Even Tooth Fairy is pinching pennies during US debt crisis

It found that 10 per cent of kids are reaching under their pillows … and coming up empty compared to last year when just six per cent of kids found no reason to flash that toothless grin.

“It’s a cardinal sin not to (pay),” said Rakshanda Liaqat,a mother of two in Phoenix.

“It’s about a child losing a part of her and the warm belief that the tooth fairy will take care of her precious tooth,” Liaqat was quoted as saying by a news channel.

“Now,on the other hand,counting the number of teeth your kid loses. And that,too,multiple times in a year? And that,too,having two kids? I can understand the economic recession the Tooth Fairy goes through in terms of her salary.”

Liaqat tried to leave USD 10 for every tooth her son lost — “but my son didn’t lose much of his teeth after the recession hit.”

“He lost it right on time. Before the debt crisis,” she said.

The telephone survey of 1,006 adults was conducted on behalf of Visa and is intended to get parents talking to kids about money management.

It found that the economic pinch has taken a bite out of the Tooth Fairy’s generosity most dramatically in the eastern United States. Kids there received just USD 2.10 – a 38 per cent decline from USD 3.40 last year.

In the West,kids pocket more than the national average: USD 2.80 and up 4 per cent from last year’s USD 2.70.

Just 18 per cent of American kids receive USD 5,the survey found. The majority — 36 per cent — receive a dollar or less. And 18 per cent get between USD 2 and USD 4.

Ending months of wrangling,the House of Representatives yesterday passed a bipartisan bill to avert a debt default and reduce trillions in government spending.

The bill was passed by the House by 269-161,a day after leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties and the White House reached a compromise deal. Without an agreement,the US faced the prospect of an unprecedented default on its debts.

If the Congress failed to raise the current USD 14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2,Americans could face rising interest rates and a declining dollar,among other problems.