Reminds me of my parents. Long divorced. Both always have a savings account with an extremely negligible amount in it. Don't know why they bother. We do have a problem in this country in that talking about finances is taboo. Especially about personal specifics. It's much less taboo to ask a friend the specifics of his sex life or medical history than how much money he makes or how much debt he has. And as a result, we have zero common sense for how to approach money. And that, of course, combines with a class system that is heavily unfavorable for those struggling to get by. It's great for banks. Terrible for people. How does one break a taboo?
Really it all just comes down to wages, memphis - wages are absurdly low in america. I used to go over this with my dear departed father:
He (a lifelong Republican mind you) used to remark that back before he 'went into business' he was getting around $5/hour in 1959 as young unionized worker in the metropolitan sewers just after getting out of the army... this was at a time when a car cost maybe $1,500 and a house less than $15,000, so this was roughly the equivalent of $50+/hour nowadays.
The last time he ever received a paycheck from another party was I think around 1971 (though he'd long since started his own business), and at that time the union wage was about $11-12/hour, at a time when a car was maybe $3,000 and a house maybe $30,000, so, figure this was roughly equivalent to about $75/hour nowadays.
It is low wages and the extraction of a larger share of national income by the exploitative class which has made for all our economic and social problems.
It's both. There are plenty of people who make good money who make really bad decisions. But the system is screwed against the other half as well. Both my parents had good government jobs that paid about the median income throughout their careers. My mom was a teacher and my dad was an accountant at the state prison. Obviously nothing extravagant, but neither was remotely wise with their money. Mom was always giving her money away to the synagogue going out to eat, and compulsively buying more clothes. Never met a credit card she didn't like. Dad bought us lots of video games and bought himself a new car every few years. He had a bit of a casino habit for a period in the 1990s. Thankfully, they both now have state pensions. Otherwise, they'd both be living under a bridge.
