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Originally posted by bilmore
(Actually, I think we had about seven completely different arguments going on at once there.)
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Undoubtedly.
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All true, but I thought I was reacting to Wonk's post.
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I thought you were too.
I understand that you're trying to draw a distinction between whether people really
are living "paycheck to paycheck" versus whether they just
think they are. What I don't get is why you're making that distinction.
This point ...
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My point is that, when you chart out the savings rates for the last twenty years, there's not a whole lot of variance. We have been, for years, a poorly-saving society. There's always a big dip in savings rate ofter market crashes, as people stop thinking that savings are a good use for money, but what I saw on AG's chart does NOT support "the vast majority" . . .
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... eludes me. I agree that as a society we suck at saving, and have for years. I'm not talking about a temporal element, and am not really focusing on the 20 year trend line. There's also been lots of posts about WHY people don't save, because they've been wasting money on nonessential things. So what? Even if people have been pissing it away, if they encounter a financial problem, they're still screwed, right?
What I find baffling is your dogged insistence that people might just "think" they're living paycheck to paycheck, as though they're all really simply mistaken. Upon a job loss or similar mishap, are they really going to uncover that 6 months of savings under the mattress?
