Way too many Americans are in a financial mess. Why is that?
For some, poverty is a long-term trap. For others it’s a matter of uncontrollable misfortune.
But for the great majority of Americans it’s a matter living within their means, making saving their always first priority, exercising self-discipline on all spending and never paying credit card debt interest.
Easy? Not always. In fact it can be real hard. It means saying no to spending when you are trying to please or help others. It may mean giving up things you really enjoy or want or even need.
It may mean finding additional sources of income, working more than 40 hours a week.
But it is possible, very doable and it has its rewards!
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Who is doing the spending? If it is the federal/state/local government, did they stay in their lane and limit their actions to what is best provided by the government? Otherwise, that means, sooner or later, they will take accumulated wealth or income from taxpayers – and use it not so much for betterment of Americans, but to buy votes.
Who is more likely not to waste money – those who sacrificed time, energy and resources working to accumulate earnings and wealth for future consumption or for a bequest, or those who take from others? And, finally, who gets to decide what is wasteful?
My belief is simple, don’t criticize my spending (or lack thereof), don’t envy or covet my income/assets, and don’t confiscate them in the name of equity. You won’t hear me criticize how others spend their money, or how they spend their time – except in response to those who didn’t work as necessary to satisfy their wants and prefer to take from me.
I could have pissed it all away, taken a few trips to Vegas, gotten Dick’s favorite – a few tattoo’s etc.
And, I guarantee you, before I pass it along to the government entities, I will spend, gift or waste it however I see fit.
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Recycling a blog post after just 4 days? Nothing new to say?
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“…Americans spend their money on decidedly discretionary stuff.”
We’re number one…
I was actually searching for excessive consumption, such as…
“With less than 5 percent of world population, the U.S. uses one-third of the world’s paper, a quarter of the world’s oil, 23 percent of the coal, 27 percent of the aluminum, and 19 percent of the copper,”
So, yeah, either way, we could stand to save more and consume less. Should we feel guilty? It’s a blessing, and a curse.
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“working more than 40 hours a week” I was salaried my entire career and normally worked 70+ straight time hours a week and never got a penny extra. The last five years were especially brutal because my company said I had maxed out my salary level- so no more pay raises either. You would probably have some insights into that…. In spite of that, I can honestly say I enjoyed the job I was doing and never dreaded going in to work. I have now been retired two years and counting.. Please keep up the good work! I thoroughly enjoy reading pieces. Smith Smallwood
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My dad told me a long time ago: “Son….never bet against human nature …because you’ll lose more times than you’ll win”.
Continue to bet people still want vacations, new I-phones, designer clothes and shoes, fun nights on the town, Starbucks coffees, etc. and to hell with asking “if I can afford it at the time”.
Continue to bet credit card companies are making a profit.
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It’s a paradox. One person’s decidedly discretionary stuff is another persons additional source of income. What would the U.S. GDP be if everyone stopped wasting money? And if everyone invested all their savings in the market, what kind of returns would they get if everyone else is giving up things they really enjoy, or even need?
Just ask the Alliance of Professional Tattooists.
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Just a matter of balance. No need to give up everything, some things some times. It adds up quickly.
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You may be right, but…
“If a population decides to save more money at all income levels, then total revenues for companies will decline. This decreased demand causes a contraction of output, giving employers and employees lower income. Eventually the population’s total saving will have remained the same or even declined because of lower incomes and a weaker economy.”
That’s John Maynard Keynes, granted many economists disagree, it’s also biblical…
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”
— Proverbs 11:24
The GAO appears to disagree…
“National saving provides the resources for a nation to invest domestically and abroad. Domestic investment in new factories and equipment can boost productivity of the nation’s workforce. Increased worker productivity, in turn, leads to higher real wages and greater economic growth over the long term.”
Doesn’t say who is going to buy all that increased productivity. (In the short run.)
Seems logical to me that, if everyone (who could) increased saving to ten or fifteen percent of income, as recommended, it would result in economic recession.
But it’s moot, because the chances of that happening are slim to none. Somebody has to support the tattooist.
In Wikipedia, it’s called the paradox of thrift.
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