63% of workers unable to pay a $500 emergency expense, survey finds. How employers may help change that
High inflation continues to add financial stress to workers' budgets. Experts say new benefits to provide emergency savings plans may help.
Henry Ford may have been a prick, but even he had the common sense to realize paying your workers enough to buy your products was mutually beneficial. All this wealth hoarding going on serves nobody but the ultra rich that are simply addicted to watching numbers go up.
Which is why I’m hesitant to actually call those greedy fucks “capitalists”, because they’re the very antithesis of capitalism. They literally break the system for their own benefit, and thanks to US politicians to being corrupt enough to allow themselves to be bought out for a few bucks from said greedy fucks, nobody in power is incentivized to actually do something.
Capitalism works with money flowing constantly, and it needs that to work well. When you have some Warren Buffet and Elongated Muskrat kind of people just hoarding wealth… well, you get the shitshow that is the the US today. $300B circulating in the system would be awesome, and I would think that is a good indicator of a healthy economy; but when $300B is pretty much tied to one person, then congrats, we missed the point of capitalism.
The only goal of capitalism is to raise capital. Any method that raises capital is as valid as any other. The working class people are essentially just a bank to draw capital from, nothing more. Not to them anyway.
Anything else they told you about capitalism in school was bullshit. It does one thing. Increase capital through any means.
There is a logical end point where the working class can keep no capital for themselves, and produce it until they die. And what happens when there's no more shareholder value to extract from the working class I wonder?
That's why we call it "late stage" capitalism.
This comment is so good that I want to bottle it, take it home, and bathe in it
No. He did it because turnover was so insane it was cheaper to raise pay.
Wasn't he the one that wanted to do full factory towns, not sure that money was ever going to leave him.
It doesn't, actually. You pay all of your workers more so some of them might buy your product, maybe?
The increase in wages for everyone will help, but then capitalists have no choice to attract labor. See: the wages now adjusted vs. the inflation
This chart shows the median wage has gone up since the pandemic, even if using 2023 dollars
So the wages in the US are better than they have ever been, even inflation adjusted. You can go back as long as you want, they were not higher in the 50s, contrary to popular belief
So the wages in the US are better than they have ever been, even inflation adjusted. You can go back as long as you want, they were not higher in the 50s, contrary to popular belief
That's just obviously false. Are you saying people who could pay for college by working summer jobs, and who could buy a car and house and raise a family on a single income were making less than people today who spend decades paying off student loans, and who can barely afford rent on a one-bedroom apartment?
Underpaid employees: Corporations are going to fix this problem they created by paying employees their share of record profits?
Corporations: No, not like that!
Profits are unpaid wages, change my mind.
I agree with this statement but thought I'd have a go at challenging it just for fun. The nature of profits and wages is relative to whether or not a business model requires workers to make profit. For example some companies make money off of owning the result of a worker's labor (patents, software, creative work etc) rather than their ongoing labor. So while not all profits are necessarily unpaid wages, they are still dependent on the exchange of labor.
wait, you mean the Trump Tax Cuts haven't trickled down to workers? well what in the Wide Wide World of Sports is a going on here?
My boss likes to show us how much money the company is making at our quarterly meetings. I think he thinks it's morale-building, but I know, in at least the case of me and a co-worker, that all it does is make us think of how low our pay is.
How about we STOP TIEING ESSENTIAL FUCKING SERVICES TO OUR CORPORATE FUCKING OVERLORDS.
Jfc
We tried to de-couple healthcare from employment about a decade ago, and all the support for some form of universal healthcare seemed to vanish overnight as the general population fell for corporate propaganda and right-wing scare tactics.
I always wondered why neighborhoods, HOAs, and apartment buildings etc don't form their own insurance plans to entice people to live there. Businesses get better rates for group plans so why don't other organizations? Insurance isn't my field so I don't know if it's possible or how it would work, just curious.
But what about my badge of honor for finally getting a job with good benefits!?
This strikes me as a "you will own nothing and be happy" solution. Instead of paying workers a fair wage so they can put something into savings for a rainy day, you will be at the mercy of your employer for support.
This seems to be the trend. In the future, you will have most of your needs at least met, but not through your own means, because you will have no means whatsoever. You will not be able to take care of yourself without your corporation parent. This is a very coercive situation.
I'm not doing well healthwise right now and my employers told me that they were concerned about my health and I could take as many unpaid sick days as I want.
America's attitude towards healthcare is completely backasswards
Living as a Service
While wages are obviously a significant factor here, I still wouldn't be surprised if the primary cause for this is simply the fact that most people aren't very skilled at managing their personal finances.
I make a pretty decent living, but in discussions with my coworkers who earn as much as I do, and often even more, it becomes apparent that many of them are essentially living from hand to mouth. In contrast, I have a year's worth of wages invested in stocks and enough cash to purchase two more cars like the one I already own. Finances and saving are subjects I enjoy discussing, but the vast majority of people have zero interest in them, and this has a real impact on their lives.
You've been downvoted, but I get what you're saying. There's just people who never really got out of the pocket money model of spending whatever you have all the time.
It's quite possible to do everything right and still end up with not enough, but I definitely work with people who could do better. One guy, between them and their partner earn more than I do, yet are in far worse financial shape, and it's simply because they see money in their account, and see no reason not to spend it, meaning those little events (that don't happen all the time, but do happen) like a car failing an MOT, or a boiler breaking in winter, or a roof leak means they have no way to cover it.
I think there's definitely a market for managed bank accounts, that handle your bills and outgoings, save up an emergency pot for you, put into investments when that fills up, and give you a spuff money pot for takeaways and other frivolous shit.
City life can also be expensive, and too few people move away when it isn't working for them.
And those of us who have it relatively easy, have to live with the guilt of telling all our family members no all the fucking time.
If you’re family is constantly asking for money then they are shitty.
That’s a pretty big blanket sentiment, I have some family who would absolutely do this but some of them literally have no other options, it sucks but it’s how life is
It depends on why they’re asking. If they’re asking because they’re irresponsible, that’s one thing. If they’re asking because they are legitimately struggling against systemic issues, then it’s another.
Life is a lot more complicated than you’re implying, and family should be there to support each other.
Then again, so should society in general. Life should be challenging, but it shouldn’t be so hard that it’s impossible for so many people just to get by.
This is an ignorant take. It can be correct in some cases, but oversimplifying and making assumptions like that is entirely devoid of rational thinking.
Or dying
Or desperate
Please tell me the TDLR is a pizza party!
this would be very helpful during the times where the $500 emergency is the need for a pizza party
The first change made it so employees may save up to $2,500 in after-tax money in a separate account alongside their retirement accounts. Workers would potentially be automatically enrolled in the programs, which would defer the money automatically through payroll deductions.
Read: banks lobby to get money automatically deposited into their specific accounts so they can generate interest from it the employees will never see, and make it more difficult for employees to actually get their money
Me, looking at a $500 dentist bill for a crown because teeth are luxury bones: Yeah…..fuck.
I had a root canal and crown, $2k. I'm financing a tooth now.
Me looking at my $500 monthly federal student loan payment.
Me struggling every month trying not to think about the unpause
My dad needed $20,000 worth of dental work. So they took a trip to Costa Rica for maybe $3k-5k and got the dental work done for free. Because Costa Rica gives free healthcare, including dental, to anyone in its borders. And they got a good vacation out of it.
They could afford to do that though. Most people couldn't.
Your crown was only 500!?!
Ah yes, the time proven effective strategy to get the poor back on board the against-their-own-interests train:
"Unchecked Capitalism will save you from the problems that Unchecked Capitalism directly caused!" 🤣
If that sounds reasonable, here's a solution for climate change: lets double the amount of carbon shit we're pumping into the air. Fuck it, double or nothing!
Fuck employers, everything is TOO FUCKING EXPENSIVE
Wage increases are getting blown out of the water by inflation and cost of living. Everyone is really starting to feel that pinch. So naturally now is when the feds decide to unfreeze school loans. Really telling of how out of touch our government is
Oh, uh, there were hurricanes.
Supply chain.
You understand.
63% of workers unable to pay a $500 emergency expense, survey finds. How employers may help change that
They will make it 83%
Or they may think that those workers being able to maybe pay < $500 in an emergency is a money-making opportunity...
It's also pretty hard when the corporations you work for aren't interested in paying you what you're worth. People need and deserve better wages
Corporations literally cannot pay you what you're worth. The very nature of capitalism requires exploitation. For capitalism to function, there must be an inequity between a worker's true value, i.e. their productive output, and their cost. The system is literally designed to fuck you over from the top down.
It's the same gall people had to call crypto a scam.
USD isn't?
Ehhh, I’d argue the exact opposite. The people at the top hoarding so much wealth are arguably the worst capitalists. Capitalism demands cash flow, and the more the better. Few people hoarding and controlling so much of it is breaking it.
I always love to point to healthcare. Between my portion and my employer my health insurance is over $15000 for my family. Yet I have a $5000 deductible still. Imagine if all that money that my employer is paying me I was actually getting. Then apply that to every family. But instead, a few companies make all the money off that. The problem is healthcare shouldn’t be a business, but a public service just like police, firefighters, roads, etc. In an emergency I’m not going to shop hospitals, and in non emergency I don’t have a choice anyway, my insurance company decides that.
It’s the most broken system and everyone at the top is making too much money from it that it will never change until it gets so bad for the middle class it somehow starts bringing them down
Your pay is only relevant to the cost of goods and services.
People used to be rich earning $1,000 a year. Your pay is irrelevant, the costs of things is what’s more important.
And taxes, fucking stop taking everyone’s money
I personally liked paved roads and inspected meat and a fire department, but YMMV.
Of course I know this. It's me
Pizza party in the conference room.
people will worry so much about this but will elect the same people over and over again to lead based on shirt color just because they change the shirt to red or blue same clothing factory
maybe younger people from a new political party might be able to help or rioting in the streets or something
I'm very fortunate to finally be able to cover a major expense like that. Nothing like going to the hospital, but if I needed new tires I wouldn't be completely broke.
It's a strange feeling.
narrator: They didn’t.
Republicans in Congress: THOSE ARE ROOKIE NUMBERS!! I WANNA SEE 85-90% UP THERE LET'S GO!!
So not only are employees getting raped by 401Ks and HSAs but a 3rd time with this new Emergency Savings Account. Why the fuck dont they just pay us more?
You do realize that 401k and HSA accounts are voluntary tax shelters for specific saving/spending purposes, right? Nobody is "getting raped" by these; they are a way for people to save a portion of their wages for a specific purpose without having to pay income tax on it (for HSA) or deferring its taxation until it's withdrawn after retirement age (with 401k). And 401k plans are commonly matched by employers, meaning that you get money for free by saving some of yours.
Some companies have mandatory 401k deductions whether you request it or not.
Ashley Furniture (sue me if you care)
Granted, it is technically a 401k and accumulates but they don't pay any towards it so I don't give a fuck, give it to me so I can invest it myself.
commonly matched by employers
Funny... funny guy.
They could just not tax the things that are eligible for HSA in the first place.
They could do single payer so everyone gets coverage at a lower tax rate than they currently pay for insurance.
They could fund social security based on a percentage of all income instead of having a cap around 100k.
They could get rid of all the tax breaks for the wealthy so the tax burden wouldn't need to be so hard on the median and lower income earners.
HSA are putting the blame on the person for being sick and 401k exists to both pump some mo ey into the system to inflate stocks and to get the regular person to care about the stock market. Both are just there to screw over the public for the benefit of the wealthy so we don't nationalize healthcare and properly fund social security.
Maybe the government should just stop taking so much off your pay cheque
You are aware there are several nations with higher taxes right? Its not a tax issue. Its a cost of other things thats a major issue. If low income people are still struggling after gettting their refund during tax prep, its not an income tax problem.
Especially given that the article mentions miami, and florida is in like the bottom 5 in income taxes
Our taxes aren’t even that high. Look at what people used to pay up until the 80’s. We should go back to where we actually taxed millionaires and corporations instead of coming up with yet another tax haven account for them. Regular people can’t contribute to these things because they don’t have the disposable income. They are meant for the rich with some bullshit excuse to make us feel good.
