This week, Time looks at the issue of lack of money by millions of Americans.
We can learn a great deal about money and the lack thereof in this timely issue of Time, for instance:
Almost 2/3 of Americans would take a pay cut to keep their job.
70% of Americans have cut back on vacations or entertainment.
40% have used college or retirement savings to pay bills.
34% have been unemployed, not by personal choice.
27% have gone without health insurance.
13% have been hungry because they could not afford food.
7% have lost their home because they could not afford the rent or mortgage.
To cut costs, families are doing more themselves, such as repairs and maintenance, housecleaning, lawn care and yard work, auto repairs, haircuts.
In 1950, 22% of a family’s budget went for food. In 2010, we have cut back to 7% for food in favor of housing, health care and insurance.
There are 7,175 Farmers’ Markets operating this year, a 64% increase since 2006.
There were 13.9 million passports issued in 2010, which is 24% fewer than in 2007.
When the economy is weak, consumers cut back on nonessentials and spend their money on little luxuries such as lipstick. This has become known as the Lipstick Index, corroborated by an increase of 14% in lipstick sales in 2011. Nail polish sales, another bellwether of economic turbulence, has risen to a disturbing 54%.
According to Moody’s Analytics, the top 5% of money earners in the U.S. now account for 37% of the spending.
Source: Time Magazine’s Issue of October 10, 2011