Center for Enterprise Development: Nearly Half of All Americans One Financial Shock Away from Poverty
Link is to a PDF of the summary press release. Here are some bullet points, if you don’t want to go play with CFED’s (rather comprehensive) website about the findings:
- More than half of consumers (56 percent) have subprime credit scores.
- Between the third quarters of 2008 and 2011, the home foreclosure rate increased by 50 percent, widening the already-considerable homeownership gap between white households and households of color. As of 2010, 73 percent of white households owned homes, compared with just 47 percent of households of color.
- One in five jobs is low-wage and nearly half of employers do not offer health insurance. In addition, 55 percent of workers do not have or participate in retirement plans.
- While the number of people getting four year college degrees is up slightly, the average debt for graduating college seniors has risen 19 percent since 2007 to $25,250.
Here is a relevant (and far-too-accurate-for-far-too-many) quote from the discussion on Reddit:
I live in poverty one financial shock away from homelessness.
And still, cutting taxes and social spending seem to be all the rage in Washington. This is how we live now.
Source: cfed.org
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awesomebrainpowers posted this
