wsj.com: Americans Tap Pandemic Savings to Cope With Inflation

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Americans are dipping into the huge pile of savings they accumulated over the first two years of the pandemic

wsj.com
Americans Tap Pandemic Savings to Cope With Inflation
With wage gains lagging behind soaring inflation, U.S. households are starting to dip into the huge pile of savings they accumulated over the first two years of the

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[CrispyQ]

1. We're cutting back on what we purchase.

We're definitely buying less. I cut back on the variety of products in my pantry. Instead of three types of flour & four types of sweetener, I'm cutting back to just all-purpose flour & granulated sugar & maple syrup. I will miss my ginger syrup in my hot tea & in my lemonade, but c'est la vie. I have a roof over my head & a pantry, so I can't complain.

Kitty, however, still gets what variety she likes that I can find.

[Magoo48]

2. How convenient

Inflation hit right after a period of saving.
Inflation hit right after a period of rising wages.

Our overlords can’t abide even the possibility of us even repossessioning ourselves under the thumb of debt.

[snowybirdie]

3. Why is this a story?

Regular folks use whatever funds are available to keep things going. They don't have trust funds or unlimited money around the house to pay for needs. But it gives WSJ a chance to talk about "soaring inflation" doesn't it?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Because Rupert Murdoch is paying me to post it. NT

[Farmer-Rick]

6. Huge Pile of Savings?????????

Where's my huge pile of savings?

I didn't save over the pandemic neither did my children. They had tough enough time just making ends meet.

WTF are they talking about?

Maybe little old Murdoch was talking about the filthy rich with their huge pile of savings that they stole from the US government by promising not to lay off workers, when they did layoffs anyway, and when they got the Trump tax giveaways while raising the middle and lower class and self employed taxes.

Oh well Murdoch has never been very good with the truth. He just likes to spin and manipulate and lie. Why doesn't he just go back to Australia?????

[progree]

7. Here's the Personal Savings Rate according to BEA by way of FRED

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT

Here's an IMGUR of it I made back in May --



Personal income also shows a big jump during the pandemic, but that bump has long passed.This from April 30
https://www.democraticunderground.com/111693154

[Farmer-Rick]

8. So, it includes people like Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, Walmart and the Koch Bros

The very rich gulping up the free dollars from the US government, through rent, promises not to do layoffs and interests and dividends from government loans would make that number jump. It's based on BEA's personal income statistics.

BEA's personal income statistics show the income that U.S. residents get from paychecks, employer-provided supplements such as insurance, business ownership, rental property, Social Security and other government benefits, interest, and dividends. (Personal income doesn't include capital gains from changes in stock prices, however.)

https://www.bea.gov/resources/learning-center/what-to-know-income-saving

[progree]

9. Yup. And so...

It includes me too, and my income and savings went up (not counting any capital gains). My spending went way down too (savings = income minus spending)

Maybe Saez and Zucman and Pikety will come along and do a breakdown by deciles or something. I certainly would be very interested in seeing it.

I'm not real eager to spend my "pile of savings" giving that its purchasing power has been eroded about 90% by inflation since January 2021 (when inflation started heating up), and my equities are down in both nominal and especially inflation-adjusted dollars.

[Farmer-Rick]

10. But here's the thing

I save $1 you save $10 and Bezo saves $10,000 in one day. That makes our average savings $3,337 in one day but who actually saved more than $1,000? Not you or me.

Averages are deceiving. They can hide scewed data. When the filthy rich pocket our tax dollars, they make it look like everyone in the US is doing just fine. And that's what they want you to believe.

[progree]

11. Oh I know. I'm sure the top 10% got well over half of it /nt