The Future of America is a pretty depressing headline but the alternative was “The Golden Years.” I should say up front I know nothing about these two people so everything that follows is baseless speculation. I took the photo standing in line at the local Burger King. The young (20-something?) man was showing the woman (60+) how to use the cash register. Let’s call them Opie and Aunt Bee.

A job “flipping burgers” long ago achieved cliche status and it’s nothing new to see a “senior citizen” behind the counter. As I watched the woman concentrate to figure out the register I couldn’t help thinking, “This woman is not doing this because she’s bored. She needs this job.” And she’s competing — to some extent — with people 40-50 years younger.

We’re told the jobs that built the American Middle Class in the previous century are gone or going away. Can there be enough fast food jobs (or their equivalent) for all of the young people with only a high school education and the growing army of seniors who didn’t save enough for retirement?

I didn’t see them at our local Burger King but McDonald’s has been replacing counter registers with self-serve kiosks. I’ve been thinking of “flipping burgers” as a job to be avoided but perhaps it will one day be a coveted gig.

Burger King started serving the Impossible Whopper nationwide yesterday so my friend George and I drove to a nearby town to try one (our Burger King was destroyed by a tornado earlier this year but will re-open next month). I haven’t had a beef hamburger in six years so can’t say I remember what one tastes like but the sandwich BK served up was mighty close. I’ll be eating these a couple of times a week.

“Average individual credit card debt (in the U. S.) stands at $5,331 in 2019. Additionally, on a monthly basis, most Americans don’t pay their credit card balance in full every month – 55% don’t regularly pay in full.”

• 83% of U.S. adults own at least one piece of plastic.
• On average, U.S. consumers own three credit cards.
• Total revolving debt stands at $1.04 trillion – that’s up from $857 billion in 2013.
• The average interest Americans pay on their cards stands at 16.46%.

Source: TheStreet.com

“According to SpareFoot, a company that tracks the self-storage industry, the United States boasts more than 50,000 facilities and roughly 2.311 billion square feet of rentable space. In other words, the volume of self-storage units in the country could fill the Hoover Dam with old clothing, skis, and keepsakes more than 26 times. […] The self-storage industry made $32.7 billion in 2016, according to Bloomberg, nearly three times Hollywood’s box office gross.”

“High-end self-storage sites can command two or three times the rent per square foot than commercial or residential uses, and in many major metros, these warehouses are 90 percent occupied.”

I resisted renting a storage unit for many years and broke down this year because I need a place to store the Land Rover’s hardtop when I switch to the soft top this spring.

More »