4 in 10 Americans struggle to pay bills as Trump brags about helping Wall Street
‘Just because folks on Wall Street think things are fine doesn’t mean most Americans feel like things are fine,’ said Ray Boshara.
When Trump brags about wealthy folks on Wall Street making money, he ignores the millions of families across the country who struggle just to pay their bills.
“I keep hearing this is one of the best economies we’ve ever had and unemployment is down, especially among African Americans, which I am,” Sommer Johnson, 39, a Georgia resident, told the Washington Post in early July. “I’m looking around going, ‘Where is this boom?’ From where I sit, this doesn’t look like the best economy ever.”
Trump, meanwhile, is laser-focused on how millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street are faring.
“Today’s Stock Market is the highest in the history of our great Country!” Trump bragged on July 3. “This is the 104th time since the Election of 2016 that we have reached a NEW HIGH. Congratulations USA!”
Unfortunately, an inflated stock market does not pay people’s credit card bills and student loans. The Post referenced a recent UBS survey that said 4 in 10 Americans still struggle to pay their bills, a number that has not changed since 2014.
According to the Federal Reserve, 40% of Americans do not have the means to cover a $400 emergency
“Just because folks on Wall Street think things are fine doesn’t mean most Americans feel like things are fine,” Ray Boshara, director of the Center for Household Financial Stability at the St. Louis Federal Reserve told the Post. “When every day is a rainy day for millions of families, things are not fine.”
Yet Trump seems to care about little else besides how the stock markets are faring. In June 2019, Trump tweeted about the stock market 11 times. For example, on June 11, Trump wrote, “Good day in the Stock Market. People have no idea the tremendous potential our Country has for GROWTH — and many other things!”
During the same timeframe, Trump didn’t mention debt or student loans even a single time.
Meanwhile, debt in American households is surging to the highest levels since 2008, with Americans now holding $13.7 trillion in debt, according to the Post. And much of the recent debt is for cars and college loans, not mortgages. And, according to Boshara, credit card and auto loan delinquencies have increased in the past year, which is not what is supposed to happen in a good economy.
Trump and Republicans in Congress promised the 2017 tax scam would be “rocket fuel” for the economy.
And while wealthy Wall Street corporations and billionaires have reaped most of the benefits, families across the country have been left behind — so far behind that millions are still struggling to pay their bills as Trump brags about how well his buddies on Wall Street are doing.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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