Save public from drowning in red ink urges Robert Manning who is a research professor and director, Center for Consumer Financial Services, Rochester Institute of Technology and involved with In Debt We Trust.

While we second this cry for help at stopthesqueeze.org, we ought keep in mind that exposing predatory lending in America is just about to become important topic, thus in its infancy. There is still a lot to do before we declare this battle over. While not only there are serious consumer issues at stakes, they cannot be won if the big spenders at Congress keep creating (hyper)inflation. The federal budget deficit widened to $96.3 billion in March, compared with $85.3 billion last March, the government said.

If you fear that lawmakers have lost control, you’re not alone. According to a recent poll: 60% see recession ahead…

But with consumer spending responsible for more than two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity, consumer worries about the risk of a recession and their own personal finances can become their own drag on the economy. The Times reported that the last time its survey asked about a recession risk, in December 2000, 64 percent of respondents said a downturn was likely. Three months later the recession began. Many economists who are worried about a recession have said that consumer’s worries about the declining value of their homes could be a factor that forces them to cut back on spending and tip the overall economy into recession… In addition, 35 percent said their personal finances were “shaky,” up from 30 percent who gave that answer on an earlier survey in March, and 28 percent in January.

Talking of the consumers’ financial health, it becomes truly worrisome when reading articles like this one:

… Nearly half of all workers saving for retirement have savings that fall short of the $25,000 mark, according to the 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Matthew Greenwald & Associates… Overall, 40 percent of respondents said they are not currently saving for retirement while 34 percent said they didn’t have any retirement money saved whatsoever. A full 25 percent, meanwhile, said they had no savings at all - retirement or otherwise… All but the lowest earning men should have accumulated in a nest egg 12 times their income by the time they retire, EBRI estimates. That’s $900,000 for a man earning $75,000. A woman, because of a higher life expectancy, should have 14 times her income… (cnn/April 11 2007)