One-Third Of All Americans Are On The Edge Of Financial Ruin

Contrary to all of the misleading propaganda spewing from the media, Wall Street and DC about a robust job market and an improving economy, the average American is living hand to mouth.  Of course, if they can’t find one of those make-believe jobs created by the Government statisticians, the taxpayer helps the average American live hand to mouth.

A study released today by Bankrate.com showed that 70 million American adults do not have any emergency savings.  It’s the highest percentage in the 5-year history of the survey.

Here’s how Marketwatch characterizes the situation.  You’ll note that the Marketwatch spinmeisters are reporting that “job market has vastly improved.”  But they don’t ask why, if that’s the case, one-third of the country is on the brink of disaster:

In the past few years, the job market has vastly improved and home prices have rebounded — yet Americans are becoming even more irresponsible when it comes to saving for emergencies.

According to a survey of 1,000 adults released by Bankrate.com on Tuesday, nearly one in three (29%) American adults (that’s roughly 70 million) have no emergency savings at all — the highest percentage since Bankrate began doing this survey five years ago. What’s more, only 22% of Americans have at least six months of emergency savings (that’s what advisers recommend) — the lowest level since Bankrate began doing the survey.

These findings mirror others — all of which paint an abysmal picture of Americans’ ability to withstand an emergency. For example, a survey released in March by national nonprofit NeighborWorks America also found that roughly one third (34%) of Americans don’t have emergency savings.

Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com, says these low savings reflect that households haven’t seen their incomes ramp up and thus “household budgets are tight.” Plus, he adds “people don’t pay themselves first — they wait until the end of the month to save what’s left over and then nothing is left over.”

You can read this rest of the story here:   Americans On The Brink Of Disaster

My favorite part of the article is the brain dead financial “adviser” at the end – Scott Cole – who advises people to put their savings in a “high yield” savings account.  Oh boy, I can’t wait to take my $10/month leftover after paying for food, gas and housing and put it in a bank where I can earn 1%.

The fact of the matter is that the U.S. economy is in tatters.  The negative economic reports continue to pile up.  The only people who have benefited from 6 years of ZIRP and $3.6 trillion in printed money are the ones closest to the spigot:  Wall Street, Wall Street’s bought politicians and the wealthy individual and corporate plutocrats.

There’s no telling how much longer the Fed/Government can delay the coming reset, but when it occurs this country will be quickly reset to Third World economic status.