72% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck

[desflood]

if anything, the masses would spend more time killing one another.

Good riddance.

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't live in a fortified mansion with a personal army. If the hits the fan and who do you think is more at danger: Bill gates or you and me?

Buy a gun or two, learn how to shoot 'em, stock up on ammo and you'll be fine.

[LnGrrrR]

Of course the military wants another leash on it's soldiers. However, if you really needed it, they would issue you one.

You know the old saying, in they wanted you to have a wife, they would issue you one.

I'm surprised there isn't already a Basic Rate for Cell Phones.

But nowadays (at least in my career), if you don't have your own cell phone and you're on call (which happens about a week a month) they give you a "shop pager"... which is probably from the 90's, and ensures you pretty much can't go more than 25 miles away from base. Plus, commanders go bat nowadays if they initiate a phone recall and you don't answer in the required 10 to 15 mins window.

The military may be more "high-speed" than when you were in WC.

[LnGrrrR]

I get that; a phone for the bread winner who needs it makes complete sense; however, when each of his/her children ALSO has a phone, and there is a $220 bill? Too much for a "poor" family, IMO.

Eh, fair enough. I think phones for children who are of age to go out with friends by themselves (14 and up or so) should have at least pay phones for emergency, but I agree with your overall point.

[Winehole23]

England, but something similar holds here, the rudiments of prosperity are out of reach for the many:

Markets are not making things better.
Austerity did not work.
People are worse off.
Real inequality is growing.
People are suffering.
And this in the supposed sixth richest nation on earth.

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2...g-as-a-result/

[dbestpro]

..........but at least now they have a paycheck verses a few short years ago,

[Winehole23]

Minuscule recovery for the bottom 90% in the last ten years. Almost all went to the top.

Not sure what you're talking about.

Trend since the early 1970s is down for wage earners factoring in inflation.

The rising tide did not float all boats.

[Winehole23]

That it didn't is part of the angry DJT base.

Guess what?

He ain't fixing it.

[Winehole23]

Quite the reverse in fact.

Check the tax cut.

$1.5 trillion, how much did you get?

[boutons_deux]

VRWC aka oligarchy is now PROVEN

McC screws Obama out of SCOTUS seat, then put in an VRWC extremist

VRWC/oligarchy pays itself with the oligarchy tax cut

VRWC/oligarchy gonna install another rightwing extremist to SCOTUS to kill Obergfell, Roe, and why no minimum wage and Dept of Labor?

Oligarchy killing EPA, financial regs, CFPB, raping the entire Exec branch with Repug kakistocrats, etc, etc.

the oligarchy owns and operates the country, while the lower 80% stagnate.

one of these years, you assholes will catch up to The Great Boutons.

[Chucho]

Quite the reverse in fact.

Check the tax cut.

$1.5 trillion, how much did you get?

How much were you getting before the cut?

[Chucho]

VRWC aka oligarchy is now PROVEN

McC screws Obama out of SCOTUS seat, then put in an VRWC extremist

VRWC/oligarchy pays itself with the oligarchy tax cut

VRWC/oligarchy gonna install another rightwing extremist to SCOTUS to kill Obergfell, Roe, and why no minimum wage and Dept of Labor?

Oligarchy killing EPA, financial regs, CFPB, raping the entire Exec branch with Repug kakistocrats, etc, etc.

the oligarchy owns and operates the country, while the lower 80% stagnate.

one of these years, you assholes will catch up to The Great Boutons.

[Xevious]

The majority of people are going to live paycheck to paycheck regardless of how much money they make or what is going on in the economy, etc. Because people are stupid and spend every last dollar they make. There's a reason why debt is the most heavily marketed product on the planet. People keep buying it.

One thing that's troublesome now though is the crazy housing market. That bubble will burst eventually though. There's no way wages could ever keep up.

[Chucho]

The majority of people are going to live paycheck to paycheck regardless of how much money they make or what is going on in the economy, etc. Because people are stupid and spend every last dollar they make. There's a reason why debt is the most heavily marketed product on the planet. People keep buying it.

One thing that's troublesome now though is the crazy housing market. That bubble will burst eventually though. There's no way wages could ever keep up.

That is the whole of it, the simple truth. Luxury spending is at all time highs. Starbucks, Nike and Apple are the retail kings and even the poorest of people in American "poverty" have these luxuries.

It's a societal issue, one we refuse to address and be honest about just like so many other issues in this country. We are a blame culture, a victim culture and with the insane popularity of social media, a competing culture, a culture that worships celebrities and athletes.

I think it was Bill Murray that recently said something to the tune of "social media is having the opposite effect of what it was intended to have. Instead of sharing our lives, everyone uses it to compete against everyone else". Everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses, just way more than they can really afford.

[boutons_deux]

Because people are stupid and spend every last dollar they make.

10Ms of Americans are "rent burdened" spending 50% or more of their take home pay on rent, then add in utilities, gas, insurance, food, etc.

Average US Rent Cost Rises 3% to All-Time High of $1,405


Half of the 10 U.S. cities where average rent was highest in June are located in or near the Silicon Valley of northern California. Here’s the list:

1. Manhattan, New York: $4,116
2. San Francisco, California: $3,561
3. Boston, Massachusetts: $3,374
4. San Mateo, California: $3,269
5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: $3,111
6. Sunnyvale, California: $2,945
7. Santa Clara, California: $2,902
8. Jersey City, New Jersey: $2,880
9. Brooklyn, New York: $2,801
10. San Jose, California: $2,744

Half of the cities where rent was lowest in June are located in Texas and Oklahoma. Here’s the list:

1. Wichita, Kansas: $639
2. Brownsville, Texas: $675
3. Tulsa, Oklahoma: $676
4. Killeen, Texas: $699
5. Toledo, Ohio: $703
6. Amarillo, Texas: $730
7. Independence, Missouri: $733
8. Dayton, Ohio: $737
9. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: $741
10. Fort Wayne, Indiana: $750

https://247wallst.com/housing/2018/07/06/average-us-rent-cost-rises-3-to-all-time-high-of-1405/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaig n=Feed%3A+typepad%2FRyNm+%2824%2F7+Wall+St.%29

==================

The rent is too damn high, according to a new Pew report

In 2015, 38 percent of renter households spent more than 30 percent of their gross income on housing,

according to a new report released today by Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Pew report said high rates of families living in such a precarious financial state threatens the long-term economic mobility of American families, and has implications for the economy as a whole.

"If you're spending 30, 40, or 50 percent of your income just on shelter, you are absolutely not going to be in a position to consume and contribute to the economy in other ways,"



https://www.marketplace.org/2018/04/...-rent-burdened

Naturally, rightwingnutjobs "blame the victims" of the economy for getting screwed.

[Xevious]

Boots, I mentioned the crazy housing market... I'm not dismissing the fact that it plays a part in people's financial woes. Some are genuinely struggling and don't have the means to fight their way out - for any number of reasons.

But when you say 72% of Americans (I realize this is an old thread, but I bet the number is still around 3/4) live paycheck to paycheck. That indicates a different problem. The average American household income is enough to pay for a place to live, food and clothing for your children, reliable transportation, and still have enough left over to save/invest. If it isn't in your area (NYC, California, Miami, etc.) You have the freedom to move to a place where your dollar lasts longer.

The problem is, as Chucho and myself were saying earlier, people were sold that the American dream is two brand new cars, a 300 grand home, 10 grand vacations every year, starbucks every day, new smart phones every year, eating out twice a day, etc. And fact is most people can't afford any of that . They keep buying it though, because they deserve it. Not everybody gets all the toys. That's just life. We live in a "I want it now" culture. If somebody offers to let you sign a piece of paper to take something you can't afford home, most people will do it.

[ducks]

Boots, I mentioned the crazy housing market... I'm not dismissing the fact that it plays a part in people's financial woes. Some are genuinely struggling and don't have the means to fight their way out - for any number of reasons.

But when you say 72% of Americans (I realize this is an old thread, but I bet the number is still around 3/4) live paycheck to paycheck. That indicates a different problem. The average American household income is enough to pay for a place to live, food and clothing for your children, reliable transportation, and still have enough left over to save/invest. If it isn't in your area (NYC, California, Miami, etc.) You have the freedom to move to a place where your dollar lasts longer.

The problem is, as Chucho and myself were saying earlier, people were sold that the American dream is two brand new cars, a 300 grand home, 10 grand vacations every year, starbucks every day, new smart phones every year, eating out twice a day, etc. And fact is most people can't afford any of that . They keep buying it though, because they deserve it. Not everybody gets all the toys. That's just life. We live in a "I want it now" culture. If somebody offers to let you sign a piece of paper to take something you can't afford home, most people will do it.

[Winehole23]

How much were you getting before the cut?

ha, you first

[Xevious]

I obviously was incorrect about chuko, but the Stuart varney bull talking point is for re s like ducks to be thought for

the level of insincerity it requires to run this out, while pretending that it’s some sort of salient point is disingenuous at best, and pathetically sheeplike at worst.

I understand the little box makes you feel safe, but it doesn’t ever resemble honesty.

Okay. Feel free to refute.

[florige]

The majority of people are going to live paycheck to paycheck regardless of how much money they make or what is going on in the economy, etc. Because people are stupid and spend every last dollar they make. There's a reason why debt is the most heavily marketed product on the planet. People keep buying it.

One thing that's troublesome now though is the crazy housing market. That bubble will burst eventually though. There's no way wages could ever keep up.

Saving money is a thing of the past nowadays for most people. People take a only live once at ude and usually go broke buying things they really can't afford. I personally know three people who have lost their homes to foreclosure when they bought these houses in the 2000's when they were approving people who worked at McDonald's for 250K house loans.

[boutons_deux]

Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.?

Not compared with the rest of the developed world.

So why does a large subset of workers continue to feel left behind?

In particular, the report shows the United States’s

unemployed and at-risk workers are getting very little support from the government, and

their employed peers are set back by a particularly weak collective-bargaining system.

Those factors have contributed to the

United States having a higher level of income inequality and a larger share of low-income residents than almost any other advanced nation.

Only Spain and Greece, AmeriKKK beats Spain and Greece!

whose economies have been ravaged by the euro-zone crisis, have more households earning less than half the nation’s median income — an indicator that unusually large numbers of people either are poor or close to being poor.




it’s also strikingly easy to lose a job here.

An average of 1 in 5 employees lose or leave their jobs each year, and 23.3 percent of workers ages 15 to 64 had been in their job for a year or less in 2016 — higher than all but a handful of countries in the study.

an unusually large amount of job turnover in the United States is due to firing and layoffs,

and Labor Department figures show the rate of layoffs and firings hasn’t changed significantly since the research was conducted.

The United States and Mexico are the only countries in the entire study that don't require any advance notice for individual firings.

The U.S. ranks at the bottom for employee protection even when mass layoffs are taken into consideration as well,

When you lose your job in the United States, it’s harder to find another.

Fewer than half of displaced workers find a job within a year, the researchers found. That puts the United States near the bottom of the five countries for which the researchers provided recent data.

Even when Americans do find another job, their earnings don’t recover.

After four years, displaced workers are still about 6 percent behind their peers in terms of annual earnings.

These gaps at the lower end of the labor market can be traced back to

weak government programs and

hamstrung union bargaining,

the report says. The United States spends less of its economic wealth on active efforts to help people who either don’t have a job or who are at risk of becoming unemployed than almost any other country in the study.

The unemployed, in particular, receive relatively little assistance.

U.S. unemployment benefits provide less support in the first year of unemployment than those in any other country in the study, and

the maximum length of benefits in a typical U.S. state, 26 weeks, is shorter than in all but a handful of countries. In some states, the maximum benefit length is less than half of that.






Workers’ share of national income dropped about eight percentage points between 1995 and 2013,

faster than anywhere but Poland and South Korea over that time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/07/04/is-it-great-to-be-a-worker-in-the-u-s-not-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-developed-world/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.252bb03fd003

The above is not "natural", but a decades long strategy and policies by the oligarchy / Capital to screw Labor

But Labor's main problem, according to you rightwingnugjob / oligarchy-fellators, is workers don't save!

[Xevious]

You make blanket proclamations using anecdotes. Re ed as that worthless **** re mt.

People live paycheck to paycheck because the costs of things increase with wages not keeping up with cost of living.

Understanding my audience, I’ll keep it simple. How much did a ing Big Mac cost in 2000? How much does it cost today? What was the minimum wage in 2000? How does the increase to today’s level compare with the cost of a ty burger?

reality is, the people you are trying to castigate aren’t the main offenders of your prejudice and unwarranted arrogance.

2017 every new dollar generated in this economy saw 83 cents of it go to the top one percent. Wages are continuing to not meet colas and the gap is growing.

The people that keep all the money and are trying to get what’s leftover count on frightened s like you and the rest of the envy the rich brigade to further their message. Congrats you’re on the wrong side. You could win a billion dollar powerball, and they still wouldn’t let you in.

Who's frightened? You and boutons are the ones fear mongering about the big bad oligarchy and how they are keeping the little man down.

I acknowledge that there are individuals who don't have the means to better their situation, that need help. And I'm well aware that inflation is a thing. Minimum wage is not a livable wage. But the average household income is somewhere around 55k. That's still enough to feed your two kids and not blow your wad every two weeks. Now when you say three out of every four households are broke... those numbers don't match up. We aren't just talking about the folks that I mentioned above that are struggling to eat on minimum wage, that can't find affordable child care, might have had illness/injury/death ravage their family, etc. You are also talking about people in affluent areas that have over extended themselves (and there are a lot out there). Those people have no one to blame but themselves.

[Chucho]

Average US Rent Cost Rises 3% to All-Time High of $1,405


Half of the 10 U.S. cities where average rent was highest in June are located in or near the Silicon Valley of northern California. Here’s the list:

1. Manhattan, New York: $4,116
2. San Francisco, California: $3,561
3. Boston, Massachusetts: $3,374
4. San Mateo, California: $3,269
5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: $3,111
6. Sunnyvale, California: $2,945
7. Santa Clara, California: $2,902
8. Jersey City, New Jersey: $2,880
9. Brooklyn, New York: $2,801
10. San Jose, California: $2,744

Half of the cities where rent was lowest in June are located in Texas and Oklahoma. Here’s the list:

1. Wichita, Kansas: $639
2. Brownsville, Texas: $675
3. Tulsa, Oklahoma: $676
4. Killeen, Texas: $699
5. Toledo, Ohio: $703
6. Amarillo, Texas: $730
7. Independence, Missouri: $733
8. Dayton, Ohio: $737
9. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: $741
10. Fort Wayne, Indiana: $750

Everything I said about California...that is going to be 1 ing nasty bubble when it bursts here in the coming years. We were looking for homes in areas here in Modesto/surrounding areas in 2010. A whole lot of subdivisions of track houses had been built from the late 90s and all the way through the first half of the first decade of this century when even penniless bags were getting loans and of course these were the first schmucks to lose their when it crashed here and it crashed ing hard.

Having just moved from a growing metropolis in San Antonio to this place and seeing these subdivisions look like ghost towns was eerie. We're talking foreclosed homes, no older than 10 years old in most cases, 3-5 bathroom, 2 bedroom, 1.5k-2k homes you could have paid $100k for and be moved in at the end of the week and the only thing you'd really have to restore was the lawn. Less than 8 years later, a lot of these homes are now $300k+ homes. Tripled value in the Central Valley?

This place is headed for a major crash. Hate to sound ugly, but it's as addressed in an exchange I had with RG...the politicians don't care. Every day more jobs leave here because the state is killing SMBs with taxes and making the companies that are good employers and trying to make it work here pick up their tab to the Feds. More and more homeless. More and more crime in the Bay. Frisco is not that far off from being renamed Oakland East but the Brown Cartel can't ever stop and gloat about det surplus and det balanced budget and all their fans just eat that up. No one cares here. They say they do, but the actions just don't show that whatsoever. Thanks, Dems. You're ing ruining this state.

[DMX7]

Who was it that said the American dream is dead???

[sickdsm]

Everyone talking about price of rent yet avoiding health Care. I could rent 2-3 houses in the country for what it costs for health insurance.

[Chucho]

Who was it that said the American dream is dead???

It's not dead, it just depends where you live and it shouldn't be that way.