Liberal Forum

"This dilemma is better illustrated by the chart below. The blue line is the personal savings rate, and the red line shows the debt needed annually to bridge the gap between the inflation-adjusted cost of living and savings and incomes. As shown, at the turn of the century, the consumer was no longer able to fund their living standard through just income and savings.

The fact that consumers were forced to take on increasing debt levels to maintain their living standards explains why consumption as a percent of GDP has remained stagnant over the same period."

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-fina ... apping-out

"At the heart of the problem is the collapse of household balance sheets in the lower-income and middle-income brackets.

These groups have depleted the excess savings accumulated during the pandemic and are turning to high-interest borrowing to bridge the gap.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that the share of active credit card accounts making only minimum payments surged to 10.75% in Q3 2024—a record high. This statistic isn’t just a warning about credit health; it points to widespread cash flow stress."

I was just reviewing this and if the average consumer completely tapped out how will they sell base model cars and old houses now cost more than an estate used too.

What about all the exisiting debt and defaults to come.

Open ya eyes gonna be a bumpy road ahead I do beleive

TwoIfByTea » 11 Apr 2025, 12:06 pm » wrote: ↑

11 Apr 2025, 12:06 pm

"This dilemma is better illustrated by the chart below. The blue line is the personal savings rate, and the red line shows the debt needed annually to bridge the gap between the inflation-adjusted cost of living and savings and incomes. As shown, at the turn of the century, the consumer was no longer able to fund their living standard through just income and savings.

The fact that consumers were forced to take on increasing debt levels to maintain their living standards explains why consumption as a percent of GDP has remained stagnant over the same period."

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-fina ... apping-out

Let's not confuse today's confusion among people between WANTS and NEEDS.
I don't like to see the phrase  "PEOPLE WERE FORCED" used in these discussions....  

*GHETTOBLASTER » 11 Apr 2025, 3:19 pm » wrote: ↑

11 Apr 2025, 3:19 pm

Let's not confuse today's confusion among people between WANTS and NEEDS.
I don't like to see the phrase  "PEOPLE WERE FORCED" used in these discussions....

Ill raise ya 

Take the internet up until afew decades ago vast majority did not have it nor was it a neccessity to function and live your life.

Today ya cannot function without access everything from applying for a job to scheduling a doctors appointment
 

TwoIfByTea » 11 Apr 2025, 4:23 pm » wrote: ↑

11 Apr 2025, 4:23 pm

Ill raise ya 

Take the internet up until afew decades ago vast majority did not have it nor was it a neccessity to function and live your life.

Today ya cannot function without access everything from applying for a job to scheduling a doctors appointment

Whenever I encounter this situation I ask.....
"Since when did it become mandatory for me to own a smart phone or a computer to qualify for all of the discounts and services that you offer to everyone else..?
Usually this is enough to shame the person at the other end into exerting what little effort it takes  just to accommodate poor me.....  
At the supermarket this means the clerk has to manually type in some code that enables my discount for an item that is on sale.
 

*GHETTOBLASTER » 11 Apr 2025, 5:10 pm » wrote: ↑

11 Apr 2025, 5:10 pm

Whenever I encounter this situation I ask.....
"Since when did it become mandatory for me to own a smart phone or a computer to qualify for all of the discounts and services that you offer to everyone else..?
Usually this is enough to shame the person at the other end into exerting what little effort it takes  just to accommodate poor me.....  
At the supermarket this means the clerk has to manually type in some code that enables my discount for an item that is on sale.

It started along time ago with the rewards cards at Gas Stations & Supermarkets and you needed sign up get the discount.

At first people were somewhat resistant but today ya need a card of some phone app everyplace ya go.

Went to a Dollar General had coffee on sale but the scanner did not include the sale price asked the clerk look on the shelf and pointed out the sign with sale price

She was not happy about it but did manually put the sales price in as marked on the sign