“Paycheck-to-paycheck” is a phrase with highly inconsistent meanings across households and individuals.
All of which signal poor economic health.
The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances is a large probability sample conducted by academic economists and is widely cited in the economic literature. There aren’t cherry picked sources: there is simply good, actually quantifiable data on US households (the SCF), and inconsistent unquantifiable data on US households (“are you living paycheck to paycheck - where the vernacular meaning includes actual savings as an expense”). The point remains - American households are simply not living paycheck to paycheck; they simply cannot have no savings in any period and a median net worth of ~190K.
You say they're not living paycheck to paycheck; but they say they are and research says they are. You say it's not cherry-picked, but when I google "paycheck to paycheck" the first 10 articles that pop up all say that the majority of American are living that way and are struggling.
It doesn't matter what the median net worth is; it's whether they are financially frail (paycheck to paycheck) and if they are struggling, which, as we're about to see, a whopping half of Americans are.
Most Americans do not struggle.
- (note that even with “record high” poor life ratings, the self-reported thriving % is >50%)
Are you... really wanting to quote this? This says everything bad for the US.
"The percentage of Americans who evaluate their lives poorly enough to be considered "suffering" on Gallup's Life Evaluation Index was 5.6% in July, the highest since the index's inception in 2008. This exceeds the previous high of 4.8% measured in April and is statistically higher than all prior estimates in the COVID-19 era. Across extensive measurement since January 2008, the suffering percentage has reached 4.5% or higher on a handful of occasions."
"The percentage of U.S. adults estimated to be thriving has steadily declined since it reached a record high of 59.2% in June 2021. The latest estimate of 51.2% is an 18-month low. "
You think it's ok to have just half the people in your society to not struggle?? That's pathetic.
While there is no data directly on point with this - accounts receivables at nearly every listed U.S. utility do not change much from quarter to quarter. If households couldn’t pay their bills; U.S. utilities would have much more irregular cash flow and substantial variance in their accounts reicievables.
Stopped reading when you said there's no data on point with it. Means you pulled it out of your ass.
They save - it’s just mostly illiquid.
hat's not what it says. Firstly, why are nonprofit organizations included? These are nothing but government investments. Secondly, it says that the household net worth has increased, which is expected to happen with inflation.
o - you still can't read charts. See that spike comming up right after the end of 2021? Goddamn you are bad at this. How to you keep coming back for more??
Ahh - so household spending and addiction are indeed, 2 different analytical frames. Who knew?
To some people but not to Americans, which are addicted to unhealthy spending just like Fentanyl addicts.
Yes. It is. The result is pathetic people struggling to buy things they don't need with money they don't have creating more and more debt.
It’s what happens when they live in the country with the longest unbroken stretch of peaceful economic development anywhere in the world and have been at the economic productivity frontier since 1860.
LOLOL You are so poor at history. America's entire history wouldn't qualify it anywhere near mention in world history for an unbroken stretch of peaceful economic develpment. Dynasties and empires enjoy periods of prosperity that are several centuries in length.
Memories of bad times and highly unfavorable economic situations simply fade out into irrelevance.
American power will fade out into irrelevance.
Savings as a cultural habit is more prevalent in Asia and Europe (
) since WWII ended less than a lifetime ago, and in China, the GLF and Cultural Revolution made everyone more risk averse.
Chinese people centuries ago in dynasties with far longer periods of prosperity than the total US existance knew the importance of saving. Storehouses of gold and silver were considered signs of wealth and good times, not being broke and saying that it actually makes you prosperous because you spent everything LOL. Your rant is hobo humor to the Chinese How ignorant you are of history and others.
There is nothing remotely similar in true living memory for US families. Any consumption/savings decision is inherently a tradeoff - you get guaranteed utility today in exchange for being potentially undercapitalized for contingencies in an uncertain future - but if households simply evaluate the probability of contingencies in the future to be low (and/or their magnitude to be small), they will simply not save as much. Since there has been absolutely nothing in the prior 170 years in the U.S. that remotely put the U.S.’ future in substantial doubt - those risk-averse tendencies have faded by the way-side long long ago.
This is absolutely stupid. People build up wealth to put themselves on better footing tomorrow, because these people are actually intelligent enough to plan for tomorrow. This is regardless of what you have today. Contingencies are only a small consideration for the rich who continue to save and amass wealth. They do not factor in to my decision to save rather than spend. I save instead of spend because if I have $X mount saved, I can pay for a year of college for my kid. If I have 4 times that saved, I can buy 4 years. If I have 8 times that saved, I can put 2 kids through college, debt free. If I have 16X saved, I can buy a great debt free educational start for 4 kids. Then I need to buy houses for them to set them up for a great start when they are married. If I have Y saved, I can buy a house for 1 kid. If I have 4Y saved, I can buy a house like that for 4 kids. If I have 4Y plus extra saved, I can buy them bigger better houses! If their houses are already ridiculously nice and big, with more saved, I can start savings accounts for them so they they can start saving for my grandkids early! There is no contingency planning; it's the more the better! Wow wow wow, the more I think about this, the more I want to save! My kids will enter the professional world debt free graduates owning fully paid off nice houses and nice cars with fat savings accounts while others can be mired in debt for 2 decades struggling to pay the mortage or rent! That's setting my biological line up to beat the competition! This is the culture of the forward planning.
See? This is why Asians save. You immediately thought of contingencies because that's what America's economic sitution is made out of: more or less contingencies. If you're not worried about contingencies, then you don't have to worry about tomorrow and you can spend everything today! On the other hand, China's economic situation and culture is made out of more and more oppertunities for those who are well-prepared to get ahead.
