Fixing Your Economy

I've addressed it before, so what's new? Nothing. When I was growing up there were no credit cards. None. You paid for your gasoline with cash. You paid for everything else with cash or a check. And not a check that bounced either. Because the money came directly out of your account within a week of writing it, balancing your checkbook was a daily activity. You didn't write a check without making really SURE you had the cash. No cash, no purchase. It was simple. There was no internet banking. So if you had to have cash transferred, you had to go into the bank to do it. It meant you were bonded to your money. You KNEW what you had. Even if you were in denial, the numbers stared you in the face. If you couldn't afford something, but you really wanted it, you did something called LAYAWAY. You went in, explained you wanted to buy it on layaway, and you put some money down-they put the merchandise in the LAYAWAY section of the back of the store, and then you paid a payment on it every week until you paid it off. Then you got the merchandise. Today it is very different- you buy it, get it and THEN pay the layaway. To a credit card company at ridiculous interest rates. The bane of contemporary American life is the credit card company. It has made debt a part of your life. Banks, in fact, discourage your fiscal health by charging you for returned check. They prefer you use their bank issued credit card. So you charge things to your credit card that you normally would have paid for. Meanwhile, your bank balance looks great! It looks like you haven't spent a dime! lucky you. Credit card statements seem to have no relevance. Some of the line items don't even make any sense- they aren't even the name of the company you purchased from. Credit cards are convenient but very, very dangerous. It is time to tightly regulate the issuance of credit cards. If a bank wouldn't give you a 10,000 loan, it should NOT be giving you a credit card with a 10,000 balance. And NO ONE should issue you a second card if there is evidence of unpaid debt on another card. This "cutting back" theory of fixing your personal economy is a great idea, but it is a much better idea not to SPEND money you do not have. In other words, if you can't pay for it up front, don't get it.