NPR on Americans low saving rate with not a word on low wages

[CreekDog]

In the broadcast this morning, they interviewed an expert who when asked why people don't save mentioned credit, something about being baby boomers and nada, not one thing about how wages simply don't go as far.

Of course, i'm not saying that people who can save are always saving, but many people, a good percentage don't save because they can't, there isn't enough money to set much aside, or that amount set aside keeps getting eaten up with little emergencies. does the supposedly fair and in-depth NPR story even hint about that? No.

I'm sick of them, completely.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120397501

November 15, 2009

For nearly two years, the U.S. economy has been struggling with a recession brought on by excessive borrowing, both for home mortgages and consumer purchases. Economists say many people have learned a lesson; the personal savings rate is inching back up as more Americans embrace the "new frugality."

Still, half of U.S. households don't have even modest savings, according to a new study conducted by TNS Group, a market researcher, with help from professors at the Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College.

The researchers conducted a survey to see how many households could round up $2,000 within 30 days to cope with an emergency, such as having a car breakdown or needing a major home repair. About half said that even if they turned to relatives for help, they could not come up with $2,000 for a "rainy day," the study found.

...

Lusardi says most Americans continue to live with what she calls "financial fragility." That is, families may be living a middle-class lifestyle, but are one job loss, or even one car breakdown, away from tumbling into real financial trouble.

...

She recommends that families save in a "slow and steady" manner, always setting aside some cash each week to create a "rainy day" fund of at least $2,000.

...

[HughBeaumont]

1. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh . . .

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/HughBeaumont/86

[Bonobo]

2. $2,000 is hardly a "rainy day fund". More like a "drizzle fund".

$2,000?

A broken ankle will cost you more than that.

It will keep you from being evicted for just one month!

We are in deep shit if this report is true.

[Warpy]

3. There is a taboo against mentioning depressed wages in the US

and all media that must whore for corporate funding observe it.

[C_Lawyer09]

14. In 1993 I made 8.50 an hr. delivering water heaters and cutting and threading gas pipe

One of the guys I know who now does the same job, makes 8.35 an hour. How depressing.

[geckosfeet]

4. Can't save what you don't have. NPR playing the sky is falling angle.

[amandabeech]

5. The Globalism Inquisition would come after them if they mentioned low wages.

They'd be racked then burned at the stake.

Can't have that.

[Trajan]

6. In all fairness: it has been eliminated as an open topic by all sides

Wages are the backbone of our economy: with 2/3rds of ALL financial activity generated by consumer purchases, it is a grave error to cut them to the quick, and thereby strangle the engine of wealth that is so desired by the uber rich .... It just so happens that the loss of purchasing power by individuals and families due to low wages snowballs into greater job losses across the board, and a degenerate spiral into recession and possible depression for the entire country ...

Wages ? ...... Call them 'stimulus' .....

Wages are the REAL stimulus that drives the economic engine - Wealth in the hands of the extremely wealthy is weak when compared to wealth in the hands of families making their way through life ....

Wage earners have been strangled for decades, and the loss of easy credit has exposed families to a marketplace that cost too much for workers living on real wages ....

Wages = stimulus ...

[pitohui]

7. it's truly stupid to save when interest rates for saving accts/CDs/money markets are at alltime lows

maybe the good folks at NPR could learn some basic math

[justabob]

13. no kidding

We get to pay 10, 15, 20, 30% interest to borrow money, but when we save, we get 1-2.5%, if we are very fortunate. Sigh.

[Sal Minella]

15. This fact continues to amaze me.

When I was young (and the world was much younger) in the 'fifties, the bank in my small home town paid six percent on a savings account with them, and charged twelve percent for a loan.

And our banker lived in a very nice house and drove a very nice car, and was a respected citizen (looked upon especially fondly because he had managed to keep his bank afloat through the Depression).

The NPR story made it sound like Today's Young People are simply too irresponsible and muddle-headed and stupid to understand the importance of saving. No mention of the fact that savings rates have declined as real wages have declined, not even to mention employment rates.

Idiotic NPR story.

[justabob]

17. yeah I know

I remember having savings accounts that paid 5% and a cd or two when I was younger that paid 10%... That was in the eighties. The disparity in interest rates really really bothers me(among other things). Having the lending rate be twice as much as the saving rate(as you described) seems reasonable to me. I am not so young, but I can't manage saving right now. I can assure it is not because I am muddleheaded or irresponsible. I have a ceramic strawberry with varying levels of coin because it is all I can manage making less than 300 a week. GEEZ

[suegeo]

18. Plus, the value of the dollar plummets

so your savings does not mean as much. Maybe it's better to borrow borrow borrow now and pay back with worthless dollars later.

[JVS]

8. Between low wages and the fact that a huge portion of the population is retired/semi-retired (and..

thus should not be expected to do anything but withdraw savings) the savings rate won't go up significantly for a long time.

[subterranean]

9. The article also didn't mention health care costs

which are rising much faster than wages, and eat up an ever-growing chunk of income.

[Odin2005]

10. Mentioning depressed wages is a no-no in the MSM.

[Toucano]

11. "...a recession brought on by excessive borrowing..."?

I am surprised they don't just blame it all on ACORN.

I guess we're not allowed to say the recession was brought on by excessive corporate greed and predatory lending practices.

[madrchsod]

12. savings went up during the period after ww2

after the unions were busted, dedustrialization, and the financial markets were deregulated...well look at the result.

lusardi is basing her idea on an america that does`t exist.

[endless october]

16. how are jobless Americans supposed to save?

and how are non-union working Americans supposed to save when they make shit wages and have to deal with ridiculous health care bills?

[paulsby]

19. article is right

there are plenty of countries where people have less disposable income, where people have a better savings rate.

the US savings rate is largely due to a lack of discipline, and to a belief that one should spend what one earns (and then some) in order to have a high "quality of life" (iow a very consumer driven culture).

there are plenty of people who TRULY can't afford to save, but most can.

look at the %age of people who smoke for instance. and the US poor have a very high %age of smokers.

the money saved from stopping smoking would really add up if DCA'd into investments and savings

[truedelphi]

20. They also NEVER mention that if you some extra bucks and put it inside a savings account

The interest on that account is taxed. Whereas if you hand the money over to a market fund, or 401 or some such, you can avoid taxes.

True you no longer control your money - it will be subject to the ups and downs of the market.

But then it is the banksters who write the rules, not the average schmuck.

Why the nine percent a month that many in decent jobs put into such accounts is not deemed savings, I do not know. But it is indeed savings.