1) doesn’t say most Americans and doesn’t even cite the full response (nor does it provide context for the question in the survey).
The actual statistic is that when asked if they could cover an unexpected 400$ bill - 40% of Americans in this survey responded that they would sell something to help pay it OR couldn’t pay it. We don’t know how many said they couldn’t and we don’t know why those who said they would sell something said that.
Secondly the survey itself admits that it had an, “oversample of individuals with a household income less than $40,000 per year”
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2017-repor...
The same survey also found:
“74 percent of adults said they were either doing okay or living comfortably in 2017“