Americans spend each year on ICE CREAM.
- 8% of the world’s population owns a car. 92% do not.
- 20% of the population of developed countries consume 86% of the world’s resources. The poorest 20% consume 1.3%.
While these stats are staggering, it’s hard to focus on the plight of the African orphan when your stuff seems so inadequate next to your neighbor’s.
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States
Ice cream in Europe
Perfumes in Europe and the United States
Pet foods in Europe and the United States
Business entertainment in Japan
Cigarettes in Europe
Alcoholic drinks in Europe
Narcotics drugs in the world
Military spending in the world
And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:
Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Basic education for all
Water and sanitation for all
Reproductive health for all women
Basic health and nutrition
Let the Joneses Win Video
We got so sick of trying to keep up with the Joneses that we decided to bake them a congratulatory cake and let them know we’re throwing in the towel.
You can also find it on YouTube here
People who let the Joneses Win
Dr. Strangecard or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Plastic
The average interest rate for standard bank credit cards topped 19% in March 2007, compared to 16.5% in 2003.
- 43% of freshman owned a credit card, compared with 74% for 4th and 5th year students.
- 41% of cardholders carried a balance from month to month, and the median amount was $1,000.
- Approximately 25% of cardholders used their credit card to pay for tuition.
(SOURCE: American Council On Education, www.acenet.com, Credit Card Ownership and Behavior Among Traditional-Age Undergraduates, 2003-2004)
- In 1968, consumers’ total credit debt was $8 billion (in current dollars). Now the total exceeds $880 billion.
(SOURCE: Federal Reserve Bank)
- There has been a 23% increase over the past 5 years in the number of credit cardholders who use cards that accumulate points for merchandise and/or airline tickets.
(SOURCE: Vertis)
- The U.S. federal government has incurred $59.1 trillion in liabilities, or roughly $516,000 per U.S. household. (Not a credit card debt statistic, per se, but interesting nonetheless.)
(SOURCE: Dennis Cauchon, USA Today)
- More than four out of ten young consumers between the ages of 18 and 21 who surf the Web now own a credit card, and 65% of these young consumers used the Web to apply for a credit card.
(SOURCE: Forrester Research)
- At least one in ten consumers have more than 10 credit cards in their wallets. However the overall average number of credit cards per consumer is 4.
(SOURCE: Experian's "National Score Index")
- 29% of low and middle income households with credit card debt reported that medical expenses contributed to their current balances.
- U.S. consumers racked up an estimated $51 billion worth of fast food on their personal credit and debit cards in 2006, compared to $33.2 billion one-year ago.
- Approximately half of all credit card holders pay only their minimum monthly payments.
(SOURCE: Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index survey)
- According to the Federal Reserve Bank, 40% of American families spend more than they earn.
- 23.8% of American households have no credit cards at all -- no bank cards, no retail cards, nothing. 31.2% of the households. paid off their most recent credit card bills in full.
- Only one household in 50 carry more than $20,000 in credit card debt. However, that "one in 50 households" figure represents more than 2 million American homes.
(SOURCE: Liz Pulliam Weston, www.asklizweston.com)
Drinking the American Dream
Fed up with my Credit Card debt, I decided to try to get some sustenance from them. It wasn’t quite as filling as I’d hoped.
You can also find it on YouTube here
Our World is Not THE World
- “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”
- According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
- That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year.
Instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses, wouldn’t it be beautiful to keep up with the children in these statistics? To give up our extravagant lifestyle in order to allow them to keep their lives? What’s more fulfilling? Another latte at Starbucks or saving the life of another human being?
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35
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780
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Iced Latte or Warm Generosity?
Nothing against coffee houses, but what if we all went without a coffee for one day and invested that in people who are less fortunate? See what’s more satisfying.
You can also find it on YouTube here
Or check it out on YouTube here
The Executions
