To put some additional context around this, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median US household has ~$12,000 per year of excess income after all ordinary expenses -- which includes buying iPhones, nice cars, healthcare, etc. The percentage of US households with no capacity to save at all is <15% in US Federal Reserve studies.
Americans just have relatively poor savings behavior. They've always had the ability to save much more than they do. I think this partly follows from the reality that the US has not had a genuinely bad economy since the 1930s. It is a long unbroken chain of prosperity with the occasional minor blip, which changes the culture's relationship to money.
If you’re looking at the consumer expenditure survey, it’s tally of household expenditures this is about 40% of BEA personal consumption expenditures. And it’s surveyed income measures are also dicey. It’s excellent for knowing which income quintiles do which shares of consumption, though.
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To put some additional context around this, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median US household has ~$12,000 per year of excess income after all ordinary expenses -- which includes buying iPhones, nice cars, healthcare, etc. The percentage of US households with no capacity to save at all is <15% in US Federal Reserve studies.
Americans just have relatively poor savings behavior. They've always had the ability to save much more than they do. I think this partly follows from the reality that the US has not had a genuinely bad economy since the 1930s. It is a long unbroken chain of prosperity with the occasional minor blip, which changes the culture's relationship to money.
If you’re looking at the consumer expenditure survey, it’s tally of household expenditures this is about 40% of BEA personal consumption expenditures. And it’s surveyed income measures are also dicey. It’s excellent for knowing which income quintiles do which shares of consumption, though.
Those 15% are on food stamp SNAP benefits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assista...