Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford
Now all the talk is about how the problem is not with greedy fatcats on Wall Street -- the real problem is that regular folks on Main Street can't get loans for the stuff they want to buy. It's the "credit crunch" and the "credit markets are frozen."
The true fact is that it SHOULD be hard for regular folks to get a loan, and especially hard if they have bad credit, lots of debt, or they really can't afford what they're trying to buy. The root cause of this credit problem was wildly loose lending standards -- loaning money to people who you're not supposed to lend money to, people who can't afford it, people whose credit and ability to repay are not prime, but rather sub-prime.
So now that so many of those sub-prime loans have gone bad (DUH!), we're supposed to support a $700 billion program to "restore confidence in the credit market?" Why? So lenders can feel confident enough to make bad loans again?
It's worth repeating that you should not buy stuff that you cannot afford. The joke is that this is obvious. To behave otherwise is laughable. But it's that joke that our economy is based on. That's why Wall Street is in a tizzy now, because God forbid people stop buying stuff they cannot afford! Lordy, it will ruin our economy!
We have become so used to getting whatever we want, whenever we want it, at Wal-Mart bargain basement prices, that we have lost the ability to judge true value. We fail to consider (and refuse to pay) the true cost of our American lifestyle. If this credit crunch might help to sober Americans up from their credit inebriation, then I welcome it.
And by the way, if you have good credit and a down payment, you can still get a loan, despite the headline scare tactics; just read the whole article. I think Wall Street is just upset that the easy cash they were making by exploiting folks living beyond their means has dried up. People should not live beyond their means, and any system that encourages them to do so is immoral and deserves to fail.
"Glittery prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity."
posted by Alien at
4:30 PM
2 Comments:
The problem is that when business cannot get loans, many of them cannot do things like buy inventory or make payroll. Lots of businesses are set up to use short terms loan to make the ends meet. It is the way that businesses do not need cash up front. That is the real danger
I'm grateful to have people in our lives like Nonnie and Papa Saxophone who have somehow managed to figure out how to live without Credit Cards. It's amazing to think that my grandfather even bought his truck with cash. These are not rich people, these role models. These are just people who don't buy stuff they cannot afford.
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