Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
How does one access a persons ability to understand demographics, marketing, economics, human resources? Some people would say that not having to work today may be a good indicator of their successful understanding of the world of business. Living a satisfying life with friends and family and travel might be another. Most people here are not college educated but do not think that they are not intelligent and well read and very up on things and successful by most criteria..
The Villages is different than many other places in this world with similar demographics. It is a successful small city run as a successful private business. It is a triumph of capitalism by a family who is not at all attempting to look important or chic or powerful.
One of the very hallmarks of this place is it's lack of pretense by most people. Many, many people could live in much more expensive homes than they do. Most people do not care how much or how little their friends have. At the square a bus driver will spend the evening with the CEO of a large company and both may not notice the difference between them, but more than that each has a lovely time. Yes.
I say this. MOST people who live here in The Villages who are in their seventies came from not much money. Sometimes NO car in their youth. The majority of these seventy year olds who live here could not afford college or dance lessons or piano lessons when they were young. They still live carefully and do not come close to spending themselves out. Living off another or the charity of another is a terrible thought to them. They won't be doing go fund me's even if they are in dire need.
There are those who are exceptions, but I think that The Villages is a wonderful place because of it wealth of hard working people who come here to live like millionaires with quite a few who have become millionaires. But they aren't telling.
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So Gracie, tell us all in your infinite wisdom of someone who has lived in the Villages and grew up during a time when a top university cost around $15,000 per year including room and board, when gas was around $30 cents for the "hi-test" and the USO was jitterbugging their way through the war, when there was no minimum wage, but the average weekly paycheck for those men who DID work for a living (since most women did NOT work for a living), covered food, clothing, shelter...where men were the breadwinners and women kept the house clean and her womb full.
where will the resources come from to staff all the new businesses in the area, in 2019?
In a world where a woman who actually wants to stay home with the kids while dad brings home the bacon is a luxury that most families can't afford, where a year a a top university will cost around $80k or more, where gas continues battling $4/hour, and minimum wage might pay half the rent, and no utilities?