Which is bigger: the percentage of people in the U.S. who say that they live paycheck-to-paycheck or the percentage of people in Mexico who say that they live paycheck-to-paycheck?
The percentage of Americans is 28%, while the percentage of Mexicans is 7%. Quite striking considering the per capita GDP of the U.S. is about 25 times as big as Mexico's.
What can account for this? Maybe for Americans it is worth living paycheck-to-paycheck as long as they can consume massive amounts of goods and services. Maybe we have a serious "keeping up with the Joneses" issue. Maybe we're more susceptible (gullible) to savvy advertising. Or maybe we have too much available credit and too little self-restraint.
I hope to be posting a few words on credit soon: Some thoughts about how it can be a really good thing and a really bad thing, our "success story" of how we carried huge credit card debt for years without paying any interest, and more. Look for it some time before August (give me a break, I'm in summer school!)
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