Only Richest 20% of Americans Still Have Excess Pandemic Savings - BNN Bloomberg
www.bnnbloomberg.ca
Americans outside the wealthiest 20% of the country have run out of extra savings and now have less cash on hand than they did when the pandemic began, according to the latest Federal Reserve study of household finances.
  • algorithmae@lemmy.one
    131·
    1 year ago

    How did people not lose money during the pandemic, besides being stupid rich? The one piddly payment and unemployment I got from being laid off was way less than my normal earnings, so the cost to survive had to eat into savings and go onto credit cards. I still haven’t recovered.

    • ijeff@lemdro.idEnglish
      9·
      1 year ago

      Personally, working from home provided huge cost savings. I was also able to drop my personal phone to a bare minimum since I was always home and on wifi.

    • neekz0rEnglish
      71·
      1 year ago

      Hold up. Top 20% in US is only about $130k. Fairly easy for a dual income house to make.

      Not exactly the sort of people who are profiteering off others.

            • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
              41·
              1 year ago

              There is a book you should read called Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. It’s a journalist account of trying to live for I think 3 months on minimum wage in the US. It’s a light quick read and you might appreciate the perspective.

              Equally importantly it is from 2001 and $5.15 then is equivalent to $9 today, almost 25% higher than the current federal minimum wage

    • pup_atlas@pawb.social
      41·
      1 year ago

      Spending less than you earn isn’t a realistic prospect for A LOT of people. In many areas the cost of living has increased so dramatically that even those pinching pennies, eating simple cheap meals like chicken and rice every night are feeling it. The inflation numbers being distributed by the government are at this point, a straight up fabrication, with no relation to how the economy is actually functioning. In terms of actual costs real people are paying, things have doubled or tripled in cost across the board since 2020 at the grocery store, not to mention how outrageous rent has become. Unless you are also doubling or tripling your income every few years, it’s easy to see where all that money is going.