Over a Third of California Households Have No Cash in the Bank

A new report from the D.C.-based group Prosperity Now says that 37% of California Households have almost no savings.

“They’re living paycheck to paycheck or welfare check to welfare check,” Bill said. “They don’t have any money. So if anything happens, whether they have a debt or whatever, they can’t pay it. Many of these people run up big credit card debts.”  

Bill also noted the study says over 60% of whites own homes, compared to less than half of people of color in California. 

The racial breakdown of households without savings breaks down as follows: 61% of Latino households, 57% of black households and 28% of white households. 

“If you are in that circumstance, you are going to have to depend on the government sooner or later, probably sooner,” Bill said. “You’re going to have to. And that takes out your power … if you don’t have any money, individual power is nil. You're dependent on somebody giving you enough to survive. This is what it is.”

Bill surmised that California is a prosperous place overall, but is “a place where “destitution rules in the minority precincts.”