Personal Savings Plunged, Consumer Spending Slammed and the Dave Ramsey Christmas

<p>During the early days of the pandemic, Americans were receiving stimulus checks from the government, and as a result were able to save quite a bit of money. However, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the personal savings of Americans is only $520 billion as of November 2022, marking a substantial drop from the $4.85 trillion in 2020. Savings are now below even pre-pandemic levels and with the national stockpile shrinking by $100 billion since October. Thanks to persistent inflation, sluggish economic growth and major layoffs, living paycheck to paycheck has become the norm.</p><p>In this episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied examine this worrying trend and what it means for the economy as we move into 2023.</p><p><br></p><p>They discuss comments from Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, in his traditional end-of-year message to staff, that layoffs will happen in the first half of January.</p><p><br></p><p>Chris and Saied look at a Washington Examiner article stating that recently unearthed emails show that disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried attempted to 'wine and dine' someone who, at the time, was a commissioner for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of several agencies that regulate cryptocurrency.</p><p><br></p><p>They also offer some thoughts on what might happen if the Federal Reserve hadn't pursued a policy of quantitative tightening.</p><p><br></p><p>Join Chris and Saied for this fascinating and informative conversation.</p><p><br></p><p>Enjoy!</p><p><br></p><p><strong>What You’ll Learn in this Show:</strong></p><ul><li>Why consumer credit card debt is up by nearly $40 billion.</li><li>Why MarketWatch claims there's a better recession indicator than the yield curve... and why that's nonsense.</li><li>Why Grant Cardone is a syndicator, not a 'crowdfunding maestro' (and why he's now in hot water.)</li><li>How Sam Bankman-Fried was able to get access to a commissioner for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.</li><li>And so much more...</li></ul><