Where exactly do you see “faulting”? I am stating a clear fact that is obvious to anyone. If you choose to spend ~100% of your wages, and don’t save some of them for retirement, then you will not have adequate money to retire. It’s a simple tautology.
Also what’s with the fixation on “white males”? This is a problem that transcends race or sex.
If we look at China or Japan before them or the US before that when the country has demand side econ the savings rate is universally much higher. The consumption rate is also higher. The federal budget is much more likely to be balanced.
People at times act as the crowd does.
Currently of the total 40% are trying to save and can not make it.
A big issue is our manufacturing base. We need a bigger pie instead of outsourcing production to other countries. Supply side econ is a capitalization set of policies. Demand side econ is a manufacturing set of policies.
It has never mattered what Friedman made up.
It matters that we all do better.
That is not a hand out for the vast majority of Americans. Instead that is policy driven at people and couples getting well into a much better life style through work. And getting rewarded over time by work. We have been denying American workers for four decades now.
a tautology is narrow with no secondary inputs.
Most bankruptcies are for medical reasons and the related costs. As people get into their fifties many people have health problems.
People have reasons they can not get education earlier in life. That is a drag on wealth for decades.
People have sick loved ones that take them out of the work force.
People get laid off from jobs and never economically recover. That can be the management’s fault. Or more likely business conditions.
People have a host of other problems that society uses to preclude them from gainful employment.
You are saying they “choose to spend 100%”…it may not be a choice at all.
How would you fair on $40k per year at getting ready for retirement? You probably would be deep in debt. You might be working far harder than you were up until recently.
I am reading Hamilton. In March my family is gathering to see the musical. We are celebrating my 60th birthday. I was actually born in April.
Reading Hamilton it is interesting to see how people lived in the Caribbean in the different strata of incomes. The brutality of life and death.
Happy birthday (soon)! 
It is a big one. Yesterday I was thinking “it is always really good to be alive”.
My dad always says … getting old is rough … but the alternative is worse.
My dad used to say, “I am reasonable”. He was but he was tough. He would laugh about being reasonable. Unreasonable people did not agree with him.
Last week, the Legislature’s budget analyst, Gabe Petek, declared that revenues will probably be markedly lower than what Newsom assumed, and the governor’s budget is “likely unaffordable in future years.”…
“Our best estimate is that revenues for these two years [2022‑23 and 2023‑24] will be roughly $10 billion lower – implying a larger budget problem by about $7 billion.”…
There is another option that would ease the political pressure on lawmakers: Dipping into the state’s “rainy day” reserves. Newsom’s proposal doesn’t tap the reserves, agreeing with Patek that it would be imprudent because no one knows whether the state will experience a serious recession in the near future…
The shortfalls projected by Newsom and Patek assume that the state will avoid recession, but if it strikes, the budget deficit could increase by many billions of dollars and the reserves would be needed to maintain basic services.
DB2
Ouch. The projected California deficit has grown by $9 billion in four months.
DB2
And the beat goes on…
State budget analysts are predicting a $68 billion deficit next year…It’s bad for the nonprofits, advocates and special interest groups…The hard-won minimum wages for health care workers, for example, could be delayed at Newsom’s insistence…the state will almost certainly need to make cuts on a scale few lawmakers serving today have seen…They also will be forced to consider cuts to education funding…
But this year is just the beginning — the LAO predicts ongoing $30 billion annual deficits, even if lawmakers are able to wipe out this year’s $68 billion shortfall.
DB2
Where’s that Magical Money Tree when you need it?
Shouldn’t be much of a problem. CA has a lot of rich people, so all they have to do is raise taxes to cover it.
Start by increasing fees at ALL golf course.
I hope you are not worrying about CA or salivating prematurely.
What state pension plans are the most underfunded?
The worst funded plans are in Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Connecticut. However, some states carry a larger share of pension unfunded liabilities (or pension debt) than others. California, Illinois, Texas, and New Jersey have the highest levels of unfunded liabilities in the United States by dollar value.Aug 24, 2023
Florida and VA are the only states to have been once in the Confederacy not to be in the bottom half for the standard of living.
The best states to live, ranked.
Richest states
Only a little.
There is a saying that if something can’t go on forever it will stop. Since it can’t print money, California will have to stop running deficits. How will it do that?
“But this year is just the beginning — the LAO predicts ongoing $30 billion annual deficits, even if lawmakers are able to wipe out this year’s $68 billion shortfall.”
DB2
California faces $68 billion budget deficit, analysis says : NPR.
snippet
The economic downturn has had a greater impact in California than other states, mostly because of its size and that it relies heavily on taxes paid by the wealthy. The number of unemployed workers has risen by nearly 200,000 since last year, enough to increase the state’s unemployment rate to 4.8% from 3.8%. The national unemployment rate is 3.9%.
Layoffs have hit the tech sector particularly hard, which has been the backbone of the state’s economic growth and revenue, said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at Loyola Marymount University.
“They expanded greatly during the pandemic and now they are finding that they have too many people and they need to cut back expenses,” Sohn said.
My comments, the tech downturn is well over by mid-2024. The factories coming online nationally will need hardware and software.
Productivity pays taxes. CA is far ahead of TX in that area. And will remain so for a very long time.
Agreed. I’ve been hearing about the imminent collapse of California since 1990. Still waiting. In the mean time, its populous, has a strong and diverse economy, and is still the tech capital of the entire planet.
True, but no matter how much a state gets in taxes it can still spend more than it gets. Note what the California LAO has concluded:
“The Legislative Analyst Office says their projections, from 2022-2023 through 2027-2028, show a cumulative deficit of $155 billion .”
DB2
It will be difficult for the state to bail out the San Francisco school district.
S.F. schools likely to cut 900 jobs as district faces $400 million deficit
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-budget-job-cuts-18547236.php
San Francisco schools are facing a massive deficit created by years of overspending as well as recent raises, leaving the district with no choice but to cut staffing by more than 900 already vacant positions, according to district officials…
Without taking drastic action to address spending, the board would face a $421 million deficit by the 2025-2026 school year, equaling more than a third of the current $1.2 billion budget…
A good chunk of the ongoing deficit is from salary and benefit increases for teachers and other staff , which will cost the district about $179 million annually once fully implemented. The district narrowly avoided labor strikes before giving the compensation increases.
DB2