The Spirit of Christmas Present?

Some Christmas and money facts to consider....

• Eighty-four percent of Americans would prefer a less materialistic holiday..
• The average American plans to spend $832 on Christmas gifts in 2008, almost three times what the average Burundi citizen earns in a year.
• Christmas retail sales have increased an average of about 5% per year over the last decade.
• It takes an average of six months for a credit-card user to pay off holiday bills.
• The total U.S. consumer debt is more than $2.55 trillion and is growing at a rate twice that of wage increases. The number of personal bankruptcies has quadrupled in the last 15 years.
• The average credit card debt per household was $9,840 of in 2007.
• The average American with a credit file is responsible for $16,635 in debt, excluding mortages, according to Experian. (Source: U.S. News and World Report, "The End of Credit Card Consumerism," August 2008)
• Compared to the 1950's, Americans are twice as rich, but less happy. The average American's buying power has doubled since the 1950s but in national surveys the number saying they were "very happy" declined from 35 to 30 percent.
• Teenagers see 360,000 advertisements by the time they graduate from high school. There are more shopping centers in the U.S. than high schools.
• Two-thirds of Americans say they would be happier if they had more time to spend with family and friends. Only 15 percent say they'd be happier if they had nicer possessions.
• Half of Americans would rather have more free time, even if it means less money.
• Americans now work about one month longer a year on average than they did two decades ago.
• 93 percent of American teenage girls say shopping is their favorite pastime.

Sources(via the web): Chicago Tribune, The Economist, E Magazine, Adbusters, Center for a New American Dream, New Roadmap, Merck Family Fund, U.S. News and World Report, Zero Population Growth, The Overworked American, National Retail Federation.