The American Consumer Meets Minimalism: How This Recession Will Change the American Consumer.
Is the American consumer forever changed? Did the current recession alter the seemingly unrelenting spending machine known as the American consumer? From early indications, it looks like some habits will be changed for a very long time. This is a big shift given the nearly endless round of bubbles in the past 30 years culminating […]
Financial Brinkmanship: Forcing Americans to Spend and Discouraging Savings. Americans Decide to Save Forced by a New Austerity. Banks Offering Zero Percent on Your Savings Account.
Spending more than you earn is a financially devastating recipe for individuals and nations. I’ve read countless pop financial books on how to gain and sustain wealth and those that have any substance always emphasize saving your money, spending less than you earn, and being prudent with your funds. In no book did I ever […]
The End of the Peak Credit Era: 3 Quarters of Contracting Consumer Debt. Credit Card debt Contracts on a Year over Year Basis for First Time Ever.
There is a small silver lining in the unemployment report released on Friday. The positive side was the amount of people being fired slowed down in July (if you can call an annual rate of 3 million layoffs positive). However, there is still a major reluctance for firms to hire. We still have 26,000,000 unemployed […]
Credit Card Companies Placing Financial Landmines for American Consumers: How I lost my 4.99 Percent Fixed Rate and got it Back.
Americans have a love affair with credit cards. Many Americans have more credit cards in their wallets than they do dollar bills. When 8,000,000 credit cards were yanked from circulation many consumers realized that this was a new era of austerity. Credit card debt otherwise known as revolving debt, peaked in September of 2008 at […]