[trebb]

Amazing read on how the consequences of irresponsible acts equate to slavery. My wife and I live comfortably, manage to save some for retirement. We live the way we can afford to live and that means we don't have a 200 square foot plasma TV and get by with one computer and a mediocre stereo. Our car payments and maintenance of the cars were budgeted, so we don't have $40,000 cars.

The real problem is that the same folks who squeal the loudest about people being eaten alive with credit card debt and bad decisions, are the same folks who tend to make people believe that they deserve nothing but the best and they should have it all. When I was growing up, people understood that if you lived beyond your means, you would end up in the street. Today, it's those who expect payment for goods and services that are getting kicked.

[quantfive]

"The real problem is that the same folks who squeal the loudest about people being eaten alive with credit card debt and bad decisions, are the same folks who tend to make people believe that they deserve nothing but the best and they should have it all. When I was growing up, people understood that if you lived beyond your means, you would end up in the street. Today, it's those who expect payment for goods and services that are getting kicked."

I feel it's a combination of people who used their credit to hang on to their homes and pay the bills during this last recession and then those living beyond their means being providing easy credit. I make enough to pay the bills but I have to say the cost of living has shot through the roof between energy and medical costs.