US Consumer Debt growing

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Because we CAN...NOT buy basic cars like the Volkswagen Type 1 or Citroen 2CV1. Nor a basic utility vehicle like the original quasi-military Army jeep.

He11, the Army can't buy an Army jeep, now. They have to have Bradley armored carriers or huge awkward HMWVEEs.

What we NEED...is a ROLLBACK of standards, to allow little, useful cars like the King Midget or Volkswagen Gol (Fox in US, 1986-93) or the Jeep Station Wagon (1947-65) made and sold.

With regulatory rationalization, the price of a basic new car to get a kid from his Tiny Home to his job at the Call Center, would be about $6000 or so.
 
The liars at CNBC are quick to blame corporations and banks.

WHY again do we need 20 airbags (or ANY) in ALL CARS?

HOW, again, are we going to meet fantasy Obombah-fiat air-"pollution" standards?

How about all that Nanny-State scheisse required, again, by control-freaks in gubbermint - every car with a Breathalyzer, a po-po Kill Switch, linkups to the Cloud, to make sure you don't TURN OFF any of those silly computer-control nuisances?

Interest. Is five-percent interest, "high"? It's been much higher most of my lifetime. There is no "right" to borrow at Zero-Percent.

Let's get real. We can't all afford luxury rolling vaults with air pillows all over and power seats. Let makers make or import BASIC cars - the kind that every industrial nation going through a disaster or upheaval, makes. Because we damm-sure are in a crisis, now.
 

How Phantom Debt Is Haunting American Consumers​

Jun 24, 2024 #CNBC

The number of buy now, pay later loans increased nearly 1,100% between 2019 and 2021, according to data compiled by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The debt that accumulates from these loans is referred to as "phantom debt," because it's unclear just how much is out there and how well consumers are paying them back. Juniper Research estimates these transactions could reach nearly $700 billion by 2028. Watch the video above to learn more about the risk phantom debt poses to the economy.

11:07

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:34 How much phantom debt is out there
5:00 Consequences of phantom debt
8:15 Regulating buy now, pay later
 

How Americans Are Paying For Vacation​

Jun 29, 2024 #CNBC

More than one-third of summer vacationers say they are willing to take on debt to pay for travel this season, according to a March 2024 report from Bankrate. The average vacation for one person in the U.S. costs nearly $2,000 per week, according to BudgetYourTrip.com. An analysis by Forbes Advisors found that 28% of Americans across all generations say they have less than $1,000 in personal savings as of May 2024. Watch the video above to learn about those vacation-spending practices and what financial experts think about them.

9:33

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:16 Credit card debt
3:12 Taking out a loan
4:58 Economic consequences
6:54 Fun on a budget
 

I Had To "DOWNGRADE MY LIFE"...GOING INTO DEBT TO BUY GROCERIES​

Jul 15, 2024 #realestate #housingmarket #homeprices

There are some people out there who think that they are better than everyone else because their life is going great while so many others are having a tough time in this tough economy, where inflation is still outpacing, wages, and rents, and the cost-of-living our surpassing peoples incomes. For me it is something I don't tolerate here on the channel and I will make sure everyone who watches my videos knows that today.

19:49
 

39% of Americans worry they can’t pay the bills​

Many Americans regularly worry they won’t be able to make ends meet.

Nearly four in ten (39%) of US adults say they worry most or all of the time that their family’s income won’t be enough to meet expenses, according to a new CNN poll. That’s up from 28% who expressed those concerns in December 2021, and it’s similar to the numbers seen during the Great Recession (37%).

To cope, significant shares of Americans said they are adding side jobs, cutting down on driving and putting more expenses on credit cards.

Even higher percentages of Latino (52%) and Black (46%) Americans said they’re worried most or all of the time about making ends meet, according to the poll.

More:

 

Debt Collections EXPLODE AS MORE PEOPLE DEFAULT!​

Aug 5, 2024

If you're one of the unlucky who gets laid off in this horrible economy, you may want to look into working for a debt collection agency because business is booming for them. According to one of my viewers who works for one, their business has tripled just this year and they've also had to double their staff since the beginning of 2024 just to keep up with all of the new debt collection business they are receiving.

20:06

Articles Mentioned in the Video

- https://apnews.com/article/intel-chip...
- https://apple.news/APbD2Yu0OTYO3p7HRb...
 

Average consumer now carries $6,329 in credit card debt. ‘People are stretched,’ expert says​

  • Collectively, Americans owe $1.14 trillion on their credit cards, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday.
  • The average credit card balance is now $6,329, a new report by TransUnion found.
  • As consumers lean on credit cards, more borrowers are also falling behind on their payments, both reports show.
Credit card debt is on the rise.

Americans now owe a record $1.14 trillion on their credit cards, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday.

The average balance per consumer stands at $6,329, up 4.8% year over year, according to a separate quarterly credit industry insights report from TransUnion.

More:

 

Who are buy now, pay later borrowers, and what are they buying?​

  • BNPL spending projected to hit $18.5 billion in Q4 2023
  • 71% of BNPL users also had credit card debt in 2023
  • Most BNPL users make on-time payments, but credit scores often subprime
Oct 10 (Reuters) - As Amazon's Prime Day kicked off the holiday shopping season this week, U.S. consumers are expected to spend a record $18.5 billion using buy now, pay later for purchases in the last quarter of the year, according to projections by data firm Adobe Analytics.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) exploded in popularity as the COVID-19 pandemic forced more shoppers online, driving $75 billion in online spending in 2023, up 14.3% from 2022, according to Adobe.

More:

 

The TRUTH! 76% of Americans SAY THEY CAN'T PAY THEIR BILLS!​

Oct 13, 2024

Lending Tree's latest survey of Americans shows that 76% of Americans say they can't pay their bills. The reason? They simply don't have enough money. Are people living beyond their means or has inflation and the cost of living outpaced wages tremendously, leaving everyone scrambling to catch up. None of this is a sign of a strong economy.

18:51
 
Debt is no big deal. Government can just cancel everyones debt on CC's and houses and the fed can assume all the debt. Problem solved. Just ask Biden. How many student loans did he cancel?
 
Cigarlover said:
Debt is no big deal. Government can just cancel everyones debt on CC's and houses and the fed can assume all the debt. Problem solved. Just ask Biden. How many student loans did he cancel?
Click to expand...
Debt is no big deal; but the PANIC that this unpayable debt creates, works YUUGELY in favor of the Left. The same movement that's left over 30 million dead in a century, has managed to hold and grow power by convincing the rubes that "WE CARE!!!"

The whole last five years have been nothing but panic. Panic of a moral crisis - RAY-SISSM! Panic of a bat-soup virus. Panic of those who said the virus wasn't a big deal, and on-the-rack medicines could handle it. Panic of those who said, beware the injection, which was NOT a vaccine.

Now, panic from the 40 million invaders running riot AND VOTING.

So...they'll cancel Stoopid Loans to the Dumbos' core constituencies (the educated stupid with expensive credentialing) but they aren't going to help the Deplorables. Except, help them to die or get killed. Jab, famine, war-and-draft.
 

Why Young People Are in So Much Debt​

Nov 2, 2024 #Debt #Economy #Business

Younger Americans face a financial crisis. Their growing debt burden has far outpaced that of older generations, and it’s only getting worse. Generation Z is being hit the hardest, thanks to lower income and the rising cost of everything from food to housing. Bloomberg takes a look at the roots of this problem, and whether anything can be done.

11:30

Read more: How Gen Z Ended Up in So Much Debt https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featur...
 
They're incapable of the discipline required to scale back.

The world they came into, was a world where high-school kids had new cars to drive to school. Where designer clothing was the standard. Home prices had started to rise, but other extravagances UNHEARD of in Boomers' young years, were commonplace.

They lack/lacked perspective - which comes of age. They ALSO lacked, and lack, the kind of guidance that fathers, grandfathers, USED to provide.

No one taught them how to manage money; and they're not old enough to have learned how themselves.

AND...CREDIT IS A ROPE, TIED IN A NOOSE. When I was a kid, you couldn't GET credit. Not even Woolworths' credit cards. It was something that was EARNED.

No buy-here-pay-here options. No, if you wanted something, you found cash. Earned it, Bank of Dad, or bum money off a friend.

So...a bad idea or set of ideas, giving credit to kids, comes to its natural end. Color me shocked...
 
All roads lead to inflation. Buy gold while you can. Pretty soon only rich folks will own it.
 

WHIP OUT THE CREDIT CARD! The Holiday SHOPPING EPIDEMIC IS HERE!​

Nov 10, 2024

The holiday shopping epidemic is upon us once again and I say epidemic not because its bad to buy gifts for your loved ones. But the fact that so many people are OK with going into debt in order to purchase those gifts. As if going into unnecessary debt has just become apart of who we are as Americans.

20:12
 
Just watching the excrement precipitation.

Living as a minimalist, has a lot of drawbacks...but now...as easy as it is to get caught up in the mass panic, some organic, some ginned up by mediuh...I can still, for the moment, sit back and watch all the car dealers go broke, and take joy that there are fewer hulking bro-dozers clogging up the local roads.

Doesn't break my heart to see fast-filth outlets go broke, either.

I don't like to judge these things emotively; but I've had a burning hatred for people who live SO FAR beyond their means...expensive cars, expensive McMansions, food and clothes I couldn't reasonably afford. Now they can't afford, not only what they bought, but the PAYMENTS on it.

Me, I'm good for now - until the power goes out, which, by the looks of it, might be next week. Thanks to Our Fearless (and brainless) Leader...
 

US credit card defaults jump to highest level since 2010

Consumers are ‘tapped out’ after years of high inflation and as pandemic-era savings have evaporated
www.ft.com
 
Watching an ex-coworker hide a 65 thousand dollar truck from a bank...manchild bought every toy he ever wanted...hilarious.
 

“I Paid MORE IN INTEREST THAN MY CAR IS ACTUALLY WORTH!”​

So many people are getting stuck with enormous car payments of $750/mo and up due to the rising cost of vehicles but also because of subprime loans. Some situations are so bad that people buy cars and pay more in interest payments than the original sticker price of the car!

19:31

Articles Mentioned in the Video
- https://apple.news/Af5blzCiLQN---R4DZ...
- https://apple.news/A58Of47vyR5qjQxkjX...
 
Fatrat said:
Watching an ex-coworker hide a 65 thousand dollar truck from a bank...manchild bought every toy he ever wanted...hilarious.
Click to expand...
That's actually a....well, not a good price; but keeping in line with inflation/other auto/truck prices.

In 1980, a mid-trim Chevrolet squarebody would be had for $6500.

In 1980, I was working for $3.60 an hour. Twenty-five cents over minimum.

Today, the de-facto minimum wage is $20 an hour. That's if you want the employee to keep showing up.

And the average car price, now, is $52k new; $31k USED.

People are griping, or panicking, that the average NEW payment is over $700 a month. Well, even in 1980, a car payment of $70 was considered low - inviting questions like, "Why didn't you just pay cash for it?"

The problem, of course, is that with all the other myriad expenses - including a BastardCard balance, cooking at 24-percent interest - people don't HAVE $700 a month to spend.

Don't get me wrong. I have a LOT of problems with these new computerized kludges. They don't hold up. They're designed NOT to be easily serviced, or at all. Planned-Obsolescence on LSD.

And all the expensive safety crap.

But while prices have risen, they haven't risen much above and beyond the debasement of the fiat-dollar. Gold has kept pace right in line with the rising costs of personal cars...using $200 as a benchmark, 1975.

Yes, there were fluctuations but using the average.
 
Thing is, he never had the disapline to paybills, this was not a surprise.
 
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