by E.L. Christianson Jr.

For the average American, things are really tough... really, really tough.   And, perhaps not surprisingly, the upcoming presidential election and the campaigns for people's vote do not reflect the reality of the average American's struggle with every day issues.  For, example, the minimum wage issue isn't getting much attention on the campaign trail.  However, the threat Americans feel from the threat of terrorism seems to be extremely important.  The truth is that there is no substantial threat to Americans from terrorism, but polls show that this is one of our greatest concerns.  It is an absurd concern.   You are 5,882 times more likely to die from medical error than from terrorism.

The politicians love it that the average American doesn't pay attention to what is actually happening in their lives.  Because of this, the politicians can create excitement by claiming almost any stupid solution to imaginary problems and then get get people to vote for them.   'Let's build a wall between here and Mexico.'

Here is a fact as verified through several sources -- 47 percent of Americans "can’t pay for an unexpected $400 expense through savings or credit cards, without selling something or borrowing money."

​Washington Post reporter Hunter Schwarz plugged some Fed data into a little segment called "By the numbers", in the newspaper’s June 8, 2015, edition:

"47: The percentage of Americans who can’t pay for an unexpected $400 expense through savings or credit cards, without selling something or borrowing money, according to the Federal Reserve."

$400 is not much.

The typical American family income was $53,657 in 2014, barely changed from a year earlier, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.  

There Is No Longer Any Such Thing as a Typical Family  It has been displaced by a vast array of different living arrangements, a new study confirms.  But, no matter how one looks at the picture, that family income is what is being earned by more than one person in that household... often with individuals working more than one job.  And, no matter how many jobs people work, they are not able to keep up.

​Why debt has grown: The rise in the cost of living has outpaced income growth.  While median household income has grown 26% since 2003, household expenses have outpaced it significantly — with medical costs growing by 51% and food and beverage prices increasing by 37% in that same span.

The psychology of debt: Consumers vastly underestimate or underreport how much debt they have. In fact, as of 2013, actual lender-reported credit card debt was 155% greater than borrower-reported balances.

The cost of debt: The average household is paying a total of $6,658 in interest per year.  This is 9% of the average household income being spent on interest alone.  Think of it, almost ten percent of the average American's income goes to interest on debt.

​To measure participants’ sense of financial vulnerability, the survey asked them to imagine they had an emergency expense that cost $400, and it asked them how they would cover it. The better-off group said they would use cash-on-hand or a credit card that they would pay off in a month. Others said they would use a credit card but take time to pay it off, or they might borrow from a family member or a pay-day loan company, or they might sell something. And some said there was no way they could cover an unexpected $400 expense.

Across the more than 5,800 people who completed the online survey, 53 percent said they would be able to pay essentially immediately. That left 47 percent who said they could not.

"Specifically, respondents indicate that they simply could not cover the expense (14 percent); would sell something (10 percent); or would rely on one or more means of borrowing to pay for at least part of the expense, including paying with a credit card that they pay off over time (18 percent), borrowing from friends or family (13 percent), or using a payday loan (2 percent)," the report said. 

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $8.36 million for the Total Cost of Wars Since 2001... our so-called 'war on terror'

All of that money goes to killing and uprooting people's lives all around the world while the average American can't handle an invoice of $400.

And we love to talk about 'American Exceptionalsim'.  Something is wrong somewhere.   It doesn't seem that the average American is capable of figuring it out, and that's the truth !!!