Joseph, OR, where the guy with the "Hobbit House" lives is a really unique place. There are a lot of people who live on very little there - many are artists, so

Joseph, OR, where the guy with the "Hobbit House" lives is a really unique place. There are a lot of people who live on very little there - many are artists, some are hermits, most are just plain poor as it is a difficult place to make a living. My family ranched there for several generations and we still spend vacation time in the area. The people that live there - and really, you could extrapolate this to much of middle america - are living for a lifestyle, not in pursuit of the almighty dollar. It's pretty typical in Joseph to see a $50K pickup and $30K snowmobiles in front of a 40 year old single-wide trailer - whatever money they have goes into their "toys." Is this existence better or worse than the urban "keeping up with the Jones?" Depends on what you want in life. But make no mistake about it, even someone who chooses to downgrade their wants and needs doesn't automatically have life easy. There is already snow on the ground around Joseph and it won't warm up again until about June. I've been snowed on there on the 4th of July. You could spend thousands just keeping yourself from freezing to death. The Oregon department of fish and wildlife has to deal with a lot of poachers - some because they feel entitled to a "lifestyle" but others, it's probably pure survival. I see articles like this as mostly propaganda, trying to position the reality in which most americans live as a positive choice rather than the consequences of stagnate incomes, et al. We have shanty towns, hunger, malnutrition, unclean water - all the problems of the developing world - but they are perhaps less visible and/or effect a smaller number of the overall population in a visible way.