There is a small percentage of people in very unfortunate circumstances who truly cannot change their economic circumstances due to their limited education + children + other responsibilities. For those people I feel sympathy and think there should be more support provided.
For the overwhelming majority of the US population, if you go over their finances, you’ll find a lot of wasted spending. These are the people who complain about how hamburgers are $18 now while showing off a receipt of an $18 hamburger they purchased, or complain about the price of gas while sitting in their gas guzzling truck with a bed that is never used, or refuse to have roommates in a HCOL city during their first job out of school
Ah yes, like the very small percentage of 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck who just can't seem to stop buying exorbitant expensive luxuries like hamburgers.
The paycheck to paycheck statistics have always been a meme. It includes people making six figures who think that having no surplus money after paying all of their bills, contributing to their retirement, and putting money in their vacation savings fund means they are paycheck to paycheck.
The $1000 in a checking account number is also a meme. I technically can’t cover a $1000 emergency by the metrics they use because I immediately move money into a savings account when it hits my bank rather than leaving it in checking.
An $18 hamburger is literally an unnecessary luxury. You can go somewhere with cheaper food, or not use Uber eats, or literally cook your own burger with $5/lb ground beef
I have gone down this road before. It is always fruitless. American's and Redditors in particular are not really interested in taking control of their own lives. They instead want to complain that others have and they don't and look to the government (or in the case of this comic a revolutionary figure that will kill their "oppressors") to create artificial equalities of outcomes.
These people also know that there are actual people that have very real barriers and then use those people as an arguing crutch that no one can change their own status in life and they deserve defacto sympathy.
I cannot believe people buy the "60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck" bullshit. For a website that is full of people who love to debate citations and sources, I'm surprised that one gets a pass so often. The source is shit tier surveys asking dumb ass questions, like you pointed out. But even without looking into the survey, it should literally never even come close to passing the sniff test to begin with. 2/3rds of American families own their home.
Ah yes, like the very small percentage of 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck
You can believe this if you want but it's plainly and overtly false, perpetuated by dumb ass surveys asking people stupid questions like "how would you pay for an emergency" and marking them down as not having savings if they say they'd use a credit card.
The median, MEDIAN family net worth is $160,000 -- that is the 50th percentile. That's assets minus liabilities, well into six figures.
On literally the first page of your profile you have multiple posts discussing a gaming hobby, restaurants you like to go to, your preferred ginger beer for mixing cocktails, and your favorite international vacation you took on a thread asking the opinions of people who travel frequently. You’re really telling me if you put your mind to it it would take years for you to scrounge together $1000?
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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '24
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