Posted on 05/25/2011 11:46:22 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Nearly half of Americans say that they definitely or probably couldn’t come up with $2,000 in 30 days, according to new research, raising concerns about the financial fragility of many households.
In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Annamaria Lusardi of the George Washington School of Business, Daniel J. Schneider of Princeton University and Peter Tufano of Harvard Business School used data from the 2009 TNS Global Economic Crisis survey to document widespread financial weakness in the U.S. and other countries.
The survey asked a simple question, “If you were to face a $2,000 unexpected expense in the next month, how would you get the funds you need?” In the U.S., 24.9% of respondents reported being certainly able, 25.1% probably able, 22.2% probably unable and 27.9% certainly unable. The $2,000 figure “reflects the order of magnitude of the cost of an unanticipated major car repair, a large copayment on a medical expense, legal expenses, or a home repair,” the authors write. On a more concrete basis, the authors cite $2,000 as the cost of an auto transmission replacement and research that reported low-income families claim to need about $1500 in savings for emergencies.
Financial fragility isn’t limited to low-income groups. “Households with socioeconomic markers of vulnerability (income, wealth, wealth losses, education, women, families with children) are more likely to be financially fragile, and substantially more so,” the authors write. “The more surprising finding is that a material fraction of seemingly ‘middle class’ Americans also judge themselves to be financially fragile, reflecting either a substantially weaker financial position than one would expect, or a very high level of anxiety or pessimism. Both are important in terms of behavior and for public policy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Dave BUMP! :)
“it’s been danged hard keeping that attitude for over 3 years.”
Keep vigilant, it will be worth it.
“The reason you stirred up such controversy was your broadbrush stereotyping.”
Yes, I admittedly did make a very broadbrush statement and it was done in a hurry too. I am just getting really tired of all the whiners (FReepers excluded ;-)) who sit around and complain instead of getting up and doing something to improve their own lives. For example, I am sick of stopping at the gas station to hear someone complain about the price of gas while they drop a twenty on scratch off tickets and buying junk food with their EBT card.
Yep, it is stereotyping by me, but it is very prevelant in my area. Have you ever watched the show “Til Debt Do Us Part?” They are all overwhelmed by debt, but in almost every case they have the huge flat screen TV and in many of those cases they have a TV in every room and electronic “toys” of all stripes.
The 1/5th of the respondents in this survey may or may not fall into my stereotype, but it is the real situation of the “normal” American....The problem is that the whiners are actually simply justifying not taking the necessary steps to break the cycle.
“P.S. -— please add me to your ping list, I’m not on it.”
Welcome aboard FRiend and thanks for the chance to clarify my thoughts.
Not really but we do live within our means.We do not have a huge mortgage hanging over our heads do not drive cars with loans on them and I am a housewife.We are very frugal with our money and have always been.
You sound like us and the way we live.We own both this house and a piece of land we want to build on someday.Have a 3rd property that does have a mortgage on it but it is low enough that we still can sell amd make money if the market ever gets better.We save and if our plans work out the way we have planned one day in the next years we will be building the house we want on our land and not owe anyone a penny when it is finsihed. I kind of like being white trash...you don’t have to worry about people begging you for money all of the time. ;) I have the best job in the world,I’m a housewife.
No, I've never watched it, in fact I've never even heard of it. If it's not on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, or Fox (broadcast not FNC) I won't see it, as the cable/satellite TV service was the first thing we ditched, and have no intentions of getting it back anytime in the foreseeable future.
I understand where you are coming from about the abuses of the EBT system, and again I speak from experience. It was a very happy day to me when I told Social Services I no longer wanted/needed it. There was many a month when between us we barely made enough to cover the mortgage and the electric bill, let alone anything else. Our Church "family" has been wonderful, but there is only so much that even they could do. Heck, when our fridge croaked 2 years ago some members of the congregation got together and on my birthday showed up with one....it was used, but it works.
The problem is that the whiners are actually simply justifying not taking the necessary steps to break the cycle.
Which is why most folks have no clue about what my family has been through ---- I am not a whiner. Although just recently I was called a liberal troll and no conservative because of the fact that I had actually admitted to applying for and using Food Stamps.
That’s the plan.
I know you are no whiner and I wouldn’t even classify all food stamp recipients as whiners. What gets me is that in my example the whiner was complaining about gas prices while blowing $20 on scratch off lotto tickets. No one that is that wasteful should be complaining about the cost of any commodity. It was just evident of the “victim” mentality. I hate that mentality!
For anyone that is interested, check out Angel Food Ministries. They can be found at http://www.angelfoodministries.com/
I hope that this isn’t considered a solicitation by the mods, but I’ll give it a shot. I have never tried them, but am always tempted to give it a shot. Here is an example of one of their boxes of food for this month in my area, but it should give folks an idea of what they offer.
4.5 lb. (avg.) Perdue All Natural Whole Chicken
Great for Grilling, Baking or Frying
1.5 lb. IQF Unbreaded Whiting Fillets or
2 lb. Flounder Fillets
2 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
(Tray Pack)
1.5 lb. Boneless Center Cut Pork Chops (4 x 6 oz.)
1.5 lb. 100% Ground Turkey Burgers (6 x 4 oz.)
2 lb. ‘Heat n Serve’ New England Clam Chowder
2 lb. ‘Heat n Serve’ Sloppy Joe Mix
(Ground Beef with Sauce)
2 lb. Lasagna with Meat Sauce
1.5 lb. Smoked Sausage “Grillers”
1 lb. 80/20 Lean Ground Beef
1 lb. 100% Ground Chicken
1 lb. Sliced Carrots
1 lb. Green Beans
1 lb. Triple Veggie Blend
1 lb. Sugar Snap Peas
24 oz. Natural Cut Fries
28 oz. Baked Beans
1 lb. Long Grain White Rice
1 lb. Pasta
26.5 oz. Pasta Sauce with Mushrooms
8.5 oz. Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
5 ct. Instant Oatmeal
32 oz. 2% Shelf Stable Milk
1 Dozen Eggs
7.5 oz. Break-n-Bake Cookies
All this for $46.00
“How would you get the funds you need?”
A-certainly able.
B-probably able.
C-probably unable.
D-certainly unable.
Just a stupidly worded question for the choices for answers.
Same here, but we're just in a crashed state that we've got to persevere our way out of. Too long a story to tell here, but we're working at it, and I know we'll recover.
Yes we live in Ohio so it is much the same here.
“Government employees and career welfare dependents aren’t feeling the pain. “
...On May 16th, the Obama administration agreed to tap into federal retirement programs to help fund programs and agencies that would otherwise be funded through borrowing before the debt ceiling was reached....
Look, Zero’s agenda right now is to have his State Run Media spread the meme that all government employees are lazy no-goods who are living high on the hog while the private sector work force suffers. He is using pension envy to create disdain among the population, and while people are complaining that government workers are “feeling no pain”, he is sacking government worker’s retirement accounts. The population will say, “Good, they don’t deserve their pensions anyway.”
And then the government will come after the 401k’s of the private sector.
“But be honest - feds simply do not work that hard, and they are not that competent all in all.”
Really? Speak in stereotype much? Do you listen to what you write? Government workers are the new red-headed stepchild. It’s become the new meme to despise them... ever wonder where that came from? Is it possible that the zero administration has culled this disdain for the fed worker so that he could raid their retirement accounts without any backlash? It will be all fun and games until he comes after YOUR retirement funds.
Yep, but that doesn’t change the fact that there is too much government and too many government employees in the first place.
“Is it possible that the zero administration has culled this disdain for the fed worker so that he could raid their retirement accounts without any backlash?”
No. He knew the vast majority of fed employees are too lazy to do anything about it - what are they going to do? quit?....and then do what? Not one federal employee will quit over this nonsense. Why?
The folks who actually work for a living, earning money that actually belongs to them in an account they own are not likely to let anyone take what they need to provide for themselves. The Feds are afraid to take it - so they won’t - they might inflate it away, but they won’t take it.
That’s just one difference between a federal employee and someone who works to pay for themselves and all the federal employees too.
Why do you think federal employees are doing nothing about the Fed raiding the account that federal employees think is theirs?
“The vast majority of fed employees are too lazy to do anything about it.”
If you were a federal employee, what would you do about it?
Yes, way too much government AND government employees.
“If you were a federal employee, what would you do about it?”
I would get a real job if I were you. In fact, that was exactly what I did. The relatively few Feds with talent and skill will have no problem getting real jobs. The rest of you should hang on for dear life and squeeze every bit of milk out of the government teat, because when we send large numbers packing, you’ll never make that kind of money again.
You are a jerk. You go from thread to thread making snide, ridiculous comments. Go admire yourself in the mirror. No one else cares what you think or say.
Well, you gotta admit that you asked and I answered.
Keep on that teat, it may not last much longer
“Keep on that teat, it may not last much longer”
Hopefully your messages won’t last much longer. But I doubt we’ve heard the last from a person who uses a keyboard to bully other people anonymously.
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