Sixteen percent (16%) of those interviewed said the lack of money or earning low salaries is their biggest financial worry; fourteen percent (14%) mentioned the cost of healthcare; and, eleven percent (11%) said it is having too much debt or not having enough money to pay off their debts.
Tied in fourth place at eight percent (8%) are the cost of owning or renting a home, inflation or the high cost of living, and unemployment or job loss.
Gallup said the top three financial problems cited this year were the same ones that most Americans have cited during the previous two years.
In the same poll, Americans were asked what they are most worried about happening this year.
- Fifty three percent (53%) said not being able to maintain their standard of living.
- Forty three percent (43%) said not being able to pay their medical or health costs over the next twelve months.
- Forty two percent (42%) said they worry that their homes might lose their value this year, and,
- Thirty percent (30%) said they worry losing their job or their spouse will lose their job within the next twelve months.
Gallup says the last statistic (worry about losing their job) is notable given that the nation is suffering from a high unemployment rate. The pollster said “…it appears most Americans are more worried about living well in their current situation rather than unemployment.”
The USA Today/Gallup poll was conducted in January 7 to 9. A random sample of 1,018 adult Americans were interviewed for the survey.
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Please note; The “Summer Of Recovery” of 2010 has been changed. It was postponed due to lack of attendance. The new “Summer Of Recovery” has been moved ahead to 2011 pending approval. The working title “Summer of Recovery” is still uncertain at this time and is subject to change without notice. Please check with your local newspaper for any further updates.
Topic: Statistics
To put things in perspective, throughout the so called great depression of the 1930’s; seventy five to eighty percent of the workforce remained working and/or employed. Currently eighty seven to ninety percent of the workforce remains working and/or employed.
Topic: How to mix apples with oranges (please see above)
What are the apples and what are the oranges?
Most employed do not think that they will be affected by unemployment…it’s the typical thought process of it “happens to other people, but not to me.” I mean, really, did you anticipate you were going to lose your job?–were you worried about becoming unemployed? (Probably not.) And once you became unemployed, did you really think you’d be without employment 99 weeks later? I think not. Everyone typically thinks it happens to others but not to themselves. Part of it is the stick your head in the sand mentality, and some if it is just keeping your sanity for as long as you can. Deny, deny, deny until it happens to you. It’s also why we have such a hard time getting the regular employed American to pay attention to the plight of the unemployed, because they do not believe it can happen to them; it will have no affect on them. And if it has no affect on them, why should they care, is the thought process. By the time it does happen to them, it’s too late, and they just become one of our numbers, unable to be heard, and wondering why.
I totally agree with you Sharon. I was laid off October 2008 and I never thought that I would be laid off nor did I ever think that I would still be unemployed. I have worked since I was 18 yrs old. This is the longest that I have ever went without employment. America needs to wake up.
Topic: Numbers Fudged
Under-Regulated Capitalism will not and can not work for the good of society as a whole. The reasons are obvious, and superfluous to my topic. That said, universal healthcare coverage is prominent in most industrialized modern societies; a hard cold fact of reality that many (U.S.A.) capitalists financially invested in the big business of (U.S.A.) Healthcare, don’t want to talk about, publicly. For obvious reasons.
The current (U.S.A.) job- related situations display an obvious trend; results of far too much Under-Regulated Capitalism. The fudged statistics offered up by (U.S.A.) Governmental Officials, and their cronies, concerning employment do not reflect the plight of the working poor; nor all the poor who want to work.
There is a serious flaw, for example, in our current structure of Under-Regulated Capitalism that needs to be resolved immediately. Simply stated, Under-Regulated Capitalism politics has established a system in which we live, that mandates a minimum wage of approximately ($15,000.) fifteen thousand dollars per year to a working U.S.A. Private Citizen Taxpayer. At the same time, the same system mandates that approximately ($23,000.) twenty three thousand dollars per year will be spent just to house and feed a incarcerated criminal! Incidentally that same criminal’s healthcare plan is enviable by most Private Citizen Taxpayers!
The ordinary (U.S.A.) Private Citizen Taxpayer should be and must be outraged about that undeniable fact of this system! It is out of order! Don’t be silent. Silence is acceptance. Demand justice and nothing less. Contact your Governmental Officials today. Insist that mandated wages to a working Taxpayer are at least as much as the cost of providing care for a incarcerated criminal!
AUTHOR: James Madison, IV
January 2011 A.D.
The end
Very well said .
Topic: Under-Regulated Capitalism
Under-Regulated Capitalism politics has established a (U.S.A.) system in which we live, that mandates a minimum wage of approximately fifteen thousand dollars per year to a working U.S.A. Private Citizen Taxpayer. At the same time, the same system mandates that approximately twenty three thousand dollars per year will be spent just to house and feed a incarcerated criminal! Incidentally, that same criminal’s healthcare plan is enviable by most Private Citizen Taxpayers!
The ordinary Private Citizen Taxpayer should not be silent about a system that is obviously out of order. Silence is acceptance. Contact your Governmental Officials today. Insist that mandated wages to a working Taxpayer are at least as much as the mandated cost of providing care for a incarcerated criminal!
AUTHOR: James Madison, IV
January 2011 A.D.
The end
http://politicalirony.com/2010/07/19/sinking-feeling-of-the-unemployed/
Topic: Ordinary U.S.A. Taxpayer Scratches Head
Big corporate oil giant Halliburton Company fourth-quarter profits at 600 plus million dollars; in “these hard economic times.” How do they do it? Perhaps price fixing and monopolizing figures in, after all.
Private Citizen Taxpayers (U.S.A.) current indebtedness at approximately 160 million dollars, and rising, financing the defense law firms representing the Fannie Mae Corporation! One would have surmised that the Fannie Mae Corporation would be liable for paying their defense law firms. However, in our present (U.S.A.) Under-Regulated Capitalism political system, the ordinary Private Citizen Taxpayer is footing the bill! That is a fact of the matter. Ever wonder how much of a kickback, if any, those indicted executives (three men) would receive in one form or other, from those law firms? None of course, that would never happen in American style big corporation circles!
AUTHOR: James Madison, IV
January, 2011 A.D.
The end
Any word on Michael C’s absence ?