Americans’ total credit card debt hit $1.29 trillion in the three months that ended in September — a rise of $22 billion over that period, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest quarterly report on household debt and credit. That’s 67% higher compared with the first quarter of 2021, when pandemic restrictions limited spending on things like travel and dining out.
Total household debt, which includes mortgages, student and auto loans, credit cards, home equity lines of credit and other borrowing, rose by $334 billion in the third quarter to $19.1 trillion. That’s $5 trillion more than at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic-driven recession.
One data point that Ted Cruz mentioned — he’s apparently off trying to rapidly get a “Republicans focused on expenses” thing happening, given the grave impact of the midterms for Republicans — is that early 401(k) withdrawals are also up. That’s tax-disadvantageous to do, so normally you do not want to do that unless you have to.
searches
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ted-cruz-warns-americans-401-113000778.html
“In 2025, 6% of 401(k) holders took hardship withdrawals, paying penalties. That is a record, and triple the norm,” he said.
Cruz didn’t name his source, but the figure matches Vanguard’s How America Saves 2026 (2) report. Vanguard found that 6% of eligible participants in the plans it administers took at least one hardship withdrawal in 2025. That’s up from 4.8% a year earlier and roughly triple the pre-pandemic average of about 2%.
You’d normally want to hit other forms of savings first if you need money.
The 401k thing is fhe main indicator, that’s fucking insane. I will admit this is the first year I’ve ever considered it and I barely even have anything in it
Yeah my dad even had to dip into his recently, which he has always told me never to do. Shits getting rough
I haven’t went in McDo for a few years, but on a recent trip we stopped in a McDo for 2 coffee and 2 hashbrown, it cost $10 I was like WTF‽‽‽ In my head a coffee was 99¢ and same for a hasbrown. A bag of hashbrown in wal-mart is like $4 for a full bag, not one!
As someone who eats our far too much, my dineout costs are up $400 this last month or two and I’ve been eating less than ever lol. Spending about $300 - $400 extra per month on groceries compared to a year ago.
Everything is up at least 2x what it was under Biden for me. And I effectively got a deduction at work because companies don’t give inflation raises because they know how to screw people over for profit better than any individual ever could.
WE’RE SO GREAT AGAIN
In my head a coffee was 99¢ and same for a hasbrown.
McDonalds has absolutely raised prices, but sadly its not just a McDonalds thing. Fast food and fast casual have all had multiple double digit percent increases in the past year or two.
I personally eat out for lunch frequently (as a third space) and have seen a large decline in the population in dining rooms. What was full at lunchtime just a year ago is hard pressed to even be 20% full today from my personal observation. I’m even lunching in a moderately affluent middle cost of living area largely untouched by large employment or housing swings the rest of the country experiences. To me this lack of attendence is a huge recession indicator.
They’ve not only raised prices, they’ve drastically reduced food quality.
We take regular road trips and routinely use to stop by McDonalds for a burger and fries. After years of mediocre but edible food, the cheeseburgers started to be missing toppings and cheese, or be so salty they were inedible, or be full of gristle and bone, or completely cold. The fries would often be cold or way over-salted too.
Of course by time we realized the food McDonalds sold us was utter crap we were back on the freeway and miles away. We stopped going for a long time and then every once in a while would try it again, only to have another truly lousy experience,
We’ve now reached a tipping point - We’ve had so many bad McDonalds experiences we don’t even consider going there anymore.
If you want to piss off billionaires, don’t buy anything for the holidays.
Republicans control the government, completely. Biden wasnt enough to recover from the damage that Trump did his first term.
Is it any surprise at how badly they Trumped up the government?
i needed new flooring, sorry guys
