CNN poll. Nearly all Americans living paycheck to paycheck.

[NobodyYouKnow]

The GEC is hitting everybody hard.

Not only are Americans living from paycheck to paycheck, but Aussies are too.

It's all well and good for people who don't know...who aren't aware of the situation to say 'go and find a better/higher salary job' or 'go and find cheaper accommodation', but those options just aren't out there.

It's even harder for those on welfare, unemployment benefits or sickness pension. It's far below the basic wage in even a developing country...people (like me) find it difficult to just eke out a meager existence.

Food prices over here are among the highest in the world and all the reports about our 'standard of living' being among the top in the world is pure bunkum.

If Australia is among the best, then the worse off must be really, bloody worse off.

Now, with the drought and crops dying, the downturn in the mining industry, Australian companies like Holden moving offshore, other companies going offshore for cheaper labor, the very, very high levels of immigration stretching our infrastructure, resources, housing and labor markets to nearly breaking point...there is no relief in sight.

Remembering all the while that only about 10% of Australia is actually habitable...

It is a joke...a sick, cruel joke...

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Yes. I live with my mother and we're basically poor. She makes a little above $10 an hour and I'm unemployed. It's really horrible. There's no budget because pretty much all the money goes to bills and food. Sometimes we can't afford food so go hungry.

Same here, my friend.

 

[Revoltingest]

Same here, my friend.

Your avatar looks expensive though.
I guess we all must splurge on nice things at times, eh?

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

Yeah, being poor makes one appreciate the simple things in life...as well as developing a taste for wild amaranth, yams and kangaroo...

 

[Tarheeler]

My wife and I were talking about this while we were doing bills.

We live paycheck to paycheck, and the majority of it is my paycheck. If I were to lose my job, get hurt or sick, or otherwise go without my paycheck for two weeks, we would suffer from such a financial loss that we would lose our house and everything else.

And that's mind boggling when you look at the big picture. Ten years ago, I made half of what I do now and my wife did not work. We lived in the same house, drove the same minivan (which is now paid off), and had the same bills. And we were in the exact same position. Today I have more experience, a better job, higher pay, and work longer hours, but none of it has kept pace with the increasing cost of living; many of my bills are three times what they were a decade ago, and my food cost has more than quadrupled.

I'm far from lazy; I average 50 hours a week, and offen take side jobs to earn even more.
I'm not dense or dumb; I went to night school while working those 50 hours and raising 4 kids and earned a BS (and haven't landed even a single interview).
I'm not addicted to the finer things in life; I live in a double wide, drive a 14 year-old minivan, and my wife cooks just every meal.

 

[Alceste]

I've been living more or less paycheque to paycheque all my life. About 20 years or so. But things have definitely changed. I used to be able to sock away enough to travel for a few months if I stayed in a job for a year. Then it was two years. Then eventually, not at all. I just worked. For the past few years, it's been impossible to save. I miss the economy of the 90s!

So what have I done about it? Well, I decided not to have kids. I've moved to another country and back again, and moved twice since coming home. I've finally managed to find a place to live that costs less than 30% of my income, which is the magic number when it comes to living any kind of a life. And I'm back in an industry where the possibility exists to make a six figure salary, although I'm presently on call so I only work two or three days a week on average.

The sucky thing is that when I do work a full week, it's 60 - 72 hours long, so basically all I do is work and sleep. Then the days off, I basically just catch up on sleep or try to cram in laundry or grocery shopping.

It's very nice to be making money though. I'm not totally out of debt from a couple years of crappy wages, but I'm making progress, and I no longer have any issues with rent or expenses. Christmas this year went on the debit card instead of the credit card for the first time in ages.

It's busy now, but if it gets slow before I rack up enough on call days to apply for union membership I'm screwed.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

My wife and I were talking about this while we were doing bills.

We live paycheck to paycheck, and the majority of it is my paycheck. If I were to lose my job, get hurt or sick, or otherwise go without my paycheck for two weeks, we would suffer from such a financial loss that we would lose our house and everything else.

And that's mind boggling when you look at the big picture. Ten years ago, I made half of what I do now and my wife did not work. We lived in the same house, drove the same minivan (which is now paid off), and had the same bills. And we were in the exact same position. Today I have more experience, a better job, higher pay, and work longer hours, but none of it has kept pace with the increasing cost of living; many of my bills are three times what they were a decade ago, and my food cost has more than quadrupled.

I'm far from lazy; I average 50 hours a week, and offen take side jobs to earn even more.
I'm not dense or dumb; I went to night school while working those 50 hours and raising 4 kids and earned a BS (and haven't landed even a single interview).
I'm not addicted to the finer things in life; I live in a double wide, drive a 14 year-old minivan, and my wife cooks just every meal.

How dare you try to suck the life out of the wealthy in this country. You need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work. If you want to have a better shot at a life you need to earn it. Stop whining about it.

And uh...remember we live in the best country in the world...and...uh...

You're just envious of the wealthy, who worked for their riches....and...

...

I give up. i feel nauseous saying stuff like that. Basically, I hear ya.

Husband got a ridiculously better job 7 years ago. He's also been promoted twice in the company and received pay raises to go along with it. He's recently been working 10-11 hour days, too. But interestingly enough, what comes out of his paycheck places him with less net than he did back in the day.

For me, I have found the more the business makes, the more the state has been wanting to take.

Gas costs more. Food costs more. The heating bill at the business was over $500 last month, when we were paying on average around $200 a month.

If it means anything, though, take it from someone who was already poor, with no insurance, and found herself really sick needing hospitalization. And with two young children, too. It's not the worst thing in the world. It sucks being in debt because of it, but these are the circumstances due to the nature of our system. Personally, the way for me not to get depressed about it is to thank my lucky stars to this day that I'm alive and with my organs intact.

My sanity? Not sure about that. It does make people point and laugh, though.

 

[Revoltingest]

More bad economic news....
Terry Miller: America's Dwindling Economic Freedom - WSJ.com

World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries.

 

[ShivaFan]

Namaste

More Americans are investing in stocks, bonds, materials, real estate than ever before. But I would like to see more Americans learning how to invest and build assets for the future, and how to manage money.

This is not just an American issue, and I think schools should also teach the basics on spending money, debt, investments and savings, balancing a budget, but politicians do not like that idea because they want to spend other people's money to oblivion and never ever balance any budget. So they do not want too many Americans to understand such matters.

Too many Americans spend a lot of money on crap. They do not know how how to buy food properly for a family, nor how to grow simple foods in their backyard.

Also, we have become dependant on technology such as computer devices and it seems the hardware needs to replaced, new software purchased, new connectivity and new devices for such technology and mobility devices and phones, cases and covers for all this stuff, anti-virus - firewalls, all of which seems to now need to be replaced or upgraded EVERY TWO YEARS....

No wonder so many are living paycheck to paycheck. Now times that with how many live in the family, how many are in school and need this "stuff" for study tools, on and on.

Om Namah Sivaya

 

[Reverend Rick]

That is it in a nutshell. We drive children to school when a bus comes by the house. We burn gasoline in a drive thru instead of cooking or packing a lunch. Do we really need game systems and cell phones? How much do you pay for cable and satellite? Air conditioning, clothes dryers? Open a window or hang clothes on a line. How many cars in the driveway?

We waste money we do not have on things we think we need. Our lifestyles have improved and we wonder why we are broke. Go to the library, read a book, use their computer, ride a bike.

Spend the time you waste growing food. Use a towel twice. Save our planet and reduce your carbon footprint.

 

[Penumbra]

The United States has an inequality-adjusted GDP per capita that is actually in the lower half of highly developed countries. Income inequality in the US is among the highest of all developed countries.

So, it's no surprise that a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck. These days, a person will have trouble getting a well-paying career without college, but compared to other countries, Americans have to go into a lot more debt to get that degree. The US is also basically alone in the developed world as far as not having universal health care is concerned.

So, for example, an entry level college-educated worker most likely has tens of thousands of dollars in student debt, and is paying a much higher per capita rate for health insurance compared to any other country in the world. That digs into the paycheck.

In addition, people's values affect their wealth. There's a lot of interest in buying new cars, cycling through cars every few years, getting houses bigger than needed, cycling through electronics too quickly, going on many vacations, etc.

So, people in the lower and middle-lower economic classes don't have much or any disposable income and so are often stuck in a paycheck-to-paycheck cycle unless they're willing to take on a lot of debt to try to get out and go to college or something.

People in the middle and upper-middle economic classes are being squeezed in a unique way compared to any other country as far as health care and education are concerned, and then in addition their choices in cars, electronics, homes, and all these things, leave them without much savings.

 

[esmith]

The United States has an inequality-adjusted GDP per capita that is actually in the lower half of highly developed countries. Income inequality in the US is among the highest of all developed countries.

So, it's no surprise that a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck. These days, a person will have trouble getting a well-paying career without college, but compared to other countries, Americans have to go into a lot more debt to get that degree. The US is also basically alone in the developed world as far as not having universal health care is concerned.

So, for example, an entry level college-educated worker most likely has tens of thousands of dollars in student debt, and is paying a much higher per capita rate for health insurance compared to any other country in the world. That digs into the paycheck.

In addition, people's values affect their wealth. There's a lot of interest in buying new cars, cycling through cars every few years, getting houses bigger than needed, cycling through electronics too quickly, going on many vacations, etc.

So, people in the lower and middle-lower economic classes don't have much or any disposable income and so are often stuck in a paycheck-to-paycheck cycle unless they're willing to take on a lot of debt to try to get out and go to college or something.

People in the middle and upper-middle economic classes are being squeezed in a unique way compared to any other country as far as health care and education are concerned, and then in addition their choices in cars, electronics, homes, and all these things, leave them without much savings.

Maybe this article explains a major problem with the workforce in this country, or should I say those that want to be in the workforce.

http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/why-does-michigan-have-77000-unfilled-job-openings/

or
http://www.employmentspectator.com/...bs-available-but-why-arent-they-being-filled/

 

[Penumbra]

Maybe this article explains a major problem with the workforce in this country, or should I say those that want to be in the workforce.

Why does Michigan have 77,000 unfilled job openings?

or
Thousands Of Trucking Jobs Available But Why Aren

There's a contractor at my work that gives us some engineers, and they have really high turnover rate and difficulty finding qualified applicants. I find it annoying to have to train new engineers more often than I should, from this company that has a contract with us.

I've heard them ask, "why can't we fill these positions?"

They don't seem to consider that it might by their fault (it is), that their salaries are too low (they are), that their benefits for their employees are terrible (they are), and that their organizational structure has bad communication flow (it does), and that they're probably going to lose the contract re-bid (they most likely are).

 

[esmith]

There's a contractor at my work that gives us some engineers, and they have really high turnover rate and difficulty finding qualified applicants. I find it annoying to have to train new engineers more often than I should, from this company that has a contract with us.

I've heard them ask, "why can't we fill these positions?"

They don't seem to consider that it might by their fault (it is), that their salaries are too low (they are), that their benefits for their employees are terrible (they are), and that their organizational structure has bad communication flow (it does), and that they're probably going to lose the contract re-bid (they most likely are).

So, you are basically saying that the educational level of these engineers is lacking. Just out of curiosity what field of engineering are they in?

 

[Penumbra]

So, you are basically saying that the educational level of these engineers is lacking.

No, I'm saying that the employer is not offering any sort of competitive package, and then wondering about why they aren't finding competitive applicants, and blaming the economy or schools rather than making their compensation package more competitive. And when they do find a competitive applicant, they wonder why he leaves in a year or two.

Just out of curiosity what field of engineering are they in?

Every major discipline of engineering. A variety.

 

[Apex]

Maybe this article explains a major problem with the workforce in this country, or should I say those that want to be in the workforce.

Why does Michigan have 77,000 unfilled job openings?

or
Thousands Of Trucking Jobs Available But Why Aren

I would like to see what these "qualifications" are that they are seemingly unable to find. I also find it interesting that these companies seem to be unwilling to offer any kind of training to potential employees. They seem to think that HS and college grads should already have 100% of the experience needed to take a job when that simply is not how the system operates, and never has.

 

[MoonWater]

Maybe this article explains a major problem with the workforce in this country, or should I say those that want to be in the workforce.

Why does Michigan have 77,000 unfilled job openings?

or
Thousands Of Trucking Jobs Available But Why Aren

Just did some quick math and the $37,000 that "oh so well paying" trucker jobs offer rounds out to about $3,000 a month. In this day and age that would barely be enough to pay the bills, which would still leave them in the position of living paycheck to paycheck for the most part. Maybe instead of ******* and moaning about the training requirements being a barrier they should offer to help people pay for training or offer to reimburse them, or pay a wage that would actually make it feel worthwhile to be out on the road for months on end.

If companies are having a hard time getting or keeping employees then maybe they should spend less time complaining about "regulations" and more time working to offer their employees a decent and competitive package.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Just did some quick math and the $37,000 that "oh so well paying" trucker jobs offer rounds out to about $3,000 a month. In this day and age that would barely be enough to pay the bills, which would still leave them in the position of living paycheck to paycheck for the most part. Maybe instead of ******* and moaning about the training requirements being a barrier they should offer to help people pay for training or offer to reimburse them, or pay a wage that would actually make it feel worthwhile to be out on the road for months on end.

If companies are having a hard time getting or keeping employees then maybe they should spend less time complaining about "regulations" and more time working to offer their employees a decent and competitive package.

I wonder if the median earnings of $37,000 is gross earnings or if it is net.

Depending on how much is being taken out of the paycheck, it can turn into a significantly different financial situation.

 

[Alceste]

I wonder if the median earnings of $37,000 is gross earnings or if it is net.

Depending on how much is being taken out of the paycheck, it can turn into a significantly different financial situation.

I also think truckers take on a lot of risk. I am not sure about this, but I think they are paid by the trip or the mile, not by the hour. So there's no "overtime" and you are also away from home all the time without a per diem to cover travel expenses.

 

[Apex]

I wonder if the median earnings of $37,000 is gross earnings or if it is net.

Depending on how much is being taken out of the paycheck, it can turn into a significantly different financial situation.

It is probably gross.