Comments on: Savings At Lowest Rate Since Depression

Americans Spent Everything They Made Last Year — And Then Some

[legendary240]

There is nothing wrong with "stuff" if you have your financial house in order. The problem is that no is taught about saving, investing or credit usage in high school. Most parents don't know either, so it just perpetuates like one big old "sheep" waiting to be fleeced by the auto industry, mortgage companies and credit card issuers. Listen to Dave Ramsey, or go to his website if you want to learn a little bit and try the CFO AM if you have it in your area.

[olebd]

donita4 - I think a lot of people these days just don't know how to live without credit anymore. I know from experience how easy it is to get sucked into no payments/no interest for 12 month deals or use credit cards for convenience and then not being able to pay them off right away. Some of it can be fear based - I have a newer car so hopefully I lessen my chance of breaking down and being stranded somewhere; I have a newer house with newer appliances so hopefully I won't have any major repairs. I used to have a fear of home projects because I thought I'd screw something up. I've since gotten a lot wiser but have a ways to go. I admire you folks who can pay cash for everything but I don't think that will ever be the norm in these modern times.

[fascistusa]

CORPORATIONS are doing GREAT.

Exxon/Mobile's 50 BILLION dollar profit.

The little guy in Fascist America is SCREWED.

It's OVER.

But the CORPORATE GOVERNMENT PROPOGADA we call "News" sure won't tell YOU that.

[razorjay2]

We need to be a little careful here when comparing the low savings rate to the rate during the Depression. Many U.S. workers put a certain percentage of their income into 401k and other savings vehicles rather than a conventional bank account. I don't think these monies are included in the savings equation. And in 1933-34 there were no such savings vehicles.

[spike995]

With all of the good paying manufacturing jobs leaving America than you will see more and more people in our at the bankrupsy are. Someone needs to stop sending are jobs manly over see like China. my wife and I, like others had a good paying Middle class job. With Ford going belly up it effected companies that made parts for Ford. Unlike the Ford employees that had a buy out we were just let go. so instead of making a good income with my wife we are making 35% of what we use to make. Are bills took almost 85%of are pay .so we are out of the middle class and into the poor class.I will be 50 years old this April amd my wife will be 57 so we start over. the American dream is goin.We will be renting if we are lucky,our homeless.
The unemployee rate does not show the doller for a job rate and how much we have given up to the foren trade.

[donita4]

My family must be one of the few who has not ever succumbed to the "live up to the Jones" mentality. We do not possess a credit card, we pay cash for emergencies and all purchases, we own our older vehicles, we own our home, we have cash savings in addition to the riskier (in my opinion) pension of a 401K. We do not have "toys" we do not play with. Yet, we live very well. We eat out once or twice per week and go on vacations. We are in our mid-forties, NOT wealthy. We have not received an inheritance. Do not and have never received any type of welfare to include SSI or a "settlement" of any kind. Nor do we ever plan to live off of the government or expect the government to bail us out. We now earn roughly $38,000 net per year. How then, is my family able to save money on our more or less meager income when so many with the same income or higher are in debt past their eyeballs? Think about it.

[hypnotoad72]

Finally, nothing wrong with offshoring, but (proverbially speaking) to help out a pair of legs by slitting your wrists is not a very bright thing to do. Especially when the legs you're helping continually kick you in the butt.

[hypnotoad72]

Also, if broadband and cell providers didn't have outrageous termination fees, things would be better too. Especially when you leave citing hypocrisy with the cell provider - why should I give them money because I'm angry over their poor service? Oh well.

Maybe we should all become corporations with lawyers. :D

[hypnotoad72]

I just got out of debt myself. Grateful to have a job to pay it back with! Do people emulate what others do? Our national debt is big, maybe we want to emulate our government? Yet keep voting the same folks in because they are "the party of fiscal responsibility"...?

People do look to their leaders for guidance and emulate what they see. After all, consumer spending is what keeps the economy going.

I'll be budgeting for now on, but I will say that if wages met the cost of living, more people wouldn't need credit cards. They could buy everything upfront and still save. (it's interesting the ratio between executives and workers went from 40x to over 600x between the late-70s and now. Credit helped people get what they want and keep the economy stimulated. Much like offshoring, living on credit can only go on for so long.)

And if the cost of living was to go down to match wages offered, there would be no "lack of qualified employee" excuse. That's why "developing" countries have it so good. Their wages (that no American could begin to live on) vastly outweigh their cost of living.

So when an employer keeps saying "no" to your requests, interest, and aptitude in something (despite their request of you to show an interest!), it may be time to move on. The employer doesn't give a hoot about structure or promoting hard or good work (there's another catchphrase that's meaningless these days! Meritocracy...), and so should the rest of us, it seems.

[condumism]

When I'm depressed, or feeling down, shopping and spending money is a great cure for the blues. American's have a lot to be blue about these days, especially now that Bush and the Rethuglicon Party of Extremists have finally gotten people out of their apolitical stupor by making the American's the butt end of jokes around the world.