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Who doesn't have 400 dollars? That's pathetic. This isn't 1964.
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Originally Posted by evilnewbie
If the average person doesn't have $400... who do I blame? The person or the government enabling this behavior?
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Originally Posted by lilyflower3191981
I can believe it, I have a friend who is a disabled veteran, I know for a fact that he doesn't have $400 to fix his truck. He is a single dad.
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Originally Posted by lilyflower3191981
These Americans (consumers, students, and homeowners) are loaded with crushing debt, their real wages haven't risen since the 1970s.
While America may have had the most prosperous working class from World War II to 1980, it doesn’t anymore.
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Originally Posted by Felix C
I do not believe this for one second. Come on it is the "The Economic Collapse Blog" You expect unbiased information from that?
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Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake
And yet...they can spend hundreds a month for smart phone plans, internet, cable/sat TV and cars for every person in the family, all while living in a McMansion.
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Originally Posted by Linda_d
So, the "typical" family earned $50k but most workers make < $30K and you can't figure out how that works? It's called two or more workers in the family, dude!
My brother is a teacher and his wife was a hair stylist. When she got cancer and couldn't work they quickly got to a point where they didn't have $400. Even after she recovered from the cancer she had frequent hospital visits for another condition and their 20% copays ate them up. They were living very modestly but I often covered car payments and helped them pay for medications. I know my brother borrowed money from his teacher retirement fund to get by and I hope he's been able to pay it back.
If you think the only people who can't scrape together $400 are losers who can't get their act together, you are living in some kind of fantasy world. Hard working, middle-class people are hurting and can be devastated by a serious illness.
Sometimes people don't have the extra $400 in their bank account because they have seen their premiums double and are instead of being able to save, their "extra" money, it is now going to pay their health insurance premium. And then they still have to meet their $6,000 deductible before the insurance kicks in.
Sometimes people don't have the extra $400 in their bank account because they have seen their premiums double and are instead of being able to save, their "extra" money, it is now going to pay their health insurance premium. And then they still have to meet their $6,000 deductible before the insurance kicks in.
In case you didn't know, most Americans are broke. And the more wealthier they appear to be (cars, bikes, vacations, large homes, boats and other toys), the broker they usually are.
I agree with this.
FWIW, too many Americans just are not smart with money.
I have an HSA medical insurance plan and I put my whole deductible every year in the HSA. It is automatically deducted from my wages every pay period. So I always have enough to pay the ER if I need to go. Last year my son fell and my mom thought he broke his arm so took him to the emergency (I was POd BTW as she should have just taken him to an urgent care center, she is old school and thinks the ER is best).
The bill was $1800 for him to sit in the ER, repeat what happened 4 times to different doctors/residents and to get an x-ray. It would have been $500 at urgent care max. I put the $1800 on my HSA card. Our deductible is $2000 and that "accident" happened in June so we got no out of pocket expenses after that incident due to the high amount of the ER.
People who cannot pay $400 for a medical bill, I bet they pay $500 for a car note. They prioritize the car note and larger homes and electronics and so they just say they "can't afford" the $400 when they more than likely can afford it. I made $30k before for a family of 3 and we could have afforded a $400 hospital bill because we always own our cars outright (no car notes) and we always live in a cheap neighborhood (in a nice place). I value having good credit more than looking good to other people.
My brother is a teacher and his wife was a hair stylist. When she got cancer and couldn't work they quickly got to a point where they didn't have $400. Even after she recovered from the cancer she had frequent hospital visits for another condition and their 20% copays ate them up. They were living very modestly but I often covered car payments and helped them pay for medications. I know my brother borrowed money from his teacher retirement fund to get by and I hope he's been able to pay it back.
If you think the only people who can't scrape together $400 are losers who can't get their act together, you are living in some kind of fantasy world. Hard working, middle-class people are hurting and can be devastated by a serious illness.
On the bold, I totally agree.
However, I highly doubt that the large percentage of people who cannot afford the $400 have been devastated by serious medical conditions like cancer or certain disorders that require frequent hospital trips.
Many of those who cannot afford the $400 just make bad money choices IMO. I know plenty of people who are single who make $30K who tell me they cannot afford a car or to pay their cell phone bill. They have no illness. They just spend a lot of money on clothes and other gaming systems and expensive cars. All those things eat up their money and so they think they can't afford things.
IMO illness induced financial issues are totally different from those who just spend their money idiotically. There are more people in the idiotic category IMO.
Cable TV is NOT a neccessity. In fact, I just read an article about poor people habits and one if them was watching TV. Poor people watch much more TV on average than rich people. Getting ready of TV won't just lower your monthly bills, it can also make you more productive.
True that cable is not necessary but I can see why poor people tend to watch more. Cable is a relatively cheap form of entertainment and if a person does not go out to eat, does not go to the movies, go to a sports game, concerts or theater and instead stays home and watches TV, I can see how it could skew the numbers. Rich people also watch TV but they also have much more disposable income to utilize entertainment outside of the home which may be equally unproductive.
True that cable is not necessary but I can see why poor people tend to watch more. Cable is a relatively cheap form of entertainment and if a person does not go out to eat, does not go to the movies, go to a sports game, concerts or theater and instead stays home and watches TV, I can see how it could skew the numbers. Rich people also watch TV but they also have much more disposable income to utilize entertainment outside of the home which may be equally unproductive.
Cable is very expensive depending on which level you have. "Basic" cable in my area is over $50 a month.
I don't have cable and have never had cable. There is a such thing as over the air TV and depending on what area you live in, you can get quite a few channels.
I hardly watch TV but I do have a netflix subscription for my kids. You can also get showbox or similar apps where you can watch movies at home instead of going to the movies.
IMO Entertainment is not something that needs to be paid for. You can find something to do outside of sitting at home. Also there is still a such thing as books and they are great entertainment. A majority of our citizens do know how to read.
Thanks to liberal policy of open doors immigration , NAFTA, China trade policy, Pac Rim trade, and repeal of Glass-Steagle.
Not that the republicans have been stellar, but the dems have sold the nation out.
We need to ditch both parties and support nationalists like Trump.
Oh just stop with the partisan kook- aid.
None of these initiatives were possible without the approval by Congress.
Everyone of those initiatives were either initiated by Republicans or enjoyed bipartisan support.
The US resumed normalized trade with China in the 80's subject to periodic approval.
Illegal immigration became a tidal wave in the 80's. It has not mattered which party held the majority or who sat the oval, the illegal immigration can has been kicked.
NAFTA was a Bush 1 initiative. He did the ceremonious signing with Canada and Mexico, subject to the approval by Congress. At the time he fully expected to be reelected to a second term. Mexico has the most free trade agreements with the rest of the world which has long made it attractive for both European and US manufacturing/ assembly and associated parts.
Glass- Steagle was a Greenspan initiative and recieved bipartisan support. The US has had a long history of bailing out " too big to fail", long before GS.
PAC Rim passed a Republicam majority House and Senate.
Because a smartphone requires access to the internet aka a data-package, and such service costs you about $40 extra on top of the basic cell phone service. No one 'needs' access to the internet form a phone, and yet millions of people pay for such service. Also, the smartphones aren't cheap either. Many will add another $30 or more to your monthly bill.
My smartphone cost me 29$ at Walmart and I pay 40$ for unlimited messaging, data and talking. But no, it's not an Iphone6+ and no ATT/Verizon.
If the average person doesn't have $400... who do I blame? The person or the government enabling this behavior?
The US people have always been lousy savers, compared to the rest of the developed world. Consumer debt has increased each year since the late 50's with a very brief time out during the Great Recession.
About 10 million people bought homes they could not afford during the housing bubble.
People camp out in line waiting for the new I- phone.
Heck of a lot of people have no problem dropping $4 on a fancy coffee drink each day.
People don't seem to have a problem blowing $ hundreds- thousands on tats they later regret.
$ billions are spent on lottery tickets every year.
It's challenging to dine out during prime time without incurring a serious wait for a table.
The US people spend serious $ billions each year on alcohol and recreational drugs.
Nearly 2/3 of adults are overweight- obese and are substantially more vulnerable to otherwise preventable disease.
Yeah. Let's join hands and blame government instead of taking personal responsibility for ourselves.
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