RE: REPORT: Nearly half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck

Exactly what I was going to type.

Smart phones cost $99 now, so the problem isn't that. It's the dearth of decent employment opportunities and high cost of living for basic necessities. Inflation doesn't grow the economy, it just enables government deficit spending at the expense of high prices for the rest of us.

Same as it was 10 years ago...

Obama Sucks! wrote:

Smart phones cost $99 now, so the problem isn't that. It's the dearth of decent employment opportunities and high cost of living for basic necessities. Inflation doesn't grow the economy, it just enables government deficit spending at the expense of high prices for the rest of us.

If you think smart phones cost $99 now... that's part of the problem. The upfront cost of a phone is a small percentage of the ownership cost. It easily costs $99 A MONTH to own a smart phone, with data plans, call plans, text plans, etc.

vmhgj wrote:

Obama Sucks! wrote:

Smart phones cost $99 now, so the problem isn't that. It's the dearth of decent employment opportunities and high cost of living for basic necessities. Inflation doesn't grow the economy, it just enables government deficit spending at the expense of high prices for the rest of us.

If you think smart phones cost $99 now... that's part of the problem. The upfront cost of a phone is a small percentage of the ownership cost. It easily costs $99 A MONTH to own a smart phone, with data plans, call plans, text plans, etc.

QED

I normally don't call 44% nearly half.

It's closer to a half than a third, but it's not nearly a half.

But I am surprised that it isn't more than half.

My household basically lives paycheck to paycheck.

And our income is pretty good, over $150K.

I have emergency levers to pull to get through if needed but not cash on hand.

Obama Sucks! wrote:

Smart phones cost $99 now, so the problem isn't that. It's the dearth of decent employment opportunities and high cost of living for basic necessities. Inflation doesn't grow the economy, it just enables government deficit spending at the expense of high prices for the rest of us.

The REASON these problems keep happening is instead of sitting down and brainstorming SOLUTIONS (and there are solutions) people just bring up the same economic theories that DON'T WORK! Get rid of those dumb theories and progress can be made.

Actually, the economy would be worse if people weren't spending that much.

The main problem with the economy is the lack of spending by individuals and companies that easily can spend more.

A large part of the problem is middle- and lower-class people who are addicted to living an upper-class lifestyle. I see it every time I go on Facebook. Friends who don't make more than $20/hr are buying Super Bowl tickets, going on cruises, shopping at Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods), etc. To be fair, I, too, have a problem with overspending, but at least I realize it's a problem and I've been improving on it. How myself and my friends my age turned out like this is that we were the generation that had our college room and board paid-for by the government or our parents, so we spent 4 years with a slew of disposable income from our part-time college jobs. I remember blowing over $500 on a weekend trip to Vancouver, B.C., $200 on a weekend trip to Ocean Shores, $80 in a night of bar hopping near campus, etc.

here wrote:

Actually, the economy would be worse if people weren't spending that much.

The economy would need to restructure itself, but it wouldn't become "worse" in any reasonable sense of the word.

Sure the economy would be worse.

Less spending means less income.

Lower income is worse.

here wrote:

Sure the economy would be worse.

Less spending means less income.

So that's why countries like Zimbabwe are so poor! Their citizens don't spend enough. Maybe they could print money and go into debt so that their citizens would have more to spend. Oh, wait ....

I'm an American. I damn well DESERVE a second home, a speedboat and 4 cars, godammit!

this tells more about how badly americans plan for the future than the economic health of the country.

I read somewhere that a third of the nation spends more on tech and entertainment than food. in other words, they make massive amounts of optional purchases.

If they would cut the cable or the smart phone they would have some money to save.

But...one ofhte strenghts of the economy is that we spend so much. It helps regulate things.

So if people saved money like they do in asia...maybe the US economy would not grow so well and be so resilient.

I dunno.

This is spot on. Just about every material purchase these days turns into some kind of status symbol. You have people that can't live without the best phone, 50k dollar cars, etc.

Zimbabwe is poor because they do not produce and consume enough.

That and they are a landlocked country with people speaking 16 different languages and have an authoritarian and oppressive government.

And individuals cannot capitalize on their precious minerals.

Or do you think they are poor because the individuals don't save enough money?

Too many cell phones and laptops and tablets keeping them down.

rib nerd wrote:

This is spot on. Just about every material purchase these days turns into some kind of status symbol. You have people that can't live without the best phone, 50k dollar cars, etc.

People in every nation flaunt their wealth. Go to China and see the kind of swag the business owners have in their suits and Mercedes. Or Dubai, for Pete's sake.

The thing about America is that people flaunt wealth that they don't even have. That's what we get for easy credit and not being taught financial discipline from our parents.

here wrote:

Zimbabwe is poor because they do not produce and consume enough.

You can only consume enough if you produce enough. Production doesn't necessarily have to be material, though. An Android engineer working remotely from India is producing something.

vmhgj wrote:

If you think smart phones cost $99 now... that's part of the problem. The upfront cost of a phone is a small percentage of the ownership cost. It easily costs $99 A MONTH to own a smart phone, with data plans, call plans, text plans, etc.

Are you high? $99 per month??? It costs $50 per month with unlimited talk, text and 500mb. Unlimited data is $70.