What living in New Jersey reveals about the American economy

The Street

In the debut episode of TheStreet Smarts, TheStreet's staff take it to Main Street to break down what living in one of the country's most expensive states reveals about the economy at large.

Transcript

00:00you live in New Jersey. I know the taxes on your house. I won't say them out loud,

00:04but I know you live in a tax-heavy area, but you're successful. Your husband is successful.

00:10You have pressure with, I won't mention, but a bunch of kids in college someday. How do you

00:16feel about the economy? It's weird because on the one hand, I feel reasonably confident just

00:23because my husband and I have always been good to the point of anal savers. And because of that,

00:30I tend to walk around feeling a little bit secure, just knowing that if something were to go sour,

00:36we have a little bit of a cushion there that we've worked hard to build. I have this very weird

00:42feeling of guilt, you guys, in that I just know so many people who are not thriving in this economy,

00:50like Todd mentioned, people, I guess, at a certain income level where inflation has just been a

00:55beast. Costs have been up for years. And it's weird, but I have almost a little bit of this

01:01earner's guilt where it's like, well, I'm not going out and just buying fancy things every day,

01:09but I feel that I'm reasonably comfortable. But at the same time, I sometimes feel guilty

01:14when I see that there are so many people who are struggling. And I'm like, well,

01:18you know, I'm not upgrading to a mansion and buying a Porsche, but like I could grab a pizza

01:23without having to check my checking account balance.

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