05 October, 2011

Lots of Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck

I knew we Americans didn't save very much but this is ridiculous. First came this: Almost two-thirds of Americans don't have a grand in the bank to handle an emergency expense.

A majority, or 64%, of Americans don’t have enough cash on hand to handle a $1,000 emergency expense, according to a survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, or NFCC, released on Wednesday.

That was from a survey over the summer. More recently there's this one that notes that a third of Americans couldn't pay their rent or mortgage for more than one month if they lost their job.

One in three Americans would be unable to make their mortgage or rent payment beyond one month if they lost their job, according to the results of a national survey taken in mid-September.

Despite being more affluent, the poll found that even those with higher annual household incomes indicate they are not guaranteed to make their next housing payment if they lost their source of income.

Ten percent of survey respondents earning $100K or more a year say they would immediately miss a payment.


Now if we would only cut taxes on the rich, then this would all go away, right?

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