Economy

… failure to raise the debt ceiling … would have more serious economic consequences than a government shutdown…

Try this Financial Worksheet!  1. Add up your total assets. 2. Add up your total assets a month later. 3. Calculate the change: 2-1 = 3. Is #3 positive? You’ve saved money, and your income is greater than your expenses. If #3 negative, you’re in the hole and sliding down the rabbit hole of debt and illusion. All the rest is details.

Many readers responded to my original essay on our debt-driven way of living in “Going Broke on $44,500 a Year,” published in the San Jose Mercury News. Here are some of the suggestions that they offered to solve the middle class debt crisis.

Are you careful with money, yet still sinking into debt?  The decline of the middle class began in the 1980s, when social values eroded and warnings against debt were cast aside.