Americans in parts of the South and Southeast are having an especially hard time paying for everyday expenses compared to those elsewhere, according to the latest census data. Consumers nationwide have been dealing with rising prices — but those in some areas are having a harder time making ends meet than others. About 37% of American adults are in households that found it somewhat or very difficult to pay for typical expenses between late June and late July, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. That's an online survey meant to collect key socioeconomic data in near real-time.

Mississippi (49.5%), Alabama (45.5%) and West Virginia (43.5%) have the highest percentage of adults who say they're having trouble affording their basic needs. Standouts in other regions include New York (40%), Hawai'i (39.9%) and Arizona (39.4%). Washington, D.C. (19.3%); Vermont (26.4%) and Minnesota (27.4%) have the fewest residents reporting such difficulties. Economic pain is everywhere — but it's not evenly distributed.

highdesert wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:43 am I agree, everyone has their spending priorities and for some it's the latest iPhone or Samsung or Pixel. On the other side is the single parent who might sporadically get child support or grandparents raising grandchildren. As the kids get older, there are school sports and other activities and it gets more and more expensive.

In that map, New York State looks as bad as the South, but I agree with featureless that the whole country looks bleak, but Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and DC. The economy might be good in DC, but they have a high crime rate. We'll see as things move along.

Eris wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:53 am

highdesert wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:43 am I agree, everyone has their spending priorities and for some it's the latest iPhone or Samsung or Pixel. On the other side is the single parent who might sporadically get child support or grandparents raising grandchildren. As the kids get older, there are school sports and other activities and it gets more and more expensive.

In that map, New York State looks as bad as the South, but I agree with featureless that the whole country looks bleak, but Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and DC. The economy might be good in DC, but they have a high crime rate. We'll see as things move along.

Vermont, not New Hampshire.

National data shows rising auto delinquencies, a trend that indicates the extent of financial constraint facing consumers that typically prioritize car payments. Now a new warning from a top lender shows the challenges facing borrowers might be getting worse as economic conditions weaken. "We're clearly dealing with a cohort of borrowers who have been struggling with cost of living and now are struggling with an employment picture that's worse," Ally Financial CFO Russell Hutchinson said this week. Hutchinson, who spoke at a high-profile conference hosted by Barclays, said that delinquencies spiked above the company's expectations over the summer.

Ally sees growing instances of late-stage delinquencies—those at least 60 days past due. Net charge-offs, or debts unlikely to be recovered, were higher than expected. "Our sense is that's probably going to expand in coming months just given the size of this population of struggling borrowers," Hutchinson added. Ally said employment conditions have worsened quicker than they expected, with little clarity about when they anticipate delinquency pressures to ease. "Ally told you, 'here's where we're at right now, and we're watching the data come through.' That leaves the opportunity for things to get worse as an assumption," Sanjay Sakhrani, a bank analyst at KBW, tells Axios. "This period of time is unprecedented, and it's been very hard to model."

Roughly 8% of auto loan balances were at least 30 days past due in the second quarter of this year, the New York Fed said last month — a higher share than pre-pandemic times. That has moved from the recent low of 5% in 2021, when consumers were flush from pandemic-era stimulus. Borrowers faced a double whammy in recent years: elevated prices for new and used vehicles and higher financing costs to buy them.

About 4% of auto loans had monthly payments of $1,000 or greater as of the second quarter of this year — up from 1% in the same period in 2020, according to Experian. Inflation has subsided, including for cars. Interest rates will likely fall. But in many ways, auto borrowers will still feel these conditions as the macro economic backdrop deteriorates. A New York Fed survey of consumers out this week showed that the perceived chance of missing a debt payment in the next three months hit the highest level since April 2020.

TxChinaman wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 2:44 pm There are always going to be a certain number of folks living right on the edge of financial disaster even in a good economy due to their poor impulse control and need for immediate gratification. How many of those surveyed folks having difficulty paying household expenses willingly saddled themselves with a brutal loan on a new car they really can't afford? How many of those folks spend too much of their paycheck ordering crap they don't need on Amazon? How many of them eat fast food multiple times a week and insist on a Starbucks coffee every morning?

VodoundaVinci wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 5:47 pm One of the things I never could explain to my Dad when he got on his kick about folks having money for high speed internet and a better than average phone and a car is that these things, which would be luxuries to him, are essentials to getting and keeping a job. No phone, no high speed internet and a run down car = no job or a sub paying one in many places now. Has been that way for over a decade.

I lived in a car with my girl (later my Wife) for almost a whole year in 1979. I have never lost sight of what it is to be truly poor.

VooDoo

Ylatkit wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 9:33 pm The report button is right below my signature, towards the left of the screen. I'll be waiting.
CDF, I'll see you in a few days. Eris, today is my 67th birthday. This post is what I want for my birthday.

Eris wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 11:54 pm

Ylatkit wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 9:33 pm The report button is right below my signature, towards the left of the screen. I'll be waiting.
CDF, I'll see you in a few days. Eris, today is my 67th birthday. This post is what I want for my birthday.

Not only was your post reported, but you also decided calling out a mod by name would be a good idea, it seems. So OK. I'm deleting your post, even though I do agree with much of what you are saying. You should seek a less confrontational way to say it.

YankeeTarheel wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 10:47 pm I'll take a different tack. Mississippi has elected a governor who has REJECTED the Medicaid option that would cost the state $200 million per year, and he did it while having a >$3 billion surplus that could easily have paid for the option for 15 years. Instead he intends to give giant tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. What the result has been is that regional hospitals all over the Western part of the state have been forced to close, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without ANY hospital access! Electing predatory leaders because they tout crap about "family values" and "protecting our culture" while transferring ANY remaining wealth in their impoverished state to the wealthiest DOES put the blame on the voters.

Eris wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2024 2:53 pm What I take from this is that the best 5% grouping are blue states and the worst 5% group are red states. I am shocked. Shocked, I say.

Ylatkit wrote: Tue Sep 17, 2024 1:06 pm

Eris wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 11:54 pm

Ylatkit wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 9:33 pm The report button is right below my signature, towards the left of the screen. I'll be waiting.
CDF, I'll see you in a few days. Eris, today is my 67th birthday. This post is what I want for my birthday.

Not only was your post reported, but you also decided calling out a mod by name would be a good idea, it seems. So OK. I'm deleting your post, even though I do agree with much of what you are saying. You should seek a less confrontational way to say it.

I wasn't calling you out. I was stating, publicly, that in spite of the tone of my post, when it comes to running the board, including the moderation of my posts, I understand and agree with whatever you decide is necessary. If I didn't, I'd just leave.

P.S. You couldn't pay me enough to moderate an internet discussion board. Deal with assholes like me, before coffee? I think not. It's like they took all the bad parts of being a cop, and then carefully removed any of the payoffs of being a cop, including the pay.