Vice President Kamala Harris loves to say that Americans are $400 away from financial catastrophe in her speeches. It’s been something she’s said since she was a senator.
She claimed that Bidenomics has been wildly successful during a stop at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Most Americans, she said, were “$400 unexpected expense away from bankruptcy.”
Days earlier, Harris said the same thing during a stop in Chicago.
“The average American is a $400 unexpected expense away from bankruptcy,” Harris said.
Kamala Harris claimed during a 2019 interview that “in our country right now, almost half of American families are a $400 unexpected expense away from complete upheaval. Four hundred dollars! That could be — the car breaks down. That could be a hospital bill you didn’t see coming.”
Politifact Says Kamala Harris’s Claim ‘Half-True’
The Left-leaning Politifact rated her assertion as “half-true.” She was commenting on a survey.
This survey question led to the finding that 40 percent of adults couldn’t immediately pay for $400 in unforeseen costs.
The survey included the question:
EF3. Suppose that you have an emergency expense that costs $400. Based on your current financial situation, how would you pay for this expense? If you would use more than one method to cover this expense, please select all that apply.
- Put it on my credit card and pay it off in full at the next statement
- Put it on my credit card and pay it off over time
- With the money currently in my checking/savings account or with cash
- Using money from a bank loan or line of credit
- By borrowing from a friend or family member
- Using a payday loan, deposit advance, or overdraft
- By selling something
Most Americans Can Cover Expenses
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby notes that the average American has the ability to cover unexpected expenses through various means.
“Assuming you are like most Americans, you would cover the $400 expense with what the Fed calls ‘cash or its equivalent’ — i.e., currency, a check, a debit card, or a credit card charge that would be paid in full when you got your next statement. According to the latest survey, that is how 63 percent of the public would handle it,” Jacoby said. “Add in another 16 percent who would put the charge on a credit card and pay it off over time and the share of Americans who could readily handle the unexpected expense rises to 79 percent. A much smaller share of respondents said they would borrow the $400 from a friend or relative, sell something, or draw on other resources, like a payday loan or a line of credit. Only 13 percent of those surveyed said they would be unable to come up with the $400 ‘right now.’”
Bidenomics is Making Life Harder
Statistics show that the average American finds life harder due to Bidenomics. Although overall inflation has fallen significantly from a year ago, inflation remains particularly high for core costs like energy, food, and housing.
“What the Fed data really show is not only that most American households can take an unforeseen $400 expense in stride but that even more of them can do so today than could 10 years ago. The economy is not collapsing and most Americans aren’t hanging on by a thread. It’s not only foolish for Harris to pretend otherwise but bad politics to boot,” Jacoby writes.
John Rossomando is a defense and counterterrorism analyst and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
From 19FortyFive
