Important Takeaways:
- Record number of Americans are homeless amid nationwide surge in rent, report finds
- According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.
- Homelessness, long a problem in states such as California and Washington, has also increased in historically more affordable parts of the U.S. Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas have seen the largest growths in their unsheltered populations due to rising local housing costs.
- That alarming jump in people struggling to keep a roof over their head came amid blistering inflation in 2021 and 2022 and as surging rental prices across the U.S. outpaced worker wage gains. Although a range of factors can cause homelessness, high rents and the expiration of pandemic relief last year contributed to the spike in housing insecurity, the researchers found.
- The median rent in the U.S. was $1,964 in December 2023, up 23% from before the pandemic
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Important Takeaways:
- 56 million Americans have been in credit card debt for at least a year. ‘We are seeing pockets of trouble,’ expert says
- Americans are increasingly leaning on their credit cards.
- Altogether, card balances now total $1.08 trillion, according to the latest quarterly report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a new record.
- “Over the past two years, Americans’ credit card balances have skyrocketed 40%,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.
- Nearly half, or 49%, of credit card holders carry debt from month to month on at least one card, up from 46% last year, the report found, and 56 million cardholders have been in debt for at least a year.
- The average credit card rate is now more than 20%, on average — an all-time high
- At 20.74%, if you made minimum payments toward the average credit card balance — which is $6,088, according to Transunion — it would take you more than 17 years to pay off the debt and cost you more than $9,072 in interest, Bankrate calculated.
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Important Takeaways:
- 99% of Americans will be financially worse-off than they were pre-pandemic by mid-2024, JPMorgan says
- The majority of Americans have burned through their excess savings piled up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the coming months, JPMorgan says it is likely that almost everyone will be worse off financially than they were in 2019.
- In a Thursday note, the bank’s top stock strategist Marko Kolanovic said 80% of consumers, a group that accounts for nearly two-thirds of consumption, has already depleted any savings cushion they may have built during lockdowns.
- “It is likely that only the top 1% of consumers by income will be better off than before the pandemic,” Kolanovic wrote, pointing to the growing signs of credit card and auto loan delinquencies, as well as Chapter 11 filings.
- JPMorgan estimated previously that excess savings had peaked in August 2021 at $2.1 trillion, boosted by government stimulus checks. That’s since been whittled down to below $148 billion, per the firm’s calculations as of October.
- As Bank of America wrote in a recent note, the plight of elder millennials is particularly difficult.
- Older millennials — a demographic of Americans born in the 1980s that holds significant influence on the US economy — have had to navigate the 2008 financial crisis in addition to the pandemic during critical working years of their lives.
- The two economic storms, as well as mounting childcare costs and sticky inflation, have made it difficult for the sizable cohort to own a house, save for retirement, and comfortably spend money within their means.
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Important Takeaways:
- The “American Dream” costs about $3.4 million to achieve over the course of a lifetime, from getting married to saving for retirement, according to a recent analysis from financial site Investopedia.
- Meanwhile, median lifetime earnings for the typical U.S. worker stand at $1.7 million, earlier research from the Georgetown University has found.
- Such figures underline the financial pressures that many families face trying to afford a middle-class life as expenses like child care, college tuition and buying a home continue to climb. The Investopedia analysis tallies the average cost of achieving other aspects traditionally associated with the American Dream, such as owning a house and raising two children to age 18.
- Another analysis, from USA Today, found that funding the American Dream costs about $130,000 a year for a family of four. Median household income stands at about $74,450, according to the Census Bureau.
- Here’s how much Investopedia estimates a family must spend to afford some of the hallmarks often associated with the American Dream. Some costs might be lower or higher, depending on a family’s goals.
- Hospital birth, average out-of-pocket costs for people with health care: $5,708
- Wedding and engagement ring: $35,800
- Raising two children to 18 years old: $576,896
- 10 car purchases over a lifetime: $271,330
- One year of college for two kids: $42,080
- Average cost to buy a home, including lifetime mortgage payments: $796,998
- Pets: $67,935
- Health insurance from ages 26-65: $934,752
- Retirement: $715,958
- Funeral costs: $7,848
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Important Takeaways:
- Hamas threatens violence against Americans ‘everywhere’ in chilling new video
- Speaking on Memri, Senior Official for Hamas Sami Abu Zuhri called for acts of violence against the USA and also the UK.
- Zuhri’s comments come as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war intensify with pressure growing on Israel to stop the fighting.
- Speaking on Memri, Zuhri said: “When Blinken is justifying the killing of women and children, the sons of our nation should say to him: ‘You are the enemy, just like Netanyahu, and you must pay the price, just like Netanyahu.
- “Now it is our nation’s turn to pressure the Americans to stop this war. We need violent acts against American and British interests everywhere as well as the interests of all the countries that support the occupation.
- “They must pay a price for the blood of our women and children who are being killed in cold blood on the streets of Gaza. They must pay a price so that they know that Gaza is not alone and that when they gave the order to kill, they should have been prepared to pay the necessary price.”
- Memri’s statement and Zuhri’s words come just days after Hamas issued a chilling threat saying that no more hostages would be released unless their demands were met.
- Israel has claimed that Hamas still has 117 hostages and the remains of around 20 people in its possession.
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Important Takeaways:
- Young Americans are losing faith in democracy — educators must act now
- In December 2021, a study of young people conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics showed that 52 percent “believe that the country’s democracy is either ‘in trouble’ or ‘a failed democracy.’” Just 7 percent said that democracy in the United States is “healthy.” Another poll, also conducted two years ago, found that “Not only do younger Americans express greater skepticism about American democracy, their doubts extend to feelings about being American and whether the US serves as a moral example in the world.”
- Younger Americans, it turns out, “express far less pride in their nationality than older Americans…. (S)eniors are more than twice as likely as young adults to say they are extremely proud to be American (23 percent vs. 55 percent).”
- A more recent study of the civic outlook of younger voters notes that “Young adults are dissatisfied with our political system (57%), and most have no or little trust in government institutions (52%).” Fewer than half (48%) plan to vote in the next general election, compared to about two-thirds of the general public.”
- But the erosion of support for democracy among young people is not just an American problem. As Freedom House, a democracy advocacy group, puts it, “Democratic backsliding has become a global trend. Amid this environment comes a rash of statistics suggesting that the world’s young people are increasingly disengaged from political life: they’re voting less, rejecting party membership, and telling researchers that their country’s leaders aren’t working in their interests.”
- A September 2023 survey of people in 30 countries found that 86 percent of its respondents “prefer to live in a democratic state and only 20% believe authoritarian regimes are more capable of delivering ‘what citizens want.’
- Back in this country, 55 percent of young people currently believe that “the country is heading in the wrong direction, with 16 percent saying it’s on the right track and the rest (28%) saying they’re not sure.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The suicide rate among Americans, which has risen steadily over the past 18 years, has reached its highest point since 1941, preliminary data for 2022 shows.
- The suicide rate per 100,000 people in 2022 was 14.3, according to a report from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention released early Wednesday. The rate was 15 in 1941.
- An estimated 49,449 people died by suicide in 2022, the CDC said. That’s an increase of 2.6% over the 48,183 suicide deaths in 2021.
- The rate for males was 23.1 and 5.9 for females in 2022.
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Important Takeaways:
- 40% of Americans are afraid to walk alone at night — most in decades, poll says
- Concerns about certain crimes are at their highest levels in decades, causing Americans to isolate themselves from their communities, according to new polling.
- A recent Gallup poll found that 28% of Americans worry frequently or occasionally that they will be murdered, according to a Nov. 16 news release. That’s a near-record high.
- Meanwhile, half of U.S. adults said they worry their car will be stolen or broken into, 37% worry they’ll be mugged and 32% are concerned about getting attacked while driving — near-record highs.
- Additionally, the vast majority of Americans, 72%, worry they will fall victim to identity theft, according to the poll.
- One-third, 34%, of Americans said concerns about crime prevent them from driving in certain areas of their communities, while 28% say these concerns keep them from attending events, including concerts, fairs and sporting games.
- 28% of those polled said their anxiety about crime has prevented them from speaking to strangers.
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Important Takeaways:
- 62% of Americans are still living paycheck to paycheck, making it ‘the main financial lifestyle,’ report finds
- The number of Americans who say they are stretched too thin has shown no signs of improvement amid high prices and higher interest rates.
- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently said “inflation is still too high,” indicating that interest rates will stay higher for longer.
- High inflation and higher interest rates continue to weigh on American households.
- As of September, 62% of adults said they are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new LendingClub report. The figure is unchanged from last year.
- “Living paycheck to paycheck remains the main financial lifestyle among U.S. consumers,” the report said.
- “Many are having to make tough choices to defer discretionary spending in order to stay on top of their loan payments and the costs of necessities,” he added. The resumption of student loan payments only adds to this stress.
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Important Takeaways:
- 25 Americans Dead Among Hamas Victims from 36 Countries: ‘My Mom Died on Top of Me’
- S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday at least 25 Americans were killed by Hamas terrorists in the barbaric attacks that targeted unarmed civilians inside Israel on Saturday.
- Blinken, who is in Israel, vowed American support to Israel as its military continued airstrikes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in preparation for a likely ground operation in Gaza.
- “You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourselves, but as long as America exists you will never have to,” Blinken said after meeting with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. “We will always be there by your side.”
- The Israeli military said it is currently targeting Hamas’ senior military and political leaders, whom it blames for the weekend attack. Its missiles are aimed at Hamas infrastructure embedded among the civilian population of Gaza.
- Meanwhile, the death toll in Israel continues to climb. More than 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, have been murdered by Hamas, and Gaza officials say at least 1,200 people have died in the airstrikes. The terror group attempts to hide among Palestinian civilians as it continues to fire rockets into southern Israel.
- Citizens from 36 nations are missing, have been murdered, or are among the hostages who have been abducted by Hamas.
- “By the way, many of the hostages are dual nationals — Americans, Brits, Germans, French, Italians, Brazilians, and many other nationalities. Some are not even Israelis. There are Thai workers that were taken, and abducted for, I don’t know what reason,” Conricus added.
- France has said that 11 French citizens are confirmed dead in the fighting and 20 are unaccounted for, including several believed held hostage.
- The British government has said 10 or more U.K. citizens are dead or missing after the attacks on southern Israel.
- The Colombian government reported the first death of one of its citizens in Israel
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