28% of consumers live paycheck to paycheck - survey

[question everything]

28% of consumers live paycheck to paycheck - survey

MARKETWATCH

August 7, 2005

Fully 28 percent of U.S. consumers "have no spare cash" and live paycheck to paycheck.

These are the findings of a new survey of about 1,000 Americans by ACNielsen, the market research company.

"On a daily basis, Americans are exposed to two competing messages: 'A strong economy is dependent upon strong consumer spending;' and 'Your consumer debt levels are too high,'" said Tom Markert, ACNielsen's chief marketing officer. "Historically, the first message has driven consumer behavior more than the second one. Lately, it seems, the second message is starting to get some traction," he said.

The report also says:

While more Americans appear to be investing than last fall, the United States still ranks near the bottom of all countries surveyed in terms of setting money aside for the future. When totaling the percentage of respondents who said they use spare cash for savings, stock or mutual funds, and/or a retirement fund, the United States ranked 33rd out of the 38 countries surveyed.

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Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050807/news_lz1b7paycheck.html

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

1. Very depressing... so many people are in this situation

It's hard to get ahead.

[Bozita]

2. wonderin' how many voted for Bush or didn't vote at all

The exit polls were correct.

Recommendations from the article:

Stick to a meal plan. Wasting money by excessively eating out can drain your financial resources. Homemade meals cost much less, so try to shoot for only one meal out per paycheck.

Hold a sale. Everyone has excess possessions he or she doesn't really need, so consider having a garage sale or putting unwanted items up for online auction.

[BiggJawn]

3. Do the Bush Pioneers eat at home?

Do the Rangers have garage sales to get rid of their "excess posessions" and raise cash to live on?

Hey, here's some MORE tips they didn't cover in the article!

Put yourself and your family out in the street. ReTHUGlicans got LOTS of cash and nobody can stand to fuck them for free. And if you have a pre-teen boy, he could be a real money maker for you...

Sell off your extra organs. What do you need 2 kidneys or 2 lungs for? Did you know you can get by with only 1/2 your liver?

Forget sending your kids to college. Why do they need an BS or MA degree in order to say "Hi, welcome to Wal-Mart" or "INCOMING!!!"

Move close to your place of business, and sell ALL your motor vehicles. You can walk or bike to work, and after a while you'll get used to being almost run down daily by cell-phone yacking stay-at-home Dominionist moms in their Navistar CXT's taking the next generation of your ReTHUGlican masters to playgroup...
:sarcasm:.

[The Jacobin]

4. Another argument against the consumption tax

There was a post earlier tonight about a national sales tax. Here is evidence of what a terrible idea it is.

Adding 8%-10% to their costs will drive even more people into poverty and despair.