Reply To: Is there a middle class frum family financial crisis ?

To clarify:

1. I do not want to quible about the numbers. I generously put the cost of a house at $400,000 since it seems to me a person could buy a very comfortable house in a frum neighborhood (even on the East coast) for about that much. The fact that people CHOOSE to squeeze themselves and pick houses in expensive areas is a choice. That fits into the comfort area. A person can’t buy a $1M dollar house in Boropark and then kvetch how much it costs to live there. No one told him he needs to live in BP. It seems to me that you can still buy a modest house even in the environs of Lakewood for $400K and certainly for a lot less in other fine frum communities.(If necessary we will spell them out for you)

2. My point was to ask a question. If we say say that these things such as basic shelter, food, education etc. are necessities do you think that the MAJORITY of frum families are not able to afford these basics and would therefore be considered in crisis or would you say most frum families have no problem affording the basics? Perhaps they have trouble affording the extra comforts but that is the next step of the discussion.

3. My unscientific observation seems to be that since so many people seem to be enjoying a life that is beyond the necessities (into the comfort zone) my guess would be that most people are doing OK. I find it hard to believe that the system can sustain itself otherwise without collapsing. But hey I could be totally wrong in my observation and conclusions.

That is why I threw it out there for discussion