@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:It really irks me when I see people who make $100,000 plus a year telling people the whole bootstrap ideology or to live within their means. This is a near instant indication to me that they are either entirely out of touch with reality or lack basic human empathy.
Making $100,000 has nothing to do with it. Or any other income level for that matter. You can make $1,000,000 per year, and if you spend $2,000,000, than you are not living within your means. Just like someone who makes $40,000 a year can be smart with their money and and still criticize the $1,000,000 person for spending $2,000,000 and not having a thing to show for it. Does the $40,000 person lack basic human empathy, in your opinion?
@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:I don't think a lot of people who are in massive amounts of debt get credit cards, rack them up and go "ha- not paying them" they are usually in debt due to factors beyond their control.
Um, that's exactly what they do. The factor beyond their control is that they cannot control themselves. When you look at the average cc statement, do you think you will see itemized charges for starbucks & cigarettes or a heart transplant and a pack of dialysis?
I honestly do not know your post history and you are not wrong that these companies just consider you to be a number. But no one has to be a victim. If it really bothers you, you could cancel all your credit cards and just do debit card for life.
@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:
@OmarR wrote:
@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:It really irks me when I see people who make $100,000 plus a year telling people the whole bootstrap ideology or to live within their means. This is a near instant indication to me that they are either entirely out of touch with reality or lack basic human empathy.
Making $100,000 has nothing to do with it. Or any other income level for that matter. You can make $1,000,000 per year, and if you spend $2,000,000, than you are not living within your means. Just like someone who makes $40,000 a year can be smart with their money and and still criticize the $1,000,000 person for spending $2,000,000 and not having a thing to show for it. Does the $40,000 person lack basic human empathy, in your opinion?
@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:I don't think a lot of people who are in massive amounts of debt get credit cards, rack them up and go "ha- not paying them" they are usually in debt due to factors beyond their control.
Um, that's exactly what they do. The factor beyond their control is that they cannot control themselves. When you look at the average cc statement, do you think you will see itemized charges for starbucks & cigarettes or a heart transplant and a pack of dialysis?
I honestly do not know your post history and you are not wrong that these companies just consider you to be a number. But no one has to be a victim. If it really bothers you, you could cancel all your credit cards and just do debit card for life.
Americans lived fine without major credit card debt until the 1980's when it started to skyrocket and has reacher over $1T.
In fact credit "charga plates" used to be around in major stores since the 20's.
Credit card companies advertise heavily and shove offers down people's throat.
They bank on people to screw up. They do not like people who pay in full every month because they don't make much if any money off them and in fact the industry calls people who do this "deadbeats".
They entice consumers with introductory offers like 0% APR and have pages of tiny print detailing how any minute screw up will revoke that rate...and in some cases missing ONE payment will cause your rate to rise as well.
You make the assumption that everyone in the USA is very intelligent and a lot of them are, and pay in full or just don't use credit cards altogether any pay in cash, but that can make it harder to finance a home or car.
But these companies prey on the people who have addictive habits like a shopping addiction, or people who are not very intelligent.
They even used to set up booths at colleges to try and sign students up for cards.
I agree 100% with your post.
But did you know that you can say NO to credit cards? You can say NO to vehicles you cannot afford? You can say NO to mortgages you cannot afford?
You said it yourself and you even took the effort to BOLD it; They bank on people to screw up. So at what point does the person take accountabilty for their choices and stop screwing up? That is an honest question that I am asking you.