Up until recently, most Americans benefited from a few government-supplied safety nets, most notably the large injection of stimulus money, which left many households sitting on a stockpile of cash that enabled some cardholders to keep their credit card balances in check.
But that cash reserve is largely gone after consumers gradually spent down their excess savings from the Covid-19 pandemic years.
It is absolutely insane to me that anyone thinks the stimulus money left households sitting on a stockpile of cash.
As though millions of people on the edge of poverty sat like dragons upon a mountain of wealth.