Financial pressure on American consumers has continued to accumulate since the high inflation cycle of 2022. Previous surveys have shown that the proportion of "living paycheck to paycheck" fluctuated between 55% and 60%, now rising to 63% with extremely low savings, continuing the structural path where post-pandemic wage growth has not fully covered rising housing, insurance, and healthcare costs.

In terms of capital and resource flows, households are forced to prioritize limited cash flow for rigid expenses and debt repayment, leading to a long-term low savings rate. Financial institutions absorb this pressure through credit cards, personal loans, and deferred payment tools, while businesses increase promotions in essential goods categories to stabilize sales.

Similar patterns can be seen in the high leverage phase of middle-class households before the 2008 financial crisis, as well as in several European countries experiencing similar savings shrinkage after energy price shocks. The U.S. is currently in a mid-term phase of "nominal income growth but actual buffers disappearing."

The structural judgment indicates capital concentration: when most households' monthly savings are compressed to extremely low levels, remaining purchasing power and risk tolerance concentrate among high-income and asset-holding groups, weakening the consumption resilience of lower and middle tiers, and accelerating the transmission of economic fluctuations to employment and credit defaults.

ABAB News · Law of Cognition

When savings reach zero, choices disappear first.
If wage increases do not outpace rigid costs, it is an invisible pay cut.
The thickness of the buffer determines the upper limit of risk resistance.