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What Americans spend money on

By Patrick   Follow   Tue, 10 Apr 2012, 6:56pm   4,205 views   13 comments
In Menlo Park CA 94025   Watch (0)   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike  

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1. divelly Follow Befriend 12 comments Kew Gardens, NY

   1   5:06am Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Saving is not spending.

2. CashWillCrash Follow Befriend 3 threads 164 comments

   2   5:51am Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Women's clothes twice as much $ as Men's clothes. Is there a price bubble in the women's clothing market?

3. tdeloco Follow Befriend (2) 11 threads 218 comments San Jose, CA

   3   7:03am Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   CashWillCrash says Is there a price bubble in the women's clothing market? Sure. Tell the wife not to buy that extra dozen pair of shoes and dresses she'll only wear once in a lifetime. If they go to a party and realize that another woman is wearing the exact same dress, they get furious!

4. joshuatrio Follow Befriend 41 threads 703 comments Monterey, CA

   4   7:33am Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   My guess is that cars would be more than 5%. Figure car payment, gas, insurance, maintenance... some households have 2 car payments...

5. the cave dweller Follow Befriend 8 comments Concord, CA

   5   8:10am Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   What about taxes? Federal, State, County, & Municpal income & sales & various assorted taxes on all utilities??? Easily half or more of everyone's income!

6. MikeW Follow Befriend 1 comments

   6   8:28am Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Where does this data come from?, Is it official data from www.census.gov ?, I find the data being different. Healthcare % should be more.

7. mbodell Follow Befriend 10 comments

   7   1:15pm Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   This was from a npr planet money blog http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/05/149997097/what-americans-buy And the data is from Bureau of Labor and Statistics. There is also interesting information on how it has changed from 1949 to 2011 there. Note though that it is the percentage of spending. It isn't the percentage of your income you spend (that number could be lower or higher depending on if you spend above or below your means). That explains why it doesn't have a percentage for savings, taxes, non-mortgage debt, etc.

8. curious2 Follow Befriend (5) 31 threads 2,228 comments Premium

   8   4:04pm Wed 11 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (2)   Dislike   The chart ignores taxes and most medical spending. Medical spending, including insurance, is currently 18% of GDP (which will increase to 21% if ObamaCare continues). Half of that is paid through government, and most of the rest is paid through employers' deductions from salary. The chart shows only the 6% that is paid directly out of pocket, i.e. one third of the total.

9. zzyzzx Follow Befriend (9) 410 threads 4,107 comments Baltimore, MD

   9   7:39am Thu 12 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   CashWillCrash says Women's clothes twice as much $ as Men's clothes. Is there a price bubble in the women's clothing market? You would really have to add women's clothing and shoes to compare against men's clothing.

10. mary r Follow Befriend 1 comments

    10   8:32am Thu 12 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   these numbers are absurdly low...most americans spend 25 to 40% of after tax income on housing and 15% or more on transportation. of course, if you ignore taxes the true picture is distorted. I agree with the comment that taxes are one of the highest expenditures we all have. At 57 and 61 yrs old my husband and i pay over 1000 per month for health insurance (cobra) in massachsetts, with enormous costs added out of pocket. We get no help with this cost while illegal immigrants who pay no taxes pay 80 per month for subsidized healthcare. We are outraged at the unjust war on the middle class.

11. zzyzzx Follow Befriend (9) 410 threads 4,107 comments Baltimore, MD

    11   10:30am Thu 12 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   mary r says We get no help with this cost while illegal immigrants who pay no taxes pay 80 per month for subsidized healthcare. You forgot to mention that you have a high deductible where as the illegal aliens you subsidize have no co-payment or something low like $5 for a doctor visit.

12. Dan8267 Follow Befriend (16) 760 threads 7,667 comments Boca Raton, FL Premium

    12   1:04pm Thu 12 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Notice that books are the smallest item? Yep, America.

13. dublin hillz Follow Befriend 10 threads 763 comments Dublin, CA

    13   2:15pm Thu 12 Apr 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Dan8267 says Notice that books are the smallest item? Yep, America. There was a saying in soviet union that while russians may know where a country is on a map, americans can actually travel there lol.