40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense

Post by master-litty » Tue, May 22, 2018, 11:06 PM UTC

rndmize wrote: post #55

johnm1019 wrote: post #2

I 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…

Your post is optimistic to the point I choked on my coffee. Our economy is predicated on consumer spending; we have a whole set of industries built on the backs of poor financial decision making and being near-broke (payday loans, credit cards, overdraft charge reordering, debt collectors, etc.) all of which pull power away from desperate people and give it to others (now your landlord/phone company/ISP/etc have lega…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 22, 2018, 11:08 PM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #72

headmelted wrote: post #56

Earlier 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.

Post by StanislavPetrov » Tue, May 22, 2018, 11:09 PM UTC

aarongray wrote: post #80

onecooldev24 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Govt inflation numbers represent a portfolio consisting of all commodities in equal quantity. But if you hold a portfolio of iPhones, Toyotas, and etc (assuming they are non depreciating assets) that number would double very easily.

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/

Post by aarongray » Tue, May 22, 2018, 11:11 PM UTC

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #105

aarongray wrote: post #80

Earlier 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/

Which includes blackbox modifiers like "hedonic adjustments". So if it costs you $800 to get a cast for your broken leg today as opposed to $400 a few years ago, but they claim the quality of the cast is twice as good, then they say there was 0% inflation as you are getting the same "value" even though its costing you twice as much to fix the same problem. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/quality-adjustment/home.htm

Post by georgrwasington » Tue, May 22, 2018, 11:12 PM UTC

jvanderbot wrote: post #104

georgrwasington wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Musk comment was more about how much of NASA had turned into a jobs program than anything. Take a very simple example, the BMV. We've had good internet now for a couple decades and you still can't do basic transactions without going to the BMV in the middle of the day. Almost all other government agencies have been entirely immune to technological change as well. They are, jobs programs.

Can you explain why you feel NASA is a jobs program? There's certainly a much larger, constant-stream funding source going to national defense and national sciences. NASA is being paid to continue our usually unprofitable interests in space. Everything else falls under the non-compete restriction. Also, NASA employs some highly employable folks who would make much more in private industry.