[gottorf]

> a good chunk of people don’t have a 1000 dollar saving.

This is kind of a myth. The Bankrate.com survey that this figure comes from indicated that 37% of Americans don't have $1,000 lying around to pay for an emergency.

What most people don't say is that of the remainder, 23% would pay for it by cutting back spending in other areas, and another 15% would simply put it on a credit card. Only 15% of respondents said they would borrow from friends and family.

That is to say: most Americans don't have $1,000 lying around because credit is easy to obtain in this country, and for most things there is no need to have it available in cash.