Letters to the Editor
-
Thaddeus Crumb et al
This thread has brought a wide range of comments, from "suck it up and stop being so childish" to "Medical and other unexpected and unpreventable expenses and loss of job, etc." are the cause of out-of-control debt. I think we are in new territory and no one knows where we are going from here. It is all well and good to blame irresponsibility and lack of foresight for much of the debt people experience, but we are now in a place, at least in the U.S., that few of us anticipated. Not that it was not visible to many of us, but that in our state of denial we were unwilling to look into the chasm of unwelcome possibility. The business of the U.S. economy is unlimited growth, without attention to its outcome. Outsourcing labor to the lowest provider and thereby cutting domestic labor costs means fewer jobs, which means less money to spend on luxuries, not to mention necessities such as food, shelter, clothing and healthcare. Many of the jobs outsourced are low-wage, low-skill, or not easily transferrable to other industries. What does an auto assembly plant worker do when those jobs go away? What is the cost of retraining and subsistance support during that training period? Who bears the cost? Credit card debt, of which I have tens of thousands of myself, and I am unemployed with few job prospects, is only the tip of the iceberg. Blame all you want, the reality is that it exists and is going to get much worse, as Thaddeus alluded to. No one mentions the population of homeless and people living in permanent shelters. Everyone who posted here seems to at least have a roof over their heads. I assume, since you are posting online, you have a computer or at least access to one. Once again, the truly needy are disregarded: the homeless veterans, mentally ill, families with no "breadwinner" or underemployed so that there is not enough income to support the family or persons who simply do not have the skills or motivation to work/earn a living. We have valued people only by their ability to work and earn a living. Artists, writers, performers, teachers and caregivers, to name a few, are marginalized by society as irrelevant or of minimal value, compared to financiers, medical professionals, lawyers and business owners.
There is much to write here and I am only touching the surface. This will become an article, and perhaps someone will purchase it when it is completed. I am not yet a published freelance writer, but that is one of the areas I will pursue. I just had to contribute to this string because I can see many aspects that are not directly addressed in the 17 or so pages of commentary here.
peace,
st john
-
This is the best Salon has to offer? Just one free-lancer's story?
I give the author credit for being honest (and even admitting to NOT wanting to be honest at first when she discusses the $2K loan from dad). She earns several points for that...although more SPECIFIC financial details on how she plans to solve her debt would have been better. Somebody said on NPR the other day that our discussion of finances in the public realm is the last really taboo subject in the U.S...and the omissions in this article, while trying to be more frank than most, confirmed this for me. I know, a lot of you will disagree...but if you are going to be honest about this topic, you have to lay it out for everyone to see, warts and all.
However, while the author did good here, Salon loses several million points for publishing this one-off story by itself. It would have been better to see a dedicated, continuing story about debt problems in the U.S. (or several stories from different authors, all addressing the same problems and what the solutions are). But I guess this topic isn't as juicy as, say, who the next president is going to be, or publishing the latest I-hate-Republicans op-ed piece...or wasting time about the Kennedy Assasination (*NOTE TO READERS: one of Salon's editors has a big JFK conspiracy axe to grind, and Salon wastes no time in burdening us with said conspiracy theories...that's a real jounalistic pet peeve of mine*).
Don't get me wrong, I like most Salon articles about politics, it's what they are good at...I just feel that the website is missing out on a good, long term story here. So Sarah, I'll give you props on the article...it's just too bad Salon isn't thinking bigger terms about a SERIOUS national issue that isn't as sexy as the current political climate.
-
credit card companies should not be allowed to charge rates over 10%
These outrageous interest rates used to be illegal. A few months ago I applied for a card in order to transfer a balance from a 30% interest card. I got the card and it was a more reasonable rate..but I did not get the transfer of the other card. So since this new card did have a lower interest rate I used it a couple of times and then, two weeks after receiving the new card I decided to pay it off. I went to their website..created a login in profile and found that two weeks after receiving this card it had been SOLD to the very company that was charging me 30% on the other card I was trying to pay off. I called the card and they confirmed it had been sold. I asked what my rate with the company it was sold to would be. I received the reply 30%. This should be illegal. I sent a letter to my congressman who agreed with me. I also copied the letter to Barney Frank of the banking committee. I notice that my interest on this card is still 14% although they told me it would be 30%..so maybe all the screaming and yelling did some good. Any Senator who supported the bankruptcy changes bill should be thrown out of office. The banking industry is totally unethical. We need to fight it and put people in office who will take them on. This will be difficult since they all take money from these banks for their re-election bids. Banking reform is needed.