More than two-thirds in U.S. live paycheck to paycheck

From Reuters, an article dated September 19, 2012.

More than two-thirds of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the American Payroll Association. The survey of 30,600 people found that 68 percent said it would be somewhat difficult or very difficult if their paychecks were delayed for a week. These results show Americans are still struggling with the recession's effects, the association said..

The main reason Kowalik's clients live paycheck to paycheck is that they have come to see luxuries as essential expenses, she said.

"Cable used to be a luxury. Now it's expected," she said. "People have an expectation that they should have a mobile phone, you should be able to have the Internet. People are going to have to change their outlook and put things into perspective."

The American Payroll Association, a trade group for more than 20,000 people who prepare checks, said it conducted the online survey between May and Sept. 7. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.  Source 

Jagor's comment: It would appear that financial gadfly and former Wall Strate trader Max Keiser was right when he commented on his television program a couple of days ago that "The United States is a third-world country pretending to be a first-world country."  [e.g. Considering luxuries as neccessities.]

What happened? What is causing America to topple into third-world status?  The main culprit is the bogus doctrine of Reaganomics, whose main consequence was to accelerate the acquisition of wealth by the top 1% and accelerate the pauperization and improverishment of the ever-shrinking middle class.

So now, American society is starting to resemble those of Central Ameridan banana republics like Honduras or Guatemala or African petro-kleptocracies like Equatorial Guinea or Gabon, where most of the country's wealth and political power are concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, while the overwhelming majority of the people strugle day-to-day in abject poverty.

We're not quite there yet, but when 68% of the American people are struggling to live from paycheck to paycheck, that's a sure sign that we're well on the way.


Jagor