this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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367
62% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, as holiday spending, credit card debt rise (www.cnbc.com)
submitted 10 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] _number8_@lemmy.world 49 points 10 months ago

damn i wonder why, ads are being driven into your brain at every second, buying things is designed to feel good, now it costs more and jobs are even more precarious

i wish we could stop shaming people for having debt. if you see people like, with receipts and a teller's hat in a film the tone is practically like they're alcoholics. ridiculous. everyone lives above their means sometimes -- a loud minority love to smugly brag about how careful and controlled and perfect they are. simply follow this budget. simply install this app. simply deny yourself any pleasures for 50 years and get hit by a bus the day before retirement. that easy. christ.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 28 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The older I get, the more I realize holidays are scams.

Don't fall prey.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 10 months ago

Every Christmas season that comes and goes, I'm further reminded that if none of the commercials we see existed, if Amazon wasn't constantly shoving cheap Chinese bullshit down your throat, and if people actually thought about the things that brought them joy in life, we wouldn't have 25% of the commercialist bullshit that comes along with what originally was a religious holiday.

Bake some Christmas treats and call your grandma. That's the real Christmas shit.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Predatory lending is one of those things at least one party should be against...

But lots of those corporations donate to both parties these days, so it won't happen until people start treating primaries as the important part of our electoral system.

It's not enough to just show up in the general and settle for anyone that doesn't have your favorite letter next to their name. That's better than nothing, but it's just not enough these days. Democracy isn't easy, if it is, it likely means it's not working

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Predatory lending is part and parcel to price gouging.

How the hell else are Americans covering the gaps in their income to cover for massively increased costs from "inflation" (cough price gouging cough)? They're turning to easily accessible credit, even if the terms are bad. Why? Because the average American has a sixth grade reading level and isn't competent enough in math to understand high interest rates and how debt can compound over time.

I'm in literal poverty with terrible credit score and I get credit offers all the fucking time. They always have terrible rates.

I don't think consumers actually can bear the increase in costs, and that the business groups and credit companies know that and are all banking on that being the case, so their profits can keep increasing and they can keep steadily squeezing the working class.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

I mean, what are people gonna do?

Starve or put $1k on a credit that will take 5k to eventually pay off?

A cynic would say the main reason Biden only did $600 in COVID relief is lots of the parties donors invest heavily in debt. It's hard to beat 20% interest when you're the one collecting it. There's no greater investment opportunities, but the game is over if everyone has enough to live off of.

Even just them paying some of it down early drastically reduces their profits long term. If every American just geot another 1k and paid down credit cards, it could be billions of lost interest.

The article says there's almost a trillion of it by now. It's an absolutely mind boggling amount of money we're talking about. Throwing a couple million to both parties is comparitively nothing to what they're making.

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 17 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It should be illegal to charge compound interest, and the highest a person should ever have to pay is 10% of the total borrowed. So $100 is $110 back, max.

[–] WhiteHawk@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Then what's to stop people from borrowing money and waiting until the amount they have to pay back is less than what they borrowed due to inflation?

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

What's to stop people from borrowing money and waiting until they die?

[–] RealEarthHuman@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Forfeitures. Credit ratings.

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I guess nothing. Make things cheaper.

[–] WhiteHawk@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a bit more complicated than that, I'm afraid

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Greedy Billionaires aren’t complicated.

[–] WhiteHawk@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No, but economics are.

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee -1 points 10 months ago

They’re complicated by manipulation. I wonder who is doing the manipulating?

Kill the billionaires.

[–] Art3sian@lemmy.world -5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I hate this argument.

What happened to being an adult and not signing your name to stupid shit you can’t afford?

[–] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Predatory business practices.

[–] Art3sian@lemmy.world -3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Compound interest has been a thing since the Babylonians, 2,000BC, and they understood it from clay tablets.

If you don’t understand it 4,023 years later with a iPhone in your pocket, you’re an idiot.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

I mean, you're not wrong, but I think their point was it's morally wrong, not confusing.

[–] mriormro@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Usury was also a thing back then.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Since the 1950s, America has demonstrably engaged in dumbing down its population. You're right, personal accountability is king, but that's assuming you're dealing with a populace that has critical thinking skills and not addicted to bullshit consumerism delivered by dogmatic "Free-est country on Earth" propaganda.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago

Predatory capitalism happened. And a system of society that doesn't afford everyone an equal opportunity to take advantage of such a system.

[–] USAONE@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Americans have been living paycheck to paycheck since the 1980s.

[–] ExfilBravo@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

It will trickle down eventually right Ronald Reagan?

[–] PatFussy@lemm.ee 7 points 10 months ago

$V calls LETS GOOOOOOO

[–] gdog05@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I watch some YouTube videos about the terrible state of the car market (just for curiosity I guess). One of the channels is a guy who buys auction vehicles. He was saying today that one of the smaller title loan places in Vegas is opening fifteen new branches and I want to say double that amount in Phoenix.

We're in for an ugly time ahead.