you obviously have more faith in "the system" than many people do

11/5/2007 5:27:46 PM

No, I have faith that everyone is greedily looking out for their own interests, not caring what the effects are upon others. Odd, then, that the effect upon others tends to be overwhelmingly positive: temporary financial problems are smoothed over with debt, people enjoy their income when they are young and more capable of doing so (try backpacking across Europe at the age of 60). Sure, if you were denied access to debt you would die richer financially, but I suspect you would die having lived poorly.

11/5/2007 5:36:33 PM

Quote :

"No, I have faith that everyone is greedily looking out for their own interests, not caring what the effects are upon others. Odd, then, that the effect upon others tends to be overwhelmingly positive: temporary financial problems are smoothed over with debt, people enjoy their income when they are young and more capable of doing so (try backpacking across Europe at the age of 60). Sure, if you were denied access to debt you would die richer financially, but I suspect you would die having lived poorly."

Debt is like alcohol.

A little bit of it won't hurt you and can make you happier.

A lot of it and you're digging your own grave.

11/5/2007 5:39:59 PM

Quote :

"Americans have had ready access to debt for over a generation with no discernable long term trends for bankruptcy or delinquincy. As such, since Americans have not demonstrably become less capable of managing their debt"

What are you basing this off of?

Didn't bankruptcy laws recently change because people were abusing it?

Didn't the gov. have to recently spend our tax dollars to bail out lending companies for taking advantage of people's delinquency?

If the gov. didn't do this, a lot of banks would be hurting a little more now. Thank god for the gov., huh?

11/5/2007 5:46:06 PM

Quote :

"No, I have faith that everyone is greedily looking out for their own interests"

well i think the credit card companies are greedily looking after their own interest by offering obscene amounts of credit to people who have no hope of paying it back in full. The companies will reap the benefits because 1) some people will pay back fully without paying a cent of interest (like myself, or "bad customers", as credit card companies like to call us), 2) even more people will pay back fully and give them a healthy dose of interest, and 3) some people will never pay back fully, but will continue to pay large amounts of interest indefinitely, more than making up for the principle they will never pay back and guaranteeing the companies a steady supply of income.

This is not a "blame the credit card companies" post. I think it is totally up to the customer to manage his own debt. I do not, however, believe many/most people are up to this task and are not thinking for their long-term well being when they take on large amounts of debt early in life. The credit companies are practically begging people to take their money, and those companies couldn't care less of the ability of those people to pay them back. While I strongly support/encourage personal responsibility, I know how enticing it must be for a person struggling to pay his bills to literally get a check in the mail for $3000, made out in his name. Many people will gladly, or even reluctantly, cash that check and willingly or ignorantly take on an obscene interest rate, without understanding the full and future ramifications of this action. In this case, people are "greedily looking out for their own [short-term] interests", but are unwilling or unable to accept what their long-term interests are.

11/5/2007 6:29:04 PM

It's just income smoothing.

11/5/2007 8:41:35 PM