"The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all."
Maybe they were joking, who knows. That same thing said that people making $100,000-$150,000 couldn't come up with $2,000 when asked on the street or something like that. Probably if someone asks me these questions on the street I'm not going to be honest either.