‘Paycheck to Paycheck’

There is a very telling quote in a Washington Post story by Paul Blustein about the US trade defecit. Bob Miller, a motorcycle-helmet importer based in Southern California, was making a point about the nature of the American consumer, using his employees as an example. This is particularly interesting when put into the Southern California perspective, a place where you must earn more than $125,000 a year to qualify for a 30-year mortgage on the median-priced, single family home.

Here's Miller's quote from the story:

"I would venture to say that of my 125 employees, 80 percent live paycheck to paycheck, and maybe even before paycheck to paycheck," Miller said. "There are employees I've had, when they earned $50,000, they owed money; when they earned $100,000, they owed money. It's not what they earn; it's just the way they do things."

Find the entire story at this link.

— The Boy in the Big Housing Bubble