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  • Texas1911

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    May 29, 2017
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    Austin, TX
    The United States has long been seen as the economic pinnacle amongst the international community, but what many of us fail, or simply deny, to recognize is that this peak is being eroded by years of excessive greed and entitlement. There is a growing symbiotic relationship between uneducated debtors and the banking foundation that has slowly veered the economy off track towards a fate the consumer refuses to control.

    The “obvious” source, and root of much ridicule, is the banking industry. The establishment of the credit card and its promise of immediate satisfaction or economic support has been instrumental in this conclusion. In fact, there are approximately 175 million credit card holders in the United States. That simply means that 175 million people were sold on credit. Of those 175 million people, the median balance was $3,000, which means banks support $525 Billion of unpaid debt. Assuming a below average interest rate of 11% APY that means USUS citizen. This amount of continued profitability is enormous. In comparison, the total credit card receipts for one year are equal to 75% of the total gross domestic sales of every car manufacturer in the US market combined. However, this is not where banks reportedly derive their profitability. Their profitability is based off of bankruptcy and financial failure of the end user. With the addition of fees and interest the banks often triple the amount held as debt, and they do so for one particular reason. The debt is then bundled and rated relative to it’s risk and sold on the investment market. They’ve essentially passed the risk, and in doing so, greatly enhanced their profitability. This should sound eerily familiar to the faltering mortgage market, because it is designed in nearly the same fashion. It is due to this practice that banks actively seek out sub-prime candidates since they are most at risk to fall into this category. Ergo the banks seek to financially ruin sub-prime card holders as a means of increasing their profitability. consumers are paying out roughly $58 Billion in interest every year on credit cards alone. The $3,000 in average debt accounted for credit cards accounts for approximately 18 – 19% of the average debt, excluding mortgages, held by each of age

    Big, bad, evil banks are not the sole bearer of this financial bull run of greed. No one person is forced into a credit card agreement, and no one person is forced to purchase goods on that credit. Americans are becoming more and more addicted to the high offered by credit. Forever blinded by entitlement and materialism, the US consumer continuously looks for that next fix, and they get it with the swipe of a credit card. Like a drug dealer the banks entice them with offers of “free money” and the people sign. Years later, you find these people wondering how it happened to them, and myriad of excuses as to how it happened. All the excuses in the world do not cloud the fact that they themselves signed on the dotted line. They made the decision to take the responsibility of that credit. The mere feeling of entitlement to live the American Dream is substantiated to the middle class through the power of credit, and thusly completes the symbiotic relationship between the banks and consumer.

    So who is to blame? The US consumer is to blame. One hundred years ago credit cards did not hold a stranglehold on the livelihood of families. The ever growing rat race created by the US consumer is the primary growth factor. The increased demand for goods deemed necessities, the degradation of pride and responsibility, an ever growing society of victimization and ignorance, and the USUS consumer drunk off of entitlement are to blame. Americans can simply not deny themselves anything because they’ve never been held to do so. This mentality has spilled over into Federal policy in which seemingly nothing is withheld, even facing the detriment of ever increasing enslavement to debt. Forever more the consumer and bankers are driving, hand in hand, towards the end of the cliff, unwavering. At some point American consumers are going to have to face the facts and take control of their own destiny.
    Military Camp
     

    kingofwylietx

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    Feb 29, 2008
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    DFW area.....Wylie.
    If you read a book or go to a seminar...........check out Dave Ramsey. He has a seminar this Saturday in Dallas, it's almost sold out. He essentially tells you to use your grandparents system. No debt. Pay in cash. Save for retirement & kids education immediately. Sacrifice now for a brighter future.

    It's something they should teach in school and parents should also teach it at home.


    Real Debt Help - Get out of debt with Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Plan.
     

    brickboy240

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    May 19, 2008
    238
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    Houston, TX, USA
    I agree. I did Dave Ramsey's plan many years ago and have not had credit card debt for a long time and don't miss credit cards one bit!

    Living below ones means and not having tons of outstanding debt is the best way to thwart economic hardships that WILL come along and we have little control over, like 4 dollar a gallon gas and the current economic crisis.

    I honestly don't know how some people live with all that debt. I was never in THAT bad of debt (under 6 grand in credit card debt at the worst point) but I know several people that have 15,000-20,000 dollars in credit card debt. Man....I could not sleep at night with that over my head! No wonder everyone is on some sort of anti-depressant and drinking is so popular!

    Not for me...thank you...

    - brickboy240
     

    oldguy

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    Mar 6, 2008
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    Establish a budget, write down what you spend each day, do not try to keep up with the neighbors(they are probably deep in debt)each family member does not need a cell phone especially those in school, shop wise, consuming is a job, you work hard for your money why throw it away, and last buy a home you can pay off in 15 years, simply if you have a roof over your head (paid for) life is less stressful.
     

    SIG_Fiend

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    4   0   0
    Feb 21, 2008
    7,218
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    Austin, TX
    The unfortunate thing is that many people don't realize that is almost impossible to actually be 100% debt free in this society any more. Due to things like property taxes, for example, you can never even truly ever own your property outright as you will always have to pay property taxes or risk your property being seized. There are many other examples of things like that that always insert some level of control over your life by people other than yourself, no matter how small an intrusion it may be.

    One of the easier steps to take is to simply hide the credit/debit cards and pay for as much as possible with cash only. Paying with cash instead of the typical and easy swipe of the card will increase that natural reluctance to spend a bit as you can physically see your funds decreasing when you pull that cash out of your wallet.
     

    brickboy240

    Active Member
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    May 19, 2008
    238
    1
    Houston, TX, USA
    If you live below your means and don't have outstanding debt like credit card balances, mortgages and car loans...it is easier to swing property taxes, utilities and the summer upswing in gas prices.

    Our grandparents and their parents and pretty much evryone before them lived like that. If it was good enough for them...its good enough for us.

    (the govt. needs to learn how to live like this too...but thats another post...LOL)

    It also does not mean you have to live like a 3rd world underling or a pioneer days person, either. You don't need a 40 thousand dollar car or a 3500sq ft home. You might THINK you do because everyone around you has one, but the truth is most of them don't own these items and will be paying for them until they're 70 plus years old..or longer. You wanna do that?

    The average individual credit card balance in this country is around 7-8 thousand dollars. I also read somewhere that 70% of the BMWs you see on the road in the USA are leased. What does that tell you? Most of the people you see everyday and think "they must be wealthy" are up to their ears in debt and don't own a damn thing. Big difference in percieved wealth and actual wealth.

    Stop working for the banks, mortgage companies and auto loan companies and work for yourself. Not easy....but it is do-able.

    My car might be over 10 years old but I don't owe anybody anything and have a sizeable savings account.

    - brickboy240
     
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