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Get out of debt while you still can, pay all your bills, and don't spend frivolously. You will be sorry if you do. And don't buy 400k homes if you can't really afford it. I think there will be a crisis, and I think most Americans will start feeling some effects within the year.
Check. Check. Checkcheck. Thanks for the advice. It's the same as I've been giving folks for years.
the problem with our society is that somewhere in the mid last century it things changed to where OTHERS buy our cars and houses for us, and we become slaves to our jobs in repaying the debt.. 2 or 3 times as much as the principle...
People with lots of things.. are not wealthy.. they're just in debt...
I remember my grandpa telling me about how they saved to buy a car.. or saved to buy their house.. middle class wages have not kept pace with cost of living.. so.. offering "credit" seemed a good solution to lack of buying power... now look where it got us?
the problem with our society is that somewhere in the mid last century it things changed to where OTHERS buy our cars and houses for us, and we become slaves to our jobs in repaying the debt.. 2 or 3 times as much as the principle...
People with lots of things.. are not wealthy.. they're just in debt...
I remember my grandpa telling me about how they saved to buy a car.. or saved to buy their house.. middle class wages have not kept pace with cost of living.. so.. offering "credit" seemed a good solution to lack of buying power... now look where it got us?
It changed for some people, but not for all.
I learned a long time ago that compound interest is value-negative. It doesn't care. It doesn't WANT to tie you up like a fly in a spider's web. And it can make you wealthy, too.
when the masses are reliant on a select few big boys at the top having their pocketbooks open so the masses can function in the society, rather than their own... they run the risk of big boys closing up their pocketbooks.. and before you know it.. we're instantly in a depression... anyone who is against socialism involving the government, must take a look at the system of capitalism as well.. in that most of us are reliant on one or two or a dozen big boys at the top... and whether you like to admit it or not.. you depend on them.. just as much as you would the government.
edit: social programs and capitalism work well together to keep checks and balances.. because capitalism is only good if the wealth is spread out more evenly as to be available to be earned and redistributed accordingly
Get out of debt while you still can, pay all your bills, and don't spend frivolously. You will be sorry if you do. And don't buy 400k homes if you can't really afford it. I think there will be a crisis, and I think most Americans will start feeling some effects within the year.
For me it will be touch and go------like too many others; I made some bad financial choices along with some circumstances beyond my control. I owe about $25K total in signature loan (both of which will be gone early 2008) and credit card debt.
Admittedly; I am in a field (automotive brake and suspension technician) that thrives during 'less-than-Great Depression' downturns.
The above stated: I will pay off as much of my debt as possible if unable to totally clear things.
The US economy is FUBAR from decades of Chicago School economics. Politically, every political party is tainted by a belief in market solutions to every ill. The almighty dollar affects every issue from healthcare to immigration. Nobody does anything anymore just because it is the moral or ethical thing to do.
I'm not saying that markets are inherently bad, but some things such as healthcare or immigration/population issues should not be left up to market forces, because they affect the public welfare that is shared collectively. Free markets work good for cars or iPods, but some things are not like cars or iPods. Yes, no matter what libertarians say, no man is an island and there are indeed things that people all share in common as being part of the same community.
Libertarianism is a political philosophy for spoiled, selfish, greedy adolescents.
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