Letters to the Editor
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@ anonymous
"Until you have at least six months of living expenses in your bank account, you shouldn't own an iPod, have cable TV, fifty pairs of designer shoes or take a trip to DisneyWorld. "
OK old man Potter. Me, I'll take Jimmy Stewart any day...
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but anonymous
If you've made mistakes then how can you be so Judgey McJudgerpants with people. It doesn't make sense. Is it just that you haven't made this PARTICULAR mistake that allows you to say "how can you be so dumb! I never did that" or even "why couldn't you do the thing that I did?"
Considering that consumer spending and debt are out of control in this country, I'd say that those of you able to throw stones but be very very few (but vocal, I'll give you that).
Yeah the banks screw us six ways from sunday, yeah there's the whole "personal responsibility" thing, and what about the fact that the cost of living has risen at a rate that has well exceeded the rise in wages. So put the stone down, hug a little puppy and remember your mistakes aren't so different from hers (though maybe they are dirtier...no, wait, those are mine. Never mind)
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From one Anonymous to another...
Actually, before credit cards became widespread, if you wanted to buy a couch or other major household item you would buy on "the installment plan." (Ask your parents or grandparents.) Or you could put an item of clothing on "lay-away" (the extra charge for which could be about equal to the interest you'd be charged by paying on credit). About 20 years ago stores got "smart" and realized it would be better just to issue their own credit cards or allow payment by Master, Visa or Discover.
Consumer credit has been around for a long time - long before the mid-60s when "Charge-It" and "BankAmericards" (the forerunners of MasterCard and Visa) flooded everybody's mailbox, including my parents'. What has changed is not only the wider use of credit but the increasingly high interest rates, both of which have contributed to the current "credit crisis."
Here's another question to ask the oldsters: What is usury, and why were there laws against it?
And here's one we can ask ourselves: Why have usury laws been weakened beyond recognition, why is there no public hue and cry about this, and will our future leaders ever do anything about it?
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All this fuss over 10 grand? Try $65,000
About 7 years ago, I owed over $65,000. I had taken two years off to write and also leaned way too heavily on my credit cards.
So I bit the bullet, got a job and I went to a Credit Counseling company (here's a tip, use the for profit credit counselors - it is much better for your eventual credit score), who suspended all my cards, negotiated a much lower interest rate with my credit card companies and set up a payment schedule for me. Anyone can do this.
For the next two years, I paid double or triple what my payment schedule required, paid for necessities by cash or check and vowed never to fall into this ugly trap again. And at the end of two years, I was out of debt.
I am now the owner of a home and an excellent credit score. Credit card debt is an addiction. You'll never cure it until you want to.
Here's another tip. Pay everything you can by Amex. If you pay your monthly bills in full you never pay a dime in interest. And Amex rewards points never expire (and no I don't work for them). And if they don't take Amex, use a Visa or Mastercard check card that withdraws directly from your checking account. And never ever own a credit card that you don't absolutely need. If you don't have it, you can't max it out.
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@anonymous 12:40 p.m.
Six months' living expenses, for most people, would barely cover three days in intensive care. If your insurance company is feeling particularly generous and decides to not dick around with your coverage (the more they delay and deny, the more profit they reap) you might be able to squeeze a little more out of them, but sooner or later, a serious illness is going to pretty much decimate that little nest egg.
Then you're out of the hospital, perhaps still unable to work to rebuild your savings, unable to pay your bills - and forget credit cards, we're talking necessities like rent/mortgage, electricity, heat. What then? Are you seriously advocating for a system that would force people to sell their homes to pay down exorbitant medical debt?
You can hold yourself up as oh-so-superior to all those greedy, irresponsible yuppies who chose iPods over insurance, and maybe you are. Bully for you. But there are a hell of a lot of people out there who have gone to work, paid their bills, saved what little they could and gotten SCREWED anyway, through no fault of their own.
Bad things, terrible things, happen to people every day, things beyond their control or wildest imagination that can ruin them in a heartbeat. And no amount of planning, budgeting, or sanctimonious pontificating by internet blowhards is going to be able to stop it.
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We're all in this together...
Someone made a comment here about what would happen if we followed the so-wise advise of many here: the U.S. and probably the world economy would collapse. What is the GNP based upon? Consumerism. What do China's(and many other) 3rd world economies depend upon? U.S. consumerism. Whether it is oil, cheap labor for non-essential products, cheap, undocumented laborers, commodoties produced by slave/child labor(rubber tires is a recent example), diamonds and bananas, we have created a demand that requires uncontrolled spending and unmanaged credit. If you can, follow the wise counsel of so many and stop using credit, save money, drive responsibly, cook at home more often, make your own latte, teach your children(I have none, so don't know how to do it) to be happy with less and more creative in their playtime. How does if feel to be responsible for the loss of so many jobs if you keep your car an extra year or so, take rapid(sic) transit, buy from thrift stores when possible, purchase only U.S.-produced goods, or do without? This is traitorous thinking! Sure, a few of your here have managed to curb your spending and live within your "means", but think about if even 25% of us did that? I am only using that as a figure I pulled out of thin air, but I imagine it would work for this example. If we don't begin behaving as a community, none of us will survive the imminent crash/transformation of the global society. China is experiencing a horrific weather crisis as I write this. How will that effect us, here? What about the Olympics? The story I just read on CNN.com did not even mention it. Will that not have an effect on this major sporting event? It is all connected. As John Donne wrote, "No man(woman) is an island"; we all have to take care of each other, or we all perish. It is always a choice. Make it now,
peace,
st john