Debt is the one issue that affects all of us -- rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, PLP, FNM or BDM. It's such a huge issue... I just wanted to ask the question, 'Why can't so many of us get out of debt?

Debt is the one issue that affects all of us -- rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, PLP, FNM or BDM. It's such a huge issue... I just wanted to ask the question, 'Why can't so many of us get out of debt?
Because we like to spend! We seem to think that the next thing we can latch onto with our credit cards will make it a lot easier. Think of all the junk we have bought! and we are still not making it! :)

ppl live beyond thier means.

Because we like to spend! We seem to think that the next thing we can latch onto with our credit cards will make it a lot easier. Think of all the junk we have bought! and we are still not making it! :)

The main reason is because the whole world is one big competition!!

We are always trying to out do our neighbours, friends and families. We are always trying to impress the public.. and most of us don't make the kind of monies that we spend..So we end up borrowing more monies to keep up with the competition..

And we just end up sinking deeper and deeper in debt..

A simple example is as follows: Many of us watch the NFL sometimes we gather at each others houses to sit, watch the game and discuss various issues..

If I come by your house and you have a 52" TV and my house is the next stop and I only have a 25" even though I am not able to afford it at the time(The person with the 52" might be a doctor and I could be aforeman at some company) I would go, get a loan and either get a 52" too or something bigger putting myself in more debt and the sarga continues.....

ppl live beyond thier means.

yep...and that's the simple answer.

Even when we are in debt, people just keep going...and people accept debt as something regular, rather than something you should avoid/get out of...esspecially if you have been in debt for a long period of time. People live with..putting a lil' somthing on the bill. And in this country, where people literally make money off of other people's debts there is not too much hard hitting consequences while we are in debt......we only want to get out/avoid after we have been slaped with foreclosures.

Also, if you have no perspective of the value of money, or any cultivated habits from home on how to treat money and income, you won't know how to handle debt to know how to get out of it.

Like how people take out loans.....sometimes people don't look at loans as something you can/cannot afford...just a way to ge more money in thier hands, we treat it just as if we ask our buddy to lend a buck..a pencil..a piece of paper...we know in our society we ask to be "lent" something that cannot really be reproduced, and even so, even though we use the word lend, we use it without regard for the meaning, and therefore don't intend to return it. It is the same thing with real loans. People take out loans without real regard for the moment in which we have to pay it back......even though we are seeing the numbers that indicate the monthy payments and the length of the loan......and sign away on the contract!....and that is scary.

I remember sitting in Commonwealth bank with my parents years ago getting something done (which took forever!). It was a Friday...probably near summer too.

I could not believe the number of people going in for a loan! It was like they were at KFC ordering a #2 combo! And the thing is the ammount of money they were borrowing...I mean they were only borrowing as little as $200 to go away shopping! (I don't know what all you can get in the US with JUST $200...but anyways). I mean you don't have $200?! :voodoo:

And right now these people were already trying to pay off more of these small loans.

yep...and that's the simple answer.

Even when we are in debt, people just keep going...and people accept debt as something regular, rather than something you should avoid/get out of...esspecially if you have been in debt for a long period of time. People live with..putting a lil' somthing on the bill. And in this country, where people literally make money off of other people's debts there is not too much hard hitting consequences while we are in debt......we only want to get out/avoid after we have been slaped with foreclosures.

Also, if you have no perspective of the value of money, or any cultivated habits from home on how to treat money and income, you won't know how to handle debt to know how to get out of it.

Like how people take out loans.....sometimes people don't look at loans as something you can/cannot afford...just a way to ge more money in thier hands, we treat it just as if we ask our buddy to lend a buck..a pencil..a piece of paper...we know in our society we ask to be "lent" something that cannot really be reproduced, and even so, even though we use the word lend, we use it without regard for the meaning, and therefore don't intend to return it. It is the same thing with real loans. People take out loans without real regard for the moment in which we have to pay it back......even though we are seeing the numbers that indicate the monthy payments and the length of the loan......and sign away on the contract!....and that is scary.

I am not in dept! Never have been and it is not the amount of money one makes but how one spends it. A millionaire can be up to his eyebrows in dept! So can a poor man. There is a saying, "Cut your coat according to your cloth." Too many of us are walking around in "Coats" too expensive for our wallets! One day, to use another saying, "the chickens will come home to roost!"

I remember sitting in Commonwealth bank with my parents years ago getting something done (which took forever!). It was a Friday...probably near summer too.

I could not believe the number of people going in for a loan! It was like they were at KFC ordering a #2 combo! And the thing is the ammount of money they were borrowing...I mean they were only borrowing as little as $200 to go away shopping! (I don't know what all you can get in the US with JUST $200...but anyways). I mean you don't have $200?! :voodoo:

And right now these people were already trying to pay off more of these small loans.


well i had a $35K vehicle loan with them (included a previous vehicle and insurance also) ... thankfully its much lower now .. but still got a way to go yet. :(

The main reason is because the whole world is one big competition!!
We are always trying to out do our neighbours, friends and families. We are always trying to impress the public......


My grandfather, who was RICH, said, "I never try to impress the public! It is the public's job to impress me!" Of course he was rich, he could get away with something like that. Lol http://www.freewebby.com/happy-smilies/rotflmao.gif

i think it's the consumerist culture that is a big factor in the debts.
Advertising, etc have created wants for us and made us believe those wants are our needs...

Come let us hear from you on this one...

We live above our means and continue the cycle by "training" our kids to live above their means.

Buying kids $200 tennis shoes and not buying them textbooks when they are getting D's in school? Foolishness.



~~~

People live in debt because money has no value.

People live in debt because money has no value.

I need to give you my address so that you can send me all your "valueless" money...

I need to give you my address so that you can send me all your "valueless" money...


I would do that but the postage is worth more than the money to send it to you.