39% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency expense

[Shadowferal]

Hmm...



Now...it's not exactly the same thing as Howard Schultz said; that 40 percent of Americans don't have $400 in the bank, which is rated "Mostly True."
Or what Hunter Schwarz said; 47% say they lack ready cash to pay a surprise $400 bill which was rated "True."

[jeezusisacasual]

The biggest problem is the way wages have not kept up with the most important purchases ( Education / Healthcare, i would say housing prices but it varies wildly from place to place were as those 2 are rising fast regardless of where you are). The 400$ amount is to point out how close many Americans are from losing everything and telling them to just move is also kind of stupid when it takes far more then 400$ to move out of state or even in state due to gas / rent / food. This is why i a financial analyst who supports indexing min. wage to inflationary measures to atleast put a floor on the furthest you can go down.

The problem then comes up with well what if the poor person gets a larger raise then i did when my job is harder? The difference is that you need to negotiate a better raise for yourself or income for yourself since you are apparently such a skilled employee you can demand as such right? If not then perhaps you are not as skilled as you thought you are / were. We need a floor that is considered decent enough to get by to avoid the very problems we are dealing with currently, radical shifts in political ideologies that will continue to happen ( Trumps election is a populist movement and the left is seeing its own variant coming down the road ).

I do understand the idea that some people will have to leave where they were born and move outward to a better part of the nation or state for their skillset to actually gain a foothold but that again is life but just saying it and actually doing it are vastly different things because of the cost and fear tied to that prospect. Walk a mile in someones shoes and all that jazz.

[Bodakane]

Its not a matter of choosing to be poor lol.

Here is the full question:

Suppose that you have an emergency expense that costs $400. Based on your current financial situation, how would you pay for this expense? If you would use more than one method to cover this expense, please select all that apply.

So first thing here. YOU CAN CHOOSE MORE THAN ONE OPTION. A person can answer that they would pay using credit card OR from their savings.

If you count the answers:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/publi...-questions.htm

Look for the statistic there see how it doesnt add up to 100%?

Its not a reasonable interpretation at all save for the people that answered that they cant cover it or use a payday loan.

I swear leftists man.

Dafuq are going on about?

Put it on my credit card and pay it off in full at
the next statement 33
Put it on my credit card and pay it off over time 16
With the money currently in my checking/savings account
or with cash 45
Using money from a bank loan or line of credit 3
By borrowing from a friend or family member 10
Using a payday loan, deposit advance, or overdraft 2
By selling something 6
I wouldn't be able to pay for the expense right now 12
Other (please specify) 0
Refused

Those are the answers. How in the fuck do they support your little bullshit trickle down bootstraps conservative douchebag fantasy?

Only 45% have the money to pay for a measly $400 emergency, the rest have to borrow, scrounge or suffer. That is not a big glowing gold star for your take on the economy.

[NED funded]

Like poverty in the US is bad, but keep it real folks. Great stuff from @freefolk as always.

[Cthulhu 2020]

How can they manage "spending" when many americans cannot really even afford to pay for bills and food?

Because if someone has no money, it's not because of wage stagnation, destruction of unions, increased cost of living, or anything going on with the economy. It's clearly their own fault for not managing their own money.

At least, that's what republicans like to believe so they can absolve themselves, the government or corporations of any responsibility towards individuals who are just barely making ends meet.

If it was something like 4% of Americans are unable to afford a $400 emergency, I'd say sure, that number is low enough to say that those people aren't very good at managing their own cash. But that number is 39% of Americans. That's not a problem with people, that's a problem with the system.

[anveena]

Not surprising. Poor people are terrible at managing their money.

[petej0]

Dafuq are going on about?

Put it on my credit card and pay it off in full at
the next statement 33
Put it on my credit card and pay it off over time 16
With the money currently in my checking/savings account
or with cash 45
Using money from a bank loan or line of credit 3
By borrowing from a friend or family member 10
Using a payday loan, deposit advance, or overdraft 2
By selling something 6
I wouldn't be able to pay for the expense right now 12
Other (please specify) 0
Refused

Those are the answers. How in the fuck do they support your little bullshit trickle down bootstraps conservative douchebag fantasy?

Only 45% have the money to pay for a measly $400 emergency, the rest have to borrow, scrounge or suffer. That is not a big glowing gold star for your take on the economy.

That doesnt tell the whole story though. because the 33% who said they will Ppt it on my credit card and pay it off in full at the next statement are people who may have the cash to pay for it, but like to put it on credit for credit perks or for credit scoring. So it could be as high as 78% we just dont know because you can select more than 1 option.

[rayvio]

considering how common debt is (and how it's near impossible to avoid even in our so-called civilised countries) and how large the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' continues to grow, I'm surprised that it's that low

[Bodakane]

That doesnt tell the whole story though. because the 33% who said they will Ppt it on my credit card and pay it off in full at the next statement are people who may have the cash to pay for it, but like to put it on credit for credit perks or for credit scoring. So it could be as high as 78% we just dont know because you can select more than 1 option.

Or they could be wrong about what they'd actually do.

[Cthulhu 2020]

lol

What a stupid article.

"It's true that 39% of people can't cover a $400 expense, but they could always go into debt so the statement is wrong!"

So, Harris and Warren are right. The article is just reaching into stupidity to try to claim they're wrong.

And then people do this over and over and over, and most usually have to resort to dumb payday loans which accrue interest at criminal rates.

This culture of "Just keep going deeper into debt, you'll be fine!" is why America is such a fucking mess. Do people who say this kind of stuff "Just keep going into debt" wonder why these people can't afford that $400? I'm sure they tell themselves it's because the person is lazy or bad with their own finances. But with this phenomenon so rampant, it's more of a systemic problem than an individual.

[Edge-]

Like poverty in the US is bad, but keep it real folks. Great stuff from @freefolk as always.

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/...x?NewsID=22533

Yes, there are serious poverty problems in both rural and urban America.

[Dacien]

It always trips me out when coworkers get all excited about payday, like it's some special day. For me, it's money in, money out. Numbers in an account. I get paid today, I pay bills tomorrow. But for them, it's like some special thing that they can now spend again or something. It's terrible money management. That's not to take away from people who simply don't earn enough because they lack opportunities, but there's definitely people out there just bad with money.

[DisposableHero]

Not surprising. Poor people are terrible at managing their money.

It is exceedingly difficult to manage something you don't have, so I'm not surprised either.

[NED funded]

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/...x?NewsID=22533

Yes, there are serious poverty problems in both rural and urban America.

Luke Shafer and Kathryn Edin conclude that the number of children in single-mother households living in extreme poverty for an entire year has ballooned from fewer than 100,000 in 1995 to 895,000 in 2011 and 704,000 in 2012

I wont comment on much of the issues discussed in the docu because its not something I read a lot of, but I want to point that this specific bit is fake news.

New research using data from the IRS show that after welfare kicks in 90% of the people reported as living in extreme poverty arent actually in extreme poverty and of those half arent even living poverty!

https://www.nber.org/papers/w25907

Take research like this with a grain of salt. Leftists are cunning at times.

[Edge-]

I wont comment on much of the issues discussed in the docu because its not something I read a lot of, but I want to point that this specific bit is fake news.

New research using data from the IRS show that after welfare kicks in 90% of the people reported as living in extreme poverty arent actually in extreme poverty and of those half arent even living poverty!

https://www.nber.org/papers/w25907

Take research like this with a grain of salt. Leftists are cunning at times.

Extreme poverty and poverty are two different things, and we're discussing the latter. I see you didn't need any help moving those goalposts so you could continue to take swipes at "leftists".

[Wyrt]

I wont comment on much of the issues discussed in the docu because its not something I read a lot of, but I want to point that this specific bit is fake news.

New research using data from the IRS show that after welfare kicks in 90% of the people reported as living in extreme poverty arent actually in extreme poverty and of those half arent even living poverty!

https://www.nber.org/papers/w25907

Take research like this with a grain of salt. Leftists are cunning at times.

Poverty line in the US is $11,770 a year. If I made $11,771 a year in California I would be able to afford jack shit, but I'd technically not in poverty.

[NED funded]

Extreme poverty and poverty are two different things, and we're discussing the latter. I see you didn't need any help moving those goalposts so you could continue to take swipes at "leftists".

Statement on Visit to the USA, by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights*

The article is about extreme poverty and human rights :/

And yes I take swipes at leftists it ligtens the content of the post.

[Elegiac]

The article is about extreme poverty and human rights :/

I apologise that rural Americans are insufficiently poor for your tastes.

[Shadowferal]

https://www.nber.org/papers/w25907
Take research like this with a grain of salt. Leftists are cunning at times.

Take your own advice...nber? Really?

[Templar 331]

Instead, as the Fed report makes clear, though “the remaining 4 in 10 adults” “would have more difficulty covering such an expense,” many of them would be able to make it work by carrying a credit card balance or borrowing from friends and family.

Which means they can't cover it.

(Presumably some of these adults are 18-year-olds borrowing from their parents, but I’m not sure about that.)

Did....did the author just make an assumption? And is that a jab at anyone who's borrowed from their parents?

Such piss poor writing...