> majority of citizens can't afford a $1000 financial emergency without relying on subprime credit or family
What percentage of those are on their third or later always-financed, premium smartphone, have a $150/mo cable package, and a $150+/mo coffee habit, cook less than half their meals, are leasing a late-model car, etc.?
At some point in a long enough series of spending decisions, I think you have to consider responsibility a factor in being unable to afford $1000 unplanned expense.
Average rent in Missouri for a one bedroom is $1200/mo. Minimum wage is $11/hour.
Take home pay after taxes would be around $1600, leaving $400 after rent to pay for food, utilities, healthcare, transportation, etc.
Those people aren't spending $150/month on cable and they don't have a lot of spare money to put away for a rainy day.
You could move to North Dakota where average rent is around $900, but then min wage there is only $7.25/hr, giving you around $1100/mo after taxes with $200 left over for everything else.
Yup, though realistically, probably not too many people on minimum wage are living alone in a 1br. There probably aren't that many people on minimum wage, period, especially 7.25.
The biggest problem here isn't the income, though, it's the rising cost of housing due to anti-housing policies. Some of them explicit (e.g. zoning), some of them unfortunate side effects (e.g. extensive environmental reviews making all large construction projects take a really long time).
What percentage of those are on their third or later always-financed, premium smartphone, have a $150/mo cable package, and a $150+/mo coffee habit, cook less than half their meals, are leasing a late-model car, etc.?
At some point in a long enough series of spending decisions, I think you have to consider responsibility a factor in being unable to afford $1000 unplanned expense.