Posted on 02/01/2024 7:07:02 PM PST by davikkm
A concerning trend emerges as 21% of Americans admit they would turn to credit cards to cover an emergency expense exceeding $1,000, planning to pay it off over time—an unsettling revelation from Bankrate. The resurgence of unpaid credit card balances surpassing 2019 levels paints a grim picture of financial strain, with 60% of Americans navigating the precarious terrain of living paycheck to paycheck.
The average credit card debt hovering around $6,000 underscores the mounting financial pressure on households, raising alarms about the sustainability of current economic conditions. Recent job cuts in prominent companies such as Wayfair, Hasbro, Spotify, and Twitch add fuel to the concerns, with significant percentages of their workforces affected.
(Excerpt) Read more at citizenwatchreport.com ...
Water heater springs a leak. Not many folks are going pry up the floor boards and take a sack of cash down to Home Depot. And most folks don't have a spare $2k in their checking accounts. Furnace fails; transmission craps out. Yep, folks with credit cards are going to pull out the plastic. Some folks can move money from their brokerage accounts; but some folks are going to be paying on those kinds of costs for a while.
Story strikes me as stupid.
Three highly related articles posted within minutes of each other:
1. Credit Card Crunch: 21% Rely on Plastic for Emergencies… As Unpaid Balances Soar, Economic Struggles Deepen Across America
2. Homelessness In The U.S. Is Up 48 Percent Since 2015, And Americans Are Being Laid Off In Droves…
3. Life-Threatening STIs Are Spiking Across the US, Per CDC Data: ‘Out of Control’
What should we make of all this taken together?
Homeless people with maxed-out credit cards are doing a lot of boinking?
If people want to pay these outrageous interest rates my high rate investment dividends love it.
Might be a conclusion an AI might jump to. :)
LOL...you saying I’m “thinking” like a bot?
:)
No, you really didn’t jump to that conclusion, I just thought I could see an AI (maybe not trained the best) to somehow link all that and come to that conclusion.
Yes, I saw what you were getting at and I was kidding you with my response.
I think you are right that AI could draw the incorrect conclusion from that pattern that I identified. Obviously, causation is missing in the pattern I saw. Would AI also see that lack of causation?
Not to worry, the Democrats will forgive the debt, just keep voting for them.
Yep. I see it as well. Everything is so freaking expensive. I am struggling just like so many others and have drastically adjusted our lifestyle to be able to afford daily stuff.
Stop going to five bucks er Starbucks that’s a start. Don’t spend 40,50 or more dollars on a cup.
That’ll start your savings.
That said, if an emergency occurred it would have to go on a credit card at this point. I dread seeing taxes this year.
Yep - I use my credit card for 95% of my purchases and have it set for automatic pay-off each month - and roll the “rebates” into my bill a couple times a year.
.
I always pay my credit card bill in full and on time each month. Not sure this is an economy problem so much as a personal responsibility problem.
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