65% of consumers reported living paycheck to paycheck
Seems like the headline is just another way to say the same.
At the same time USA is one of the richest countries in the world?
this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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Richest by GDP. And extracting all the wages they pay us is the optimal way to maximize GDP.
Money sitting in accounts making interest does not contribute to GDP.
Doesn't the interest come from lending out the money?
The interest does not come from lending the money. Heck, the DEBT doesn't even come from lending the money. Banks can basically create money to loan with out of thin air thanks to fractional reserve banking.
Money sitting in accounts making interest does not contribute to GDP.
What I have sitting in my bank account that I'm getting interest payments for is not money but stocks. I've spent that money to buy those stocks. That money has been back in the circulation this whole time.
The fear of destitution makes workers obedient and compliant.
Only 2/3?
That was my thought... if you don't need at least part of a paycheck to pay bills, you must be in great shape... or you aren't managing your money correctly.
"Nah, nah, I don't need to set aside any of this check for rent, I'll just pay it all out of the next check..."
I have enough saved up that I could probably go a couple months without pay before I ran out of money. Honestly, I'm not even that well off: Most months I spend my paycheque +-5%, if I go over I take it from a buffer account where I have about 60% of a paycheque and try to backfill it over the next couple months.
In my situation, I'm regularly low-key stressed that my buffer account is running low, and that I haven't been able to backfill it for several months in a row. I can't even begin to imagine how stressful it must be not even have something to fall back on if you suddenly get an extra expense that eats 10 % of your paycheque one month.
I'm still waiting for the day my "buffer account" is large enough that I don't need to stress about finances. Now, it would last me about 2.5 years and that's apparently still not enough.
That was my thought… if you don’t need at least part of a paycheck to pay bills, you must be in great shape
I suppose it's all relative, but in many cases being able to survive one missed paycheque could mean simply having $1k in the bank. Surviving several months is another story.
I have gotten promotions and raises my whole life. I make more than I ever have before, even considering inflation.
The whole time, this has never not been true.
Good for you. I am making exactly what I made in 2021 after having raises suspended, job hopping to a better job, being laid off, and then hired in the best stable job I can find in this wretched new economy.
Jesus, where has everyone been? Through this period of supposed best economy ever( before trump made it even worse) I was laid off. 4 times.
From 2013 to 2024. And I've been unemployed for over a year. Jobs are under paying, under manned, and overly abused.
People have been week to week for decades. We're just myopic, selfish zombies who don't look past ourselves to see how bad others have it
And corporations keep bragging about "record profits".
Guess who the money they make is coming from. And every quarter they come for more.
No no you don't understand, being paycheck to paycheck under Obama and Biden was good, being paycheck to paycheck under Trump is bad. The poors aren't important unless the media can find a way to market it as somehow being Anti-Trump when they donate to him in appeasement to his ego.
Stocks were up for both until COVID and the Tarrifs, so that's what matters most.
EDIT: If downvotes were dollar bills, maybe I could afford more things under either president!
We're about to see wages go down after stagnating for years, often falling behind inflation. Look at tech where there are too many employees, new graduates. Supply and demand. People are going to have to notice.
Wages have been going down in relation to buying power. Costs of goods has gone up, wages haven't gone up.
The other third won't bother.
They are one paycheck ahead
The other 1/3 just work for fun I guess?
It’s taking about not having emergency savings
I get that, but I'm talking about the headline being written weird. Everyone works because they need their paycheck to pay their bills, otherwise they wouldn't work.
The point is not everyone needs their next pay check to pay the bills. They could be fired today, need a couple months to find a job, and have enough to survive in between.
Oh shit, I missed the word 'next' in the headline. My bad.
There are "financially independent" people who continue to work despite not needing it.
Obviously I'm speaking in broad generalizations here, I know even billionaires 'work' and shit, but they're not 1/3 of the population. shrug
It would be the best if my economy could handle missing a few paychecks.
Or if I earned like 10 times my housing+living expenses I would have a very different approach to working.
I need every paycheck to pay bills.
I got a decent refund so I’m okay for one paycheck as long as I can fix my car for cheap
Which country or countries?
Or is it America again. It's America, isn't it.
It’s always America but I can shime in from Europe.
Where for the first time in my life I’m in a situation where I can’t save anything from my pay check without even going to restaurants, or book a holiday.
It’s quite depressing knowing that I lead a basic life and I lost the ability to buy the food I want and I’m forced to go for budget options.
That will hopefully get better again for you. Everything everywhere is getting more expensive while salaries and wages are not keeping up. It is horrible and hopefully a shift will happen.
Try losing your job and supporting a family as well. That's what I'd really hurting.