XPost: alt.politics.elections, misc.survivalism, sac.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns
From: floney.arms@gmail.com
On 27 Jan 2022, "2.AA6528" <2.AA6528@gmail.com> posted some
news:ssu9be$nhk1$8@news.freedyn.de:
> John wrote
>
> Demented Retard Joe
More than a third of U.S. adults say the fragile state of the economy is
stressing them out, with the impact of high inflation a particular
concern, a new poll shows.
About half of U.S. adults in households earning less than $60,000 annually
and about 4 in 10 of those in households earning $60,000 to $100,000 say
they're very stressed by their personal finances, according to The
Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly a
quarter of those in higher income households report worrying about money.
Overall, 36% of adults say the national economy is a major source of
anxiety, found the poll, conducted March 16-20, of 1,081 adults.
"Few adults are very confident they can keep up with their expenses, pay
an unexpected medical expense, have enough to retire or find a job," the
polling group said.
Beverly Lucas, 76, of Cary, North Carolina, said she sees how inflation
has hemmed in the lives of her fellow seniors on fixed incomes.
"There's no comfort zone in their finances — no vacation. They're just
getting by," she said. "Medications are expensive. Groceries. No one's
living large or having fun. They should be having fun."
Lucas, a retired Christian education teacher who lives off Social Security
and a pension, said she is moving to downsize and save $500 a month. If
she had stayed in the two-bedroom where she had lived, she said, her
expenses would have gone up this year.
About three-quarters of adults across income groups say their household
expenses are higher now than they were a year ago. Those in households
earning less than $100,000 a year are more likely than those in higher
income households to say they also have higher debt. Those facing a
combination of rising debt and expenses overwhelmingly say their financial
situation is a major source of stress.
The poll also finds that people in households earning at least $100,000
annually were more likely than lower income earners to predict their
finances will improve in the year ahead, 39% to 26%. By contrast, people
in lower income households were more likely than those earning more to
expect their financial situation to worsen, 28% to 18%.
Inflation around the U.S. rose at an annual rate of 6% rate in February,
three times the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Many economists also worry
that the Fed's remedy for higher prices — raising interest rates — is
likely to trigger a recession later this year or in early 2024.
Debt + inflation = stress
Tyronda Stringer, 28, who works as a truck loader at Walmart in Banks,
Alabama, said her debt has increased in the past year due to medical
expenses she's still paying off. Stringer, a single mother of two, said
the stimulus payments and child tax credits during the pandemic had helped
her financial situation, but that now inflation and the cost of childcare
have her back living paycheck to paycheck. She's also struggling with high
medical bills.
"I used to do three grocery trips a month," she said. "Now it's one and a
half at the most. We're just gonna have to cut back on a lot of things. I
can see that. Things we're used to or things we need, we'll be getting
different brands and things. The only thing I can think of."
Consumers racked up $180 billion in new credit card debt in 2022, the most
debt ever added in a single year, according to a recent study from
personal finance website WalletHub. The average household's credit card
balance was $9,990, up 9% from in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The AP-NORC poll finds that just 1 in 10 of those in households making
less than $60,000 a year say their savings have increased over the past
year, while about 6 in 10 say their savings have decreased.
Only 20% of adults in that group say they are very confident they can keep
up with their expenses, compared with 30% of those making between $60,000
and $100,000 and 46% in households making more than that. Four in 10
adults in lower income households say they are not confident they can keep
up with their expenses. About 6 in 10 are at least somewhat confident.
Alexander Nye, 26, a graduate student in geology in Provo, Utah, falls
into the first category. Nye, who is married with a child, with another
due in April, said he has some student loans to cover his graduate degree,
but that he feels financially secure.
"We're in a position where we don't have to travel a ton, so gas and car
expenses aren't huge," he said. "With our family growing, we do feel
inflation in the cost of diapers, food, and clothes. We've just had to
adjust to keep things in our budget. We work around it as much as we can."
Gregory Coney, 60, of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, said he's hopeful the
national economy will improve over the next year. Coney, who is currently
unemployed, had worked in customer service for Merrill Lynch and Bank of
America and is raising two children. He's currently interviewing for jobs
he's optimistic may pay more.
"I do think it's possible the price of food will go down slightly in the
next year," Coney said. "Right now I'm saving for college for two kids,
but we'd like to be able to travel, to get money for the kids to go away.
And potentially have a new or bigger home."
For the poorest Americans, strained household budgets can mean going
hungry. Almost 25% of American adults are defined as food insecure,
meaning they sometimes can't afford enough food for a nutritious diet.
That's up about five percentage points from a year earlier, according to a
recent study by the Urban Institute. In 2022, about 1 in 6 adults relied
on charitable food, such as free groceries or meals, the centrist think
tank found.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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