People wonder why payday loan companies are becoming more popular. It might be kicking the can down the road, but when $400 is a killer then people will kick the can.
40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
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Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#92I find this truly hard to believe. Half of the country is on the verge of homelessness and poverty? Bullshit. Get out of your bubble and go see other parts of the country. See the rampant consumerism and tell me this isn't fake news.
> go see other parts of the country. See the rampant consumerism How does that dispute the article at all?
Then you should dutifully put the blame on the users, not the system.
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#93"More concerning are the 25% of Americans with no retirement savings whatsoever, according to the report." Is that true? What happens when those 25% retire or can no longer work? Ahh: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions... - not too bad - the US got a C, UK got a C+. Now back to the headline: $400 in available readies? You do have to start measuring somewhere when looking into poverty but it…
They live on Social Security. Sometimes I tell people this and they seem surprised. It’s not surprising to poor people. My grandparents never had more than Social Security in retirement. It’s all my mother has (or all she would have if not for me). My uncle just died a few months ago, but he had been living on Social Security, too.
Poor people don’t have retirement money. They live off their Social Security checks. It’s that simple.
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Government inflation numbers don't work like that at all. They are based on the Consumer Price Index, which uses a market basket of consumer goods and services. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/
"Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available." All of these are commodities. And every single product derived is based on commodity. Most commodities can be traded on commodity markets.
Yes, but all of them being commodities (what I said) is not the same as inflation only being accurate when someone purchases every commodity available in the marketplace (what you said).
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those aren't luxuries as the word is often used. > For its part, the Deutsche Bank report explicitly defined luxuries as goods or services consumed in greater proportions as a person’s income increases and necessities as those goods or services that make up a smaller proportion of spending as a person’s income increases. > It’s worth noting that by the specialized nomenclature of the dismal science, even eating at Mc…
It’s a better definition of luxuries. If someone is spending more on food, clothing, electronics as their income rise those things are clearly discretionary.
No it's not. Poor people live in food deserts and buy 5000 calorie dinners for $2 at Dollar General. It's hardly discretionary to try to feed yourself real food. Now let's tie in the cost of healthcare associated with eating cheap junk food and you've got a problem. This is like an argument with someone who denies global warming.
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#96I think we as a nation should consider this an issue of national security. This type of financial instability in such a large percentage of the population could lead to making short-sighted or bad decisions in tough times, increased violence, increased rates of incarceration (both of those increasing the cost of government for all), among many other things. The reasons for it are multi-faceted I'm sure. I hope voters…
We should but you know personal responsibility and all that jazz. The wealthy only care when the pitchforks come out. The biggest achievement of the wealthy has been to convince the middle class to eat itself.
The problem with personal responsibility, which I am very much in favour of and wish we promoted a bit more, is that the deck is so stacked against people who don't have assets that I'm not sure average person can keep up.
I keep saying it; the amount of money in the system has increased +50% since 2008 [1], and worker compensation has gone up +25% (the BLS publishes a lot of series, I use [2]; hope it is right). So someone is getting a lot of money and it isn't obvious to what end - it isn't helping the workers or the poor, and nobody can make up that sort of difference by working harder. Workers are reaping a smaller percentage of society's bounty.
[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2 [2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A033RC1A027NBEA
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spoken as someone well north of the poverty line. The reason for some people not having the money around is undoubtedly poor decision making, but for a great many others they simply have no gainful employment, no prospects of obtaining gainful employment and are often trapped in debt spirals due to past financial desperation. I'm real happy for you that you're so far removed from their situation that none of this occ…
Being trapped in a debt spiral due to past financial desperation is just a way of iterating forward in the loop of bad decision making. What I am saying is that to enter financial desperation in the United States is not actually possible if you utilize the available social safety net and make proper decisions.
The number of allowed bad decisions drops dramatically as you slide down the wealth scale. Saying you need to be correct 99.999% of the time is simply not a viable strategy. Especially when people are actively trying to get you to make bad decisions like enrolling in a for profit collage.
The vast US homeless population suggests we don't really have a safety net, so much as a safety rope you need to hold on tight and pray. Consider, if all the homeless people showed up in the same place that would instantly be in the top 10 US cities.
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spoken as someone well north of the poverty line. The reason for some people not having the money around is undoubtedly poor decision making, but for a great many others they simply have no gainful employment, no prospects of obtaining gainful employment and are often trapped in debt spirals due to past financial desperation. I'm real happy for you that you're so far removed from their situation that none of this occ…
Being trapped in a debt spiral due to past financial desperation is just a way of iterating forward in the loop of bad decision making. What I am saying is that to enter financial desperation in the United States is not actually possible if you utilize the available social safety net and make proper decisions.
If you have Netflix, watch the documentary "Dirty Money". Then come back and tell us you wouldn't have been in the same situation had some event in your past not gone your favor.
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available." All of these are commodities. And every single product derived is based on commodity. Most commodities can be traded on commodity markets.
Yes, but all of them being commodities (what I said) is not the same as inflation only being accurate when someone purchases every commodity available in the marketplace (what you said).
Thats exactly how asset managers construct a portfolio thats suppose to track inflation.
Re: 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Spoken as someone well north of the poverty line. The reason for some people not having the money around is undoubtedly poor decision making, but for a great many others they simply have no gainful employment, no prospects of obtaining gainful employment and are often trapped in debt spirals due to past financial desperation. I'm real happy for you that you're so far removed from their situation that none of this occ…
Being trapped in a debt spiral due to past financial desperation is just a way of iterating forward in the loop of bad decision making. What I am saying is that to enter financial desperation in the United States is not actually possible if you utilize the available social safety net and make proper decisions.
Untrue. Get majorly sick or in a major accident and lose your insurance because your job finds a reason to restructure your department. Trust me, you will enter financial desperation very quickly while you wait for the social safety net to catch up, and by that time you're thousands of dollars in debt, likely already out of your house, and totally screwed.