The American Family’s Financial Turmoil

I hope this information is translated into may languages and is available in many countries so that many people are aware of these meaningful facts.

Mom and dad are probably supporting you or you haven’t started a family yet.

Come back and update us when you move out and start a family.

Wow the NEW margaritaville! With salsa dispenser! Just pour your favorite salsa in the top and it comes out the dispenser at the bottom! Oh we need this!

What I least understand is the $118k dept. That’s huge considering it’s spread out on the whole population,

What’s that mainly? Credit card debt?

You don`t really need this info !

That’s not the English flag. It’s the British flag.

You take the time to research all these details but not enough for something as basic as that?

Also, “of American’s don’t have a bank account” -> “of Americans don’t have a bank account”.

Please.

Please revise the difference between ‘England’ and ‘Britain’, in addition to their flags.

If $2 trillion is about the same as the GDP of England, why did you use the Union Jack (flag of the United Kingdom)? Dufus.

Wow, that is quite a break down. Amazing.

Oh wow, now that is quite a breakdown. Almost scary.

I have been retired for 14 years. My finances have been messed up like everyone else. In 5 years all my retirement nest egg will be gone. I am going to try to get a job to supplement my Social Security so I can stretch the nest egg a few more years and maybe avoid Bankruptcy.

Debt is the big problem worldwide.
And they’re trying to fix it with more debt… I can’t understand it… Which “Economy Manual” claims debt fixes debt?

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I have $80,000 in my bank account, I do not even have a credit card, I owe $0 on my house, I don’t need to save anything for my retirement.

Oh, and I live in Europe

Wow. that’s quite… depressing.

Nice chart. You used the Union Jack flag rather than the Cross of St George, so I think you mean “GDP of the United Kingdom”, not “GDP of England”. The two are definitely not the same… just ask any Scot

What is the source of your statistics? They are very interesting and scary, but not believable or useful without some reference to the source.

Of course they do manage to scrimp up enough for their plastic surgeries, vacations and visits to the IHOP.

That’s me! Mid-40s male, no bank account (bank charges ftt!), no savings/retirement or otherwise, no steady employment (last job: December 2009), 100K student debt default. Assets: $100 still saved from December job and a university-grad woman in mid-30′s working a dead-end job (for past 13 years) carrying 20,000 bank debt (due to back rent payout) who pays all my food and shelter. I am not happy there are so many of us. I am relieved somewhat that I cannot possibly be 100% responsible for this mess. I still carry the shame.

That’s me! Mid-40s male, no bank account (bank charges ftt!), no savings/retirement or otherwise, no steady employment (last job: December 2009), 100K student debt default. Assets: $100 still saved from December job and a university-grad woman in mid-30′s working a dead-end job (for past 13 years) carrying 20,000 bank debt (due to back rent payout) who pays all my food and shelter. I am not happy there are so many of us. I am relieved somewhat that I cannot possibly be 100% responsible for this mess. I still carry the shame.

That is not the English flag…. and it’s not the GDP of England, if you’re going to comment on politics, it helps if you actually get your facts right….

Do you mean the GDP of England, or the GDP of the UK? You say “England” but display the UK flag, and no, they are not the same thing. It’s like showing the USA flag to illustrate “North America”.

You know, The Oatmeal has a similar visual which explains how to use the apostrophe correctly. (pssst — it’s “Americans”, not “American’s”)

Isn’t this faulty or misleading logic? Is there any one family that comes at least close to all of the numbers at the same time? What if, of those families that make close to $43,000 a year, they have houses worth an average of $110,000? It’s entirely possible from the data given, so I think it is misleading to connect these separate numbers.

That flag is not the flag of England. Did you mean the Britain?

“American’s,” in the percentage who don’t have a bank account, shouldn’t have an apostrophe.

I know it’s stupid, but I’m willing to bet that the family in that picture isn’t even from America. Roofs/windows like those on the house in the background are extremely common in Europe, but virtually nonexistent in the US.

You say “$2 trillion is the combined amount of personal debt held by Americans (which is about the GDP of England)”. However you’ve placed this statement next to the flag of the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. To those British who do not live in England, this is somewhat insulting. For a simple graphic explaining this, see here: http://qntm.org/uk

The estimated GDP of England is around $2 trillion, while the estimated GDP of the United Kingdom is around $2.7 trillion. The flag of England is the St. George’s Cross: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_England

Why do you show the flag of the United Kingdom next to a comparison with England? They are not the same thing.

The “English” flag in the picture is actually the flag of The United Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Nice infographic, but you forgot about the biggest problem they have! $60,000,000,000,000 in public sector debt and unfunded liabilities! $15T (soon to be 20T) national debt, state debt, state & local unfunded pension liabilities, social security $10T in unfunded liabilities, medicare with tens of trillion more in unfunded liabilities. That will be seen in the form of future taxation or inflation. Yes, that is $600,000 per family — way waaaay worse than their stupid credit cards.

all this, and americans STILL think capitalism, which perpetuates endless spending on useless things, is a million times better than any sort of socialism.

cuz socialism is evil, yall, it's communist and fascist, and i have no idea what i'm talking about because when asked, i can't define any of those, except to say CHINA CHINA CHINA.

…and china is evil yall, cuz they aren't FREE. i want my freedom to spend money i don't have to make my droll life seem less pathetic to my co-workers and neighbors. i'm also free to take a happy pill twice a day every day, bc my doc sez i can and i want a quick fix instead of exercising and eating right. i'm free yall, from my government, so i can be a slave to credit card companies and the pharmacy industry. it's the capitalist way, yall, cuz i'm proud to be an american!! yay, go self-destruction through selfishness!!!

Most people live month to month and that is a fact of the current system of things.

Unless you follow Sarah Palin definitions of who is a “real” American and which of us don't count, the average American family is not blond with two 35 year old adults apparently married to each other with a young child owning a house with no visible neighbors. That's actually a rather unusual demographic.

All the focus on the flag and spelling errors while ignoring the message of the debt crisis presented helps explain how our mentality got us here. Maybe we should be looking at the message here and what we can and should, nay NEED, to do to turn things around before they call the US – Greece 2. Closer than you may think, have you bothered to look at our national deficit as well as our total debt? Hard times are coming.