Credit here to Yahoo and Michael Snyder for highlighting some very sobering economic and financial statistics. Read the full article here.
- 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
- 36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.
- A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
I have written before about the new normal (The New Normal ~ Adjust Your Habits Accordingly) many Americans will be facing in the near future , if not already. The challenges of an economic recession, government expansion, extremely high unemployment and reduced government and municipal revenues will continue to put massive pressure on the American middle class. For far too many, they feel the American dream slipping away.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
These days, many Americans may be feeling like they are falling behind economically. For a long time since the end of World War II, the American middle class has been a goal that most individuals and families desired to attain. Admittedly, the middle class has been stubbornly unattainable for many others, but this post focuses on those that have achieved it and feel as though they are losing it as well as those that feel it may be lost forever. What are the consequences for our country if this were true?
The truth is that the middle class in America is dying — and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.