As the debt bubble grows:Â US Gross National Debt to Spike by 800 Billion Dollars in October.
It is rather clear that we are spending beyond our means like a young college graduate with their first paycheck. Consumer debt continues to spin wildly out of control and the government continues to spend money that it does not have. This works until it doesn’t. Of course the usual debt ceiling slash political charade continues once again for the umpteenth time but there might be an unusual spike in gross national debt in October. The gross national debt may jump up a whopping $800 billion next month. This spending on the government credit card is typical and somewhat silly but what isn’t silly is that this debt needs to be serviced at some point. Right now the US finds itself in a favorable position in that people are willing to lend to the country in massive amounts. Yet that can turn around rather quickly. American consumers are once again going into massive debt and spending beyond their means. Should it be a problem that gross national debt is likely to go up by $800 billion in one month?
Living paycheck to paycheck is the way of life:Â New Harris poll finds that 78 percent of US workers live paycheck to paycheck.
For most Americans, living for payday is the way of life. And many use debt to bridge the gap between money hitting their bank account and the bills that need to be paid. We know since many banks make billions of dollars on people over drafting accounts. A new Harris Poll found that 78 percent of US workers live paycheck to paycheck. Now this news may be shocking to some but in reality, it is no surprise at all. How can this be if the stock market is near a record high, real estate is at record levels, and the headline unemployment rate is near record lows? Well first, most Americans don’t own stocks. Second, the homeownership rate has dropped to near generational lows. You also have nearly 95 million adults that are not part of the labor force so don’t count for employment figures. So this is why the survey results may not be all that surprising. But let us dig into the numbers a bit more.
Where in the world do Americans spend their money? Taking a look at where incomes go each month.
I remember the first budget I put together. It left me feeling depressed and feeling as if I had been punched in the gut. The practice was done largely out of necessity but there was something that jumped out at me. Housing consumes a good portion of net income. For most Americans this is the reality. When we look at spending habits we realize that half of this country is living paycheck to paycheck. A budget is a basic necessity even if you do it just once to understand where your money is flowing. Yet most people spend money as quickly as it comes in like sand flowing through your fingers. I wanted to look at the latest spending breakdown of Americans to see where most of our money is going.
Taking a look at the 95 million Americans not in the labor force:Â 1 private sector worker is supporting every 2 Americans.
There continues to be an inordinately large number of Americans that are not in the labor force. There are a variety of reasons as to why these Americans are not working. Some are retired and some are disabled. But the reality is we have a massive number of people that need to be supported either by their own funds or government assistance. When you look at our total population, we have roughly 1 private sector worker supporting 2 Americans. In this article I wanted to examine the nature of the 95 million Americans not in the labor force.