Posted on 04/20/2016 7:58:31 AM PDT by pabianice
Since 2013, the Federal Reserve Board has conducted a survey to “monitor the financial and economic status of American consumers.” Most of the data in the latest survey, frankly, are less than earth-shattering: 49 percent of part-time workers would prefer to work more hours at their current wage; 29 percent of Americans expect to earn a higher income in the coming year; 43 percent of homeowners who have owned their home for at least a year believe its value has increased. But the answer to one question was astonishing. The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all. Four hundred dollars! Who knew?
Well, I knew. I knew because I am in that 47 percent. True Money Stories Americans weigh in on financial shame Read more
I know what it is like to have to juggle creditors to make it through a week. I know what it is like to have to swallow my pride and constantly dun people to pay me so that I can pay others. I know what it is like to have liens slapped on me and to have my bank account levied by creditors. I know what it is like to be down to my last $5—literally—while I wait for a paycheck to arrive, and I know what it is like to subsist for days on a diet of eggs. I know what it is like to dread going to the mailbox, because there will always be new bills to pay but seldom a check with which to pay them...
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I don’t know how people function with absolutely no fallback, I’d be in a complete panic without some sort of cushion for emergencies.
One of the other posts said it was the Republicans who are responsible. Unity;just what we need.
Property taxes are low here but the sales tax is eight percent, income tax is seven percent so the state is skimming fifteen percent on every dollar you make and spend at retail yet they call SC a “low tax” state.
Property taxes are low here but the sales tax is eight percent, the income tax is seven percent so the state is skimming nearly fourteen and a half percent on every dollar you make and spend at retail yet they call SC a “low tax” state.
“Because he WILL be seen as a fool by most, imo.”
I see him as a fool by my own definition but I DON’T blame the damage he is doing on his being a fool. He is accomplishing exactly what he set out to do and for which he was installed in the office.
“A family in the middle quintile, with an average income of roughly $50,000, could continue its spending for … six days...
...the study by Lusardi, Tufano, and Schneider found that nearly one-quarter of households making $100,000 to $150,000 a year claim not to be able to raise $2,000 in a month...
...credit-card debt stood at about $5,700 per household in 2015. Of course, this figure factors in all the households with a balance of zero. About 38 percent of households carried some debt, according to the analysis, and among those, the average was more than $15,000.”
And I’m supposed to feel sorry for the stupid?
“Basically, a good many Americans are “financially illiterate,” and this illiteracy correlates highly with financial distress.”
I went to high school in the 70s. My chemistry teacher’s favorite saying was, “The ignorant always suffer!”
HE WAS RIGHT.
“I thought I’d done most of the right things. I went to college; got a graduate degree; taught for a while; got a book contract; moved to a small, inexpensive, rent-controlled apartment in Little Italy [NYC] to write; got married; and bumped along until I landed a job on television...Then my wife and I bought a small co-op apartment in Brooklyn, which we could afford, and had our two daughters. My wife continued to work, and we managed to scrape by, though child care and then private schools crimped our finances.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gasps for breath...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, when you watch for years and see no effective action from our government - and hardly a whimper of protest from our sell-out banana republicans - you turn to the panderers and traitors in our midst. External enemies we will always have.
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