what's wrong with our society these days?

[Dancing Fire]

a lot of people don't want to pay back their debts...

they don't wanna pay their mortgage debt.
they don't wanna pay their CC debt.
they don't wanna pay their student loan debt.

 

[ksinger]

Why not a thing DF. People have merely taken notice of how corporations get to do all that and more, and without any of those pesky moral qualms and shame that is supposed to plague us genuine flesh-and-bloods. In fact, there is a movement afoot that should enable us to completely bypass all that for good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g27NIymR9J4&feature=player_embedded

Ninjas of democracy!! Trademark!

 

[megumic]

you forgot taxes, DF, taxes. nobody wants to pay those either.

 

[ksinger]

you forgot taxes, DF, taxes. nobody wants to pay those either.

Not true! I LOVE paying taxes. Seriously. I have less, but I don't have to walk over starving babies to get to the car....

 

[Circe]

Why not a thing DF. People have merely taken notice of how corporations get to do all that and more, and without any of those pesky moral qualms and shame that is supposed to plague us genuine flesh-and-bloods. In fact, there is a movement afoot that should enable us to completely bypass all that for good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g27NIymR9J4&feature=player_embedded

Ninjas of democracy!! Trademark!

KSinger nails it. The immorality of big business may be the one element of trickle down economics that actually, you know, did.

P.S. - That video may be the best thing I've seen all year. I love the dedicated crazy-eyes of the lady in red!

 

[Amethyste]

Screw changing my address to a PO Box in the Caymans - With the snow we've been getting, I'M MOVING THERE!!!!

 

[ksinger]

Why not a thing DF. People have merely taken notice of how corporations get to do all that and more, and without any of those pesky moral qualms and shame that is supposed to plague us genuine flesh-and-bloods. In fact, there is a movement afoot that should enable us to completely bypass all that for good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g27NIymR9J4&feature=player_embedded

Ninjas of democracy!! Trademark!

KSinger nails it. The immorality of big business may be the one element of trickle down economics that actually, you know, did.

P.S. - That video may be the best thing I've seen all year. I love the dedicated crazy-eyes of the lady in red!

Yeah, I was seriously rolling when I saw that. The people they got to do it, were just brilliant. And I bet they didn't even have to have any acting direction at ALL.

 

[movie zombie]

i'm with ksinger.

its the trickle down theory working at its best. people look at what the corporations do, especially those CEO's, etc., and how the government conspires to help them and said people figure, well, we'll use those rules and/or morals to our benefit too, thank you very much. remember the phrase "what's good for corporations is good for America"? yes, little johnny, we can learn from those in power how to get out of our responsibilities.......we can idolize them as our heros because its all about money when it comes to the end of the day, isn't it?!

MoZo

ps also with ksinger re paying taxes and not stepping over babies.....

 

[Prana]

It seems that many have a huge sense of entitlement paired with a huge lack of responsibility.

I also think that consumerism is shoved down our throats on a daily basis, and people don't know what it's like to be normal anymore. People think normal is master bathroom suites, jacuzzis, double shower heads, huge SUV's, 5 bedroom houses that are 2,500+ square feet, 60" flatscreens, TV's in cars, extra curricular activities, one month's worth of designer bags, 600 pair of shoes, all-inclusive Disney vacations etc.

 

[makemepretty]

I don't think it's entitlement. I think it's seeing that banks are raising rates and tacking on fees when they've been helped out. Over 3 million people will be served with foreclosure notices, it's not entitlement that makes them not want to pay their mortgages, it's not having enough money. I don't believe it's because they can't budget and they went on shopping sprees, it's people losing their jobs. It's also hard for people with money to understand those without. Period.

 

[dragonfly411]

It seems that many have a huge sense of entitlement paired with a huge lack of responsibility.

I also think that consumerism is shoved down our throats on a daily basis, and people don't know what it's like to be normal anymore. People think normal is master bathroom suites, jacuzzis, double shower heads, huge SUV's, 5 bedroom houses that are 2,500+ square feet, 60" flatscreens, TV's in cars, extra curricular activities, one month's worth of designer bags, 600 pair of shoes, all-inclusive Disney vacations etc.

This.

 

[Prana]

I don't think it's entitlement. I think it's seeing that banks are raising rates and tacking on fees when they've been helped out. Over 3 million people will be served with foreclosure notices, it's not entitlement that makes them not want to pay their mortgages, it's not having enough money. I don't believe it's because they can't budget and they went on shopping sprees, it's people losing their jobs. It's also hard for people with money to understand those without. Period.

For the situations you described, I agree with you. What you described are the situations that are very sad, and very troubling. In my personal experience though, I don't see a lot of this situation.

What I see is a lot of people filing for bankruptcy and losing their homes to foreclosure because their priorities were bigger TV's and replacing all their DVD's on blue ray, not paying their mortgage/school loans/saving when things were good/ what have you. These people feel entitled to toys because, "Hey, I work hard", and they don't want to spend their money on bills. I see people who had unstable jobs, buy houses, overextend themselves, lose their job, and not be able to pay their bills.

I can only speak from personal experience as to the types of people I've seen having to foreclose on their homes and from what I've seen, it's all people who have greatly overextended themselves.

I do understand what you are saying about fees and banks being d-bags. I'm fortunate to have a great job and money, but I don't know anybody who hasn't had to cut back and sacrifice in this economy. Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by less financially stable people than my husband and myself, who spend frivolously without blinking an eye, and I'm often questioning how the heck they do it.

 

[fleur-de-lis]

a lot of people don't want to pay back their debts...

they don't wanna pay their mortgage debt.
they don't wanna pay their CC debt.
they don't wanna pay their student loan debt.

DF, I agree generally with the moral turpitude issue you bring up, but I understand and can distinguish why people become *particularly* upset at Credit Card creditors. Resentment and anger after underhanded maltreatment causes normal people to act in abnormal ways sometimes. I think many people who could and would pay their credit card debt back at the terms under which they signed up for the debt, yet:
(1) CC companies have and exercise the one-sided power to change terms so drastically to priorly-executed deals (say, from 5% to 29.99%), thus knowingly and deliberately creating a default-prone scenario; AND
(2) unlike your other two examples (student loan and mortgage) that the max rate for CC's is far, FAR beyond the rate defined as usurious in most jurisdictions.

I've personally always paid off my CC bills, but am reminded of the saying "There but for the grace of God go I." And FWIW, I've heard of far, far more stories of families wanting pay off the debt they incurred and struggling under grossly unfair new terms for longer than they should. When the terms have shot up to 35%, it's the usurious compound interest they're paying, not the debt. I get why decent folks "don't want to pay" THAT. I have sympathy for them, as well as anger at both the creditors who do it and the lawmakers who allow it to continue.

As much as I believe in personal responsibility and paying off one's debts, I can't and won't shill for the major CC companies who get to change the rules in the middle of the game.

 

[partgypsy]

It seems that many have a huge sense of entitlement paired with a huge lack of responsibility.

I also think that consumerism is shoved down our throats on a daily basis, and people don't know what it's like to be normal anymore. People think normal is master bathroom suites, jacuzzis, double shower heads, huge SUV's, 5 bedroom houses that are 2,500+ square feet, 60" flatscreens, TV's in cars, extra curricular activities, one month's worth of designer bags, 600 pair of shoes, all-inclusive Disney vacations etc.

This.

Really I think I'm pretty normal. I don't have any of those things and maybe except for the Disney vacation don't want those things either.

I have to say amen to what ksinger and moviezombie are saying. We are reaping what we sowed. We are seeing as masses of people are being "downsized" each year, factories dismantled to be sent overbroad that corporations are given the same rights (or maybe more: see lobbyists, bailouts, and tax loopholes) as voting citizens yet do not have the same responsibilities to the country. To someone who is working as hard as they can, playing by the rules, doesn't own any of the above-mentioned stuff and is just trying to keep a roof over their children's heads, I can't say I blame someone for declaring bankruptcy. Don't get me wrong. I had a different view 3 years ago but my views have changed. I still do judge people who do it strategically who do not have to, but oftentimes that is not the case.
PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

Yeah, we watched Winter's Bone! Was a great movie. I couldn't get past that they hung their laundry to dry OUTSIDE in the dead of winter! People obsess over their flat screen TVs when they should be glad if they have a decent washer and dryer and don't have to eat squirell for dinner.

 

[ksinger]

I don't think it's entitlement. I think it's seeing that banks are raising rates and tacking on fees when they've been helped out. Over 3 million people will be served with foreclosure notices, it's not entitlement that makes them not want to pay their mortgages, it's not having enough money. I don't believe it's because they can't budget and they went on shopping sprees, it's people losing their jobs. It's also hard for people with money to understand those without. Period.

For the situations you described, I agree with you. What you described are the situations that are very sad, and very troubling. In my personal experience though, I don't see a lot of this situation.

What I see is a lot of people filing for bankruptcy and losing their homes to foreclosure because their priorities were bigger TV's and replacing all their DVD's on blue ray, not paying their mortgage/school loans/saving when things were good/ what have you. These people feel entitled to toys because, "Hey, I work hard", and they don't want to spend their money on bills. I see people who had unstable jobs, buy houses, overextend themselves, lose their job, and not be able to pay their bills.

I can only speak from personal experience as to the types of people I've seen having to foreclose on their homes and from what I've seen, it's all people who have greatly overextended themselves.

I do understand what you are saying about fees and banks being d-bags. I'm fortunate to have a great job and money, but I don't know anybody who hasn't had to cut back and sacrifice in this economy. Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by less financially stable people than my husband and myself, who spend frivolously without blinking an eye, and I'm often questioning how the heck they do it.

Probably so, since only 20% of the people in this country, own 84% of the wealth, with the top 1% of that group owning 24% of the wealth. Your chances of actually knowing someone in this small group - which didn't have to cut back and are doing better than ever and concentrating more wealth in their own hands as I type, ARE lower.

 

[Prana]

It seems that many have a huge sense of entitlement paired with a huge lack of responsibility.

I also think that consumerism is shoved down our throats on a daily basis, and people don't know what it's like to be normal anymore. People think normal is master bathroom suites, jacuzzis, double shower heads, huge SUV's, 5 bedroom houses that are 2,500+ square feet, 60" flatscreens, TV's in cars, extra curricular activities, one month's worth of designer bags, 600 pair of shoes, all-inclusive Disney vacations etc.

This.

Really I think I'm pretty normal. I don't have any of those things and maybe except for the Disney vacation don't want those things either.

I have to say amen to what ksinger and moviezombie are saying. We are reaping what we sowed. We are seeing as masses of people are being "downsized" each year, factories dismantled to be sent overbroad that corporations are given the same rights (or maybe more: see lobbyists, bailouts, and tax loopholes) as voting citizens yet do not have the same responsibilities to the country. To someone who is working as hard as they can, playing by the rules, doesn't own any of the above-mentioned stuff and is just trying to keep a roof over their children's heads, I can't say I blame someone for declaring bankruptcy. Don't get me wrong. I had a different view 3 years ago but my views have changed. I still do judge people who do it strategically who do not have to, but oftentimes that is not the case.
PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

I agree, we are reaping what we sowed. I'm happy to see that people in my generation 'seem' to be wanting and expecting less in terms of material objects and expectations for what is normal in terms of houses/cars etc seem to be less than the previous several years. However, many of my friends have some serious debt because of choosing to live a lifestyle in which they ''work hard and deserve things". I can't say that I would be as sympathetic to someone filing bankruptcy after over extending themselves so much.

But as you mention, there are tons of different scenarios and reasons for why one might need to declare bankruptcy. I'm just mentioning the ONLY scenarios that I, personally, have seen.

 

[Haven]

I don't think it's entitlement. I think it's seeing that banks are raising rates and tacking on fees when they've been helped out. Over 3 million people will be served with foreclosure notices, it's not entitlement that makes them not want to pay their mortgages, it's not having enough money. I don't believe it's because they can't budget and they went on shopping sprees, it's people losing their jobs. It's also hard for people with money to understand those without. Period.

For the situations you described, I agree with you. What you described are the situations that are very sad, and very troubling. In my personal experience though, I don't see a lot of this situation.

What I see is a lot of people filing for bankruptcy and losing their homes to foreclosure because their priorities were bigger TV's and replacing all their DVD's on blue ray, not paying their mortgage/school loans/saving when things were good/ what have you. These people feel entitled to toys because, "Hey, I work hard", and they don't want to spend their money on bills. I see people who had unstable jobs, buy houses, overextend themselves, lose their job, and not be able to pay their bills.

I can only speak from personal experience as to the types of people I've seen having to foreclose on their homes and from what I've seen, it's all people who have greatly overextended themselves.

I do understand what you are saying about fees and banks being d-bags. I'm fortunate to have a great job and money, but I don't know anybody who hasn't had to cut back and sacrifice in this economy. Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by less financially stable people than my husband and myself, who spend frivolously without blinking an eye, and I'm often questioning how the heck they do it.

I agree with you, Prana.

I'm 30, and I've witnessed over a decade of my peers making unwise financial decisions so they could keep up with lifestyles they couldn't really afford. That's not to say that there aren't people who, as Makemepretty describes, made wise financial decisions and STILL find themselves in horrible situation. Still, I believe that a significant percentage of people who are in debt or facing foreclosure or both are in that situation because they chose to live beyond their means.

I have friends who chose to rent expensive city apartments and take out car loans and go on lavish vacations throughout their 20s instead of living within their means and saving what they could for later on. Many of them married and bought houses that they really couldn't afford, and continued to "buy" nicer and nicer cars. Now we're in our early 30s and some of them are facing massive debt and foreclosure. I don't feel bad for them at all. They made choices to live in a way that led to their current state. I made different choices.

I have students who can barely pay their rent yet they carry designer handbags and text on their iPhones (which DH and I won't even buy because they service is too expensive) and eat out at restaurants and drive new cars. Yet, they complain that they can't buy my $4 (yes, you read that right--four dollar) course packet because their financial aid didn't go through so they don't have their book waivers yet.

I know that lenders are partially to blame for allowing people to take out mortgages and incur debt that they can't really afford, but come on! What about personal responsibility? People CHOOSE to live in unsustainable ways. They CHOOSE to put themselves in situations that require they keep on earning the same income, if not more, to get by. I can't feel sorry for them. We can blame the media and the lenders, but when it comes down to it, everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves and their choices.

I was raised by people who made horrible financial decisions, and I made a vow to myself at age 18 to never end up like my parents. I was exposed to horrible spending habits, and the same media as everyone else growing up. I don't think I'm any wiser than your average American, yet I managed to avoid debt and carve a nice, small life out for myself without the aid of credit cards and car loans.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I think ANY debt is a risk. I feel the weight of my mortgage all the time. My husband and I have good jobs. Secure jobs. We have a healthy emergency fund. I lived on rice and beans to pay back my student loans. We don't take out loans for vehicles. We don't try to keep up with the Jones's. We do have a lot of equity in our home because we put down more than 20% and yet...I always feel that if we both lost our jobs and burned through our emergency fund, we could somehow lose our house. Or what if one of us got severely injured? I would feel about 1000% better if we could just pay off the darned house and eliminate the risk.

I'd never been faced with a huge "emergency" before this year, but it happened and freaked me out a little. We had an unexpected $40K expense, which we were thankful we could pay, but it was a big setback. Emergencies do happen and if we got hit with several at once, plus one of us lost our jobs, it would put us in a bad position because we DO have a mortgage.

I think that people have to realize that taking out a loan means you put your future at risk because absolutely nothing in life is guaranteed--not a job, not your health and certainly not some loan forgiveness program.

 

[fleur-de-lis]

PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

Yeah, we watched Winter's Bone! Was a great movie. I couldn't get past that they hung their laundry to dry OUTSIDE in the dead of winter! People obsess over their flat screen TVs when they should be glad if they have a decent washer and dryer and don't have to eat squirell for dinner.

I'm surprised and impressed that so many people in this thread have seen Winter's Bone! (Okay ladies, that scene with the arms? GAK!)

 

[ksinger]

All good points. And yet....there is that bifurcation in our national psyche. We do not really blink at corporate bankruptcies - and one cannot point to the ire over the recent bailouts as anything other than an aberration in a long history of nonchalance towards such things. There is no moral baggage attached to them. They are an accepted part of the corporate world, even though we all know that they happen due to the very bad habits and choices that apply at a personal level - overextension, over-use of credit, decorating the bosses bathroom with a gold-plated john, that sort of thing. AND, those mistakes are made by the very business people we hold up as the saviors of America. They are leaders. Wealthy. Better educated than the vast majority. Supposedly the smartest people in the room, and yet they make these horrid, short-sighted choices that affect many and no one blinks.

My question is this, when the PEOPLE at the top of our society are making such spectacularly bad - dare I say it, immoral, choices, why do we expect a different ethic at the lower levels? We are told to look to these people as examples of what you may become if you work hard - even though most of them come from long lines of inherited money rather than earning it all themselves - and yet WE can't act just like they do? THEY get away with slaps on the hands, why not the rest of us?

I'm merely pointing out the hypocrisy of it all. Seems the further up the chain you go, the less willing we are to apply mundane morals to behavior.

 

[Haven]

PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

Yeah, we watched Winter's Bone! Was a great movie. I couldn't get past that they hung their laundry to dry OUTSIDE in the dead of winter! People obsess over their flat screen TVs when they should be glad if they have a decent washer and dryer and don't have to eat squirell for dinner.

I'm surprised and impressed that so many people in this thread have seen Winter's Bone! (Okay ladies, that scene with the arms? GAK!)

We're reading the book for Book Club in March, so I don't want to see the movie until I've read it. No spoilers, please!

 

[fleur-de-lis]

Well said, Ksinger.

 

[Circe]

a lot of people don't want to pay back their debts...

they don't wanna pay their mortgage debt.
they don't wanna pay their CC debt.
they don't wanna pay their student loan debt.

DF, I agree generally with the moral turpitude issue you bring up, but I understand and can distinguish why people become *particularly* upset at Credit Card creditors. Resentment and anger after underhanded maltreatment causes normal people to act in abnormal ways sometimes. I think many people who could and would pay their credit card debt back at the terms under which they signed up for the debt, yet:
(1) CC companies have and exercise the one-sided power to change terms so drastically to priorly-executed deals (say, from 5% to 29.99%), thus knowingly and deliberately creating a default-prone scenario; AND
(2) unlike your other two examples (student loan and mortgage) that the max rate for CC's is far, FAR beyond the rate defined as usurious in most jurisdictions.

I've personally always paid off my CC bills, but am reminded of the saying "There but for the grace of God go I." And FWIW, I've heard of far, far more stories of families wanting pay off the debt they incurred and struggling under grossly unfair new terms for longer than they should. When the terms have shot up to 35%, it's the usurious compound interest they're paying, not the debt. I get why decent folks "don't want to pay" THAT. I have sympathy for them, as well as anger at both the creditors who do it and the lawmakers who allow it to continue.

As much as I believe in personal responsibility and paying off one's debts, I can't and won't shill for the major CC companies who get to change the rules in the middle of the game.

Fleur-de-Lis, I agree with you 100%. I have some older friends in this situation: they're in their 60s, and, yeah, they acquired CC debt along the way. Their payments have been jacked up to 30% interest for over two years now, and I am STRONGLY encouraging them to pursue bankruptcy - it's their sense of personal responsibility that's getting in the way. But at those rates, what exactly are the personally responsible for - an executive's vacation in the Caymans?

When big business doesn't have morals - on education, see the "Do You Have School Loans?" thread, on mortgages, see the many, many, many examples of corrupt banks providing home loans to individuals grotesquely unsuited for the degree of debt they were signing on for, and for CC, well, see F-d-L's points above - why on earth should individuals? The system used to work because the concept of "honor" was more than a hollow reed. Now, when all of our successful social models operate on the "Me First" ideology, are we really surprised when individuals follow suit?

 

[Circe]

All good points. And yet....there is that bifurcation in our national psyche. We do not really blink at corporate bankruptcies - and one cannot point to the ire over the recent bailouts as anything other than an aberration in a long history of nonchalance towards such things. There is no moral baggage attached to them. They are an accepted part of the corporate world, even though we all know that they happen due to the very bad habits and choices that apply at a personal level - overextension, over-use of credit, decorating the bosses bathroom with a gold-plated john, that sort of thing. AND, those mistakes are made by the very business people we hold up as the saviors of America. They are leaders. Wealthy. Better educated than the vast majority. Supposedly the smartest people in the room, and yet they make these horrid, short-sighted choices that affect many and no one blinks.

My question is this, when the PEOPLE at the top of our society are making such spectacularly bad - dare I say it, immoral, choices, why do we expect a different ethic at the lower levels? We are told to look to these people as examples of what you may become if you work hard - even though most of them come from long lines of inherited money rather than earning it all themselves - and yet WE can't act just like they do? THEY get away with slaps on the hands, why not the rest of us?

I'm merely pointing out the hypocrisy of it all. Seems the further up the chain you go, the less willing we are to apply mundane morals to behavior.

Ah, I should have just waited a minute before posting - then I could have just ditto'd you!

 

[fleur-de-lis]

PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

Yeah, we watched Winter's Bone! Was a great movie. I couldn't get past that they hung their laundry to dry OUTSIDE in the dead of winter! People obsess over their flat screen TVs when they should be glad if they have a decent washer and dryer and don't have to eat squirell for dinner.

I'm surprised and impressed that so many people in this thread have seen Winter's Bone! (Okay ladies, that scene with the arms? GAK!)

We're reading the book for Book Club in March, so I don't want to see the movie until I've read it. No spoilers, please!

LOL, don't worry, I didn't just talk about how the childhood sled was named Rosebud. It was more like how pretty Scarlett O'Hara was in green, an incidental.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

All good points. And yet....there is that bifurcation in our national psyche. We do not really blink at corporate bankruptcies - and one cannot point to the ire over the recent bailouts as anything other than an aberration in a long history of nonchalance towards such things. There is no moral baggage attached to them. They are an accepted part of the corporate world, even though we all know that they happen due to the very bad habits and choices that apply at a personal level - overextension, over-use of credit, decorating the bosses bathroom with a gold-plated john, that sort of thing. AND, those mistakes are made by the very business people we hold up as the saviors of America. They are leaders. Wealthy. Better educated than the vast majority. Supposedly the smartest people in the room, and yet they make these horrid, short-sighted choices that affect many and no one blinks.

My question is this, when the PEOPLE at the top of our society are making such spectacularly bad - dare I say it, immoral, choices, why do we expect a different ethic at the lower levels? We are told to look to these people as examples of what you may become if you work hard - even though most of them come from long lines of inherited money rather than earning it all themselves - and yet WE can't act just like they do? THEY get away with slaps on the hands, why not the rest of us?

I'm merely pointing out the hypocrisy of it all. Seems the further up the chain you go, the less willing we are to apply mundane morals to behavior.

I think many, many people were upset about the bailouts. Myself included. Or even something like the BP debacle--why they didn't go bankrupt cleaning up their mess instead of having our gov't literally clean up after them is a complete mystery to me. I'm not going to pretend to understand the pressure a c-level exective at a Fortune 100 would feel. To have thousands of families dependent on you. Nor do I understand the market conditions. For instance, if I were a private bank and had to compete against gov't-backed lenders who could afford to offer sub-prime loans since they really had nothing to lose, I don't know what I would do. The only thing I know, as a consumer, is the risks I WOULDN'T be willing to take when shopping for a mortgage. And that's why I think Haven's point about personal responsibility is a good one.

I also have nothing against the wealthy...those 20% are paying more than 80% of our taxes.

 

[Prana]

I agree with both Haven and NEL. Many people just don't want to take responsibility.

Responsibility for their spending, the loans they take out, the jobs they choose, ensuring their future etc.

 

[suchende]

Can I just say I don't think there's anything especially wrong with our society today? People want to own their own homes and take pride in them. People want to educate themselves and strive for a better job with more responsibility. Even outside traditional education, the Internet gives people greater access to information than ever, and people seem to be taking advantage of that. I think we have a stronger sense of business and professional as well as political ethics relative to previous generations. Charitable giving tends to track strongly with DOW and S&P -- people share what they have.

I don't think people seeking debt forgiveness indicates weakening character, but goes more to 1) corporations extending more debt than they had before to "back" financial products whose demand had grown and 2) the astronomical growth in the cost of education (possibly a bubble that will burst yet?) and housing (which has since deflated).

 

[Haven]

PS anyone see Winter's Bone? good movie.

Yeah, we watched Winter's Bone! Was a great movie. I couldn't get past that they hung their laundry to dry OUTSIDE in the dead of winter! People obsess over their flat screen TVs when they should be glad if they have a decent washer and dryer and don't have to eat squirell for dinner.

I'm surprised and impressed that so many people in this thread have seen Winter's Bone! (Okay ladies, that scene with the arms? GAK!)

We're reading the book for Book Club in March, so I don't want to see the movie until I've read it. No spoilers, please!

LOL, don't worry, I didn't just talk about how the childhood sled was named Rosebud. It was more like how pretty Scarlett O'Hara was in green, an incidental.

Oh, good. Thank you! I just wanted to make sure nobody else came in and said "I know! And how about the way x character says xyz and then y character blahblahblahs!"
I'm very much looking forward to reading the book.