This story was originally published by Real bright wire
By Athan Koutsiouroumbas
Real bright wire
The American Dream in Pennsylvania comes with a price tag: $230,464.
That's the cost for a family of four to live “comfortably” in The Keystone State.
The count is based on the “50/30/20 rule”, which requires half of a household's income to be spent on housing and necessities, a third on non-essentials such as dining out and entertainment, and the rest on savings and debt.
Here's the problem: the median household income in Pennsylvania is $100,837which is more than a factor of two lower than the American Dream sticker price.
In fact, only 10% of Pennsylvania households have incomes greater than $200,000. Nine out of ten people are nowhere near living a comfortable life, by the standards of financial planners.
To make ends meet, Pennsylvanians are pulling out all the stops.
Live together has skyrocketed. Children and grandchildren of baby boomers are moving in with their parents to serve as caregivers in exchange for living rent-free and tapping into their elders' retirement savings. Culturally, it has never been part of the American Dream to move back in with your parents in your mid-40s.
Pennsylvania credit card debt is at a record high. Almost 10% of accounts are overdue. For many, credit cards serve as temporary supplemental income.
The number of recipients of SNAP federal food benefits has grown 75% despite flat population growth in the Commonwealth. With unemployment at record lows, more Pennsylvanians than ever need help paying for groceries.
Now that home ownership is almost out of reach nine tenants competing for every available apartment unit across the state. Rents in Pennsylvania are growing faster than the national average, especially in tertiary markets such as Scranton and Reading.
It's no surprise why Pennsylvania lottery jackpots And revenue from games have never been this high. Our luck has to change somewhere, right?
Comfort is a central tenet of the American Dream. In the past, smart leaders understood that comfort is in the eye of the beholder.
From the right, Ronald Reagan defended the American Dream as the freedom to become who God designed you to be. With personal responsibility and self-reliance as first principles, comfort is living life on your terms.
From the left, Barack Obama portrayed the American Dream through the 'Julia's life”, who enjoys the government's helping hand from cradle to grave. With social equality and egalitarianism as core values, comfort means a life without risk.
What both views have in common is that they consciously avoid kitchen table politics. They do this for two reasons.
Firstly, for a long time there was no difference between expectation and reality Awesome. Voters accepted the status quo.
Second, voting is, in a sense, a negotiation. Political parties are organized solely to win. In a negotiation, the political party that determines the price first loses.
Pennsylvanians know they are losing. Bootstrapping your way to success seems like a fantasy when everyday life is riskier than ever. The gap between expectation and reality becomes palpable resentment and anger.
Times have changed. Talking is cheap. Comfort costs $230,464.
For today's policymakers, the math is simple but daunting: double family income, or halve family spending.
Pennsylvania State House Democrats have pushed for corporate tax cuts, record funding for public education, increases in property tax credits for seniors and more support for public transportation.
Pennsylvania Senate Republicans have passed the largest income tax cut in state history, repealing a century-old tax on electricity and school choice for families trapped in failing schools.
These are the current table stakes for the annual budget negotiations taking place in Harrisburg. All of these proposals could get enough votes to become law. But would they double incomes or halve costs for Pennsylvania families?
Maybe, but probably not fast enough to save many Pennsylvanians from drowning. Policymakers in Harrisburg are at least trying to use the tools at their disposal. But the state government can only do so much.
There is little evidence that voters pay a lot of attention to it anyway. For now, Pennsylvanians are more focused on immediate survival.
They will start working again this fall. Until then, we hope a scratch card is on its way.
This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available through RealClearWire.
