And total household debt is currently over $18 trillion.
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At the U.S. Capitol, unstoppable units are trying to fill the immovable objects. It's an insatiable desire for tax cuts and the country's trillion dollar budget deficit. But Americans are increasingly worried about another kind of debt, as conservative legislators are distorted to spread the millionaire kickback with constant claims about “financial responsibility.”
The desperate state of the average US finances was revealed last month when Doordash announced a partnership with Klarna, a company that “buy now, pay later” If you can't dodge the $25 plus fee for your next meal, you can pay in installments. In theory, these payments could be interest-free. In reality, those who need a few months' plan to buy lunch also risk missing these deadlines and earning late fees that drive the profits of little-regulated BNPL companies.
This widely mimicked “solution” is not the latest step in the marching to technodystopia. The ability someone to fall into arrears with CrunchWrap Supreme reflects a wider debt crisis only exacerbated by predatory practices camouflaged as corporate mercy. In an age where consumer sentiment is already falling apart, America cannot afford so many Americans cannot afford to buy, with almost low numbers being recorded.
According to the Federal Reserve, consumer debt is at an all-time high, with the average family exceeding $100,000. The US total housing debt currently exceeds $18 trillion. And when that debt is measured as a percentage of the population's GDP, Americans find themselves in the fiscal channel worse than their counterparts in Russia, Pakistan and the Republic of Congo. We might think that world-leading consumer spending represents the prosperity of our people, but it really reflects individual peonies.
Now this balloon liability is threatening to burst for those who can at least afford it. Subprime borrowers have been behind paying cars at the highest rates in 30 years, with federal housing authorities' defaults approaching pre-pandemic highs. This debt gap comes from the corresponding savings gap. Low-income Americans spend on average more than they do each month. This is, as documentary Astra Taylor argues, “not because they live beyond their means, but because they are being denied the means of living.” And the few dollars they have are literally no spending thanks to the rise of a cashless economy. As a result, credit card delinquency has skyrocketed to a level not seen since the Great Recession.
Are there other similarities to the worst economic downtown of the century? Large-scale deregulation. A retroactive federal report on the financial crisis condemned the lack of oversight by Clinton and Bush administrations. The crash, which cost around 9 million people, led President Obama to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, proposed by then-law professor Professor Elizabeth Warren, to avoid repeating the same mistake. Over the course of its 14 years, the CFPB has cracked down on exploitative corporate practices, saving consumers $21 billion. Its success has naturally made it a major target for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is currently looking to cut agency staffing by almost 90%.
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The federal bailout seems bleak, but interim measures are being taken at the state level to address medical debt, a rare source of bipartisan rage. The healthcare bill was a national leading cause of bankruptcy and is a fact that sparked the rage of Florida Republicans. So Ron DeSantis recently signed a law that makes it easier to combat healthcare costs, while at the same time reducing the time hospitals have to collect their debts. At the same time, the Blue City from Los Angeles to Toledo used the assistance of the Federal Association to acquire medical debt. For example, Cook County, Illinois, spent just $12 million to unlock $1 billion to low-income residents.
However, we need a broader solution to eliminate our national compensation. There is one such ambitious proposal in the campaign for the poor. The poorly-led movement for economic justice advocates a “jubilee platform” that cancels housing, utility and student debt for low-income people. Of course, Mike Johnson isn't going to bring that idea to the floor of the house anytime soon. But the campaign has regularly protested in cities across the country, and public pressure could push Democrats to become a central issue for the mid-term next year.
The poor campaign also calls for another, more philosophical reform: a national “moral resurrection” that completely changes our notion of debt. The way we started it was laid out by another voice of conscience in this field, David Graver. Almost 15 years ago, he announced his debt: the first five,000 years. One of the crucial texts on this subject analyzes that the most stratified societies are both the society and society where the most sticks to economic obligations. He passed away suddenly in 2020, but his basic Magnum Opus questions still plague us.
Today, our deal makers continue to break the alliance in the name of focusing on deficits, so resistance can simply start with individuals taking Graeber's cues. Rather than obsessing with who owes us what, we owe ourselves to find new ways to relate to each other.
The chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration hits a new low every week.
Trump's devastating “liberation day” wreaked havoc in the global economy and created yet another constitutional crisis in his home. Plaincross executives continue to acquiesce university students on the streets. The so-called “enemy aliens” fly to mega prisons overseas against court orders. Signal Gate promises to be the first of many incompetent scandals that expose brutal violence at the core of the American Empire.
When elite universities, powerful law firms and influential media outlets fall into Trump's threats, the nation is now more determined than ever, and is now more determined than ever.
Last month, Trump released a report on how to outsource his massive deportation agenda to other countries, masking the administration's appeal to implement a oppressive agenda, and amplifying the voices of brave student activists targeted by the university.
It also provides a model for resisting Trumpism, such as Trump and Musk's recent state elections, such as the growth of protests, city halls around the country, or critical state elections, and continues to tell the stories of those fighting Trump and Musk in key state elections that prove that Musk cannot buy democracy.
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