To make sense of how the faltering economy is affecting parents, we sent a smart reporter, Melissa Rayworth, to write a piece for Babble about what today's American families are spending and saving. What she discovered in the course of writing "The New Economics of Parenthood" is not good news: we're spending more than ever and saving next to nothing. She writes: Anyone who isn't overspending knows plenty of people who are. Credit card debt grew nationally by $184 billion between 2000 and 2006, according to the research firm Demos. Meanwhile, the national savings rate for 2006 was negative one percent. Not since the Depression have Americans saved nothing at all.
Read the rest of the article here.
Does what Melissa says about spending too much and not saving enough sound familiar? Or are you one of the happy few who have more than enough money for your family's day-to-day expenses and plenty socked away for retirement?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
Ben Freeman at 1:24PM on Mar 17th 2008
2. I am retired and totally debt free. No mortage, no car payments, no loans, no credit card debt. I have always lived below my income level which allowed me to save for retirement and become debt free before I retired. Most young Americans want it all now but they don't understand this country is living off it's past residuals. We are the worlds largest debtor nation when we once were the worlds largest lending nation. The country like most Americans is living off credit and is having problems paying the bills. There are going to be a lot of unhappy people in this country over the next twenty five years........
Larry at 1:32PM on Mar 17th 2008
3. i don't see why people can't save money, it's sad to see all these people with poor money management skills. banks are making it easier than ever to MAKE money, but it seems like it's more fun for us to spend what we don't even have on credit cards and spiral into debt.
if you don't have the money, don't spend it. simple as that. i don't think people realize just how ridiculous their spending habits are.
hannah at 1:59PM on Mar 17th 2008
4. http://www.evolutionnews.org/
Ben Dover at 2:29PM on Mar 17th 2008
5. Google, "The Story of Stuff" and spend 20 minutes watching an entertaining and award winning video explaining how,"consumerism" became the basis of our economy after WWII.
Among other things, note that *most* of what we purchase ends up in the trash or stuffed away in a closet within six months of purchasing it.
We have bought into consumerism. It is coming back to haunt us. This video helps explain why, in the aftermath of 9-11, George Dumbya Bush said we could best fight terrorims by shopping.
Captain Negative at 2:39PM on Mar 17th 2008