$400

[Brian Howell]

That's the  amount that a new Federal Reserve report says will cause financial hardship—leading to liquidation of assets or a financial emergency for 47% of American households. 

Worse yet, to compensate, more and more Americans are turning to “alternative financial services,” such as pay-day loans with their usurious interest rates.

http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/05/half-of-all-american-families-are-staring-at-financial-catastrophe/394274/

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/09/us-payday-loans-crisis-borrow-100-to-make-ends-meet-owe-36-times-that-sum

The New Gilded Age, indeed!