The “Living paycheck to paycheck” meme is a regular theme in media stories, typically to let us know how awful everything is.

As noted in this thread, there is no definition of what that means, and much of it, as illustrated by the media’s own headline – is nonsense:

A lot of people insisting that I'm wrong, and that there is a universally agreed upon definition of "paycheck to paycheck." But interestingly, many of them defined it differently in the replies. Who knows what the people responding to the survey consider "paycheck to paycheck."… https://t.co/zObf0GNR7Q

— Kelley K (@KelleyKga) June 25, 2024

This headline makes clear the absurdity of claims of paycheck to paycheck lifestyle issues:

But it gets worse – its mostly based on lines:

Nearly half of Americans say they live paycheck to paycheck—only 30% actually do, new Bank of America data finds