Secret History of the Credit Card

Frontline PBS ^ | Nov. 23, 2004 | Elizabeth Warren - interview

[yooper]

Your father was a very wise man. His heirs also exhibit wisdom by the adoption of his policies, which indicates that he fulfilled his duties as a patriarch.

Loved your post; it reminds me greatly of my own upbringing.

[ClaireSolt]

This is all so convoluted that I get impatient. A bankrupcy law need not address all of the criticisms of credit cards. This is the first time I have seen, though, that the criticism is an attempt to federalize an area that belongs to the states.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Yes... just like the NYTs

[On the Road to Serfdom]

If you brother lost his job he would not be earning higher than the median income in his state, so he would not need any exception regarding the bill.

On the other hand, if he was fortunate enough to get better and earn $6000 per month at a new job what is wrong with having him pay $100 per month for a few years? The people he owes money to could get at least a token amount back, and $100 per month is not really a hardship to someone making above the median income.

[Quixotical]

b

[SauronOfMordor]

Chapter 13 has a particular side effect for single women, and the men who would like to prey upon them: for 3 to 5 years, they will be required to make debt payments that will consume most of their paychecks except for bare living expenses. This will lead to a fairly Spartan existance.

But this changes if she acquires a boyfriend "sugar daddy", and keeps him happy. He can buy her stuff and take her places, and his subsidy to her lifestyle is outside the reach of all creditors. She cannot marry him, because then his income may come within reach of her creditors.

So by picking a woman in Chapter 13, a guy acquires a woman who has little choice except to keep a guy happy enough to subsidize her.

I'm sure this is not lost on the many womanizers in Congress

[dakine]

Heck, I'm $125,000 in debt..I love credit cards....

[Craigon]

This guy, (http://www.daveramsey.com/) Dave Ramsey, has some good advise and views on debt and getting out of it. Nothin fancy, no gimmicks, but rather just using discipline and your income. But the way he talks about it causes some of us (like me) to looks at the obvious more clearly. He's into avoiding Bankruptcy like the plague…and of course paying off debt you've incurred as opposed to shunning that obligation via Bankruptcy.

When you get down to it, the steps are pathetically obvious:
- Stop borrowing and do a plast-dectomy, all hands on deck with added income (two jobs, sell everything you can, etc),
- Quickly save a starter $1000 emergency fund (you no longer have cards to fall back on…use a debit card when cash is not doable), payoff debt with his "debt snowball"
- Then increase emergency fund to 3-6 month living expenses,
- Then max out IRA/ROTH/401K contributions
- Then, if applicable, fund Kids College
- Then Pay off Home. If you're one of those "but if I pay off home, I pay more taxes" type, pay off the friggin home and give to church or charity for same damn tax break...for crying out loud.
- Then Build Wealth with no more payments!
- Live large on cash the rest of your life.

I've been following his plan for 2 months now after unsecured debt exceeded gross income. Probably have 3-4 more year to go given my deep hole. We paid off 12K in 2 month, mostly selling crap like a mad man (and woman),including my 4x4 which was replaced with an old $1500 Saturn...ouch :).

By chance he was a guest this week at our church (North Point Community Church in Alpharetta Ga) while pastor Andy Stanley was out of country. Delivered a good sermon on debt (for someone not officially a pastor).

[Uncle Vlad]

Benjamin Franklin, by the way, was our nation's first millionaire.

[A. Pole]

The gist of it seems to be that the greatness of America came not from the people's morality and their virtue in paying back their debts but rather it was their ability through the bankruptcy code to screw all of their creditors. In other words its the deadbeats that made America great!

Hey, your reasoning is based on pride and "conservative" version of political correctness. Add to that that the independence of American farmers (majority of America until XX c were rural, was based on the free give away of the land taken from Indian tribes. (In Latin America the wealth/land was given to the oligarchy and we see the results)

I would recommend you reading more of William Faulkner and less of Ayn Rand.

[A. Pole]

Heck, I'm $125,000 in debt..I love credit cards....

Really? You have no more than six months to make the move. After that you are a toast.

[A. Pole]

Then increase emergency fund to 3-6 month living expenses,

Better yet, increase quickly this fund to 50 years living expenses. That you you can retire comfortable and stop worrying. Way to go man!

[HamiltonJay]

Not to correct this gentlman, but the quote "BUYING ON CREDIT IS FOLLY" and it comes from the 1910 Sears Catalogue!

It was true in 1910, and its true today.. its just today people have been lied to so much about it they actually think credit consumption is a good thing.

[gregwest]

A few quotes relevant to this subject:

"Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money and control credit, and with a flick of a pen they will create enough to buy it back." (Sir Josiah Stamp, former President, Bank of England)

“With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people.” (Friedrich A. Hayek (1899-1992) Austrian Economist, Author and 1974 Nobel Prize-Winner for Economics)

"A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interest, combined in one mass; and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks." (John C. Calhoun, Speech 5/27/1836)

"All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." (John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson)

"Those who create and issue money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people." (Rt. Hon. Reginald McKenna, former Chancellor of Exchequer, England)

"If, however, a government refrains from regulations and allows matters to take their course, essential commodities soon attain a level of price out of the reach of all but the rich, the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent, and the fraud upon the public can be concealed no longer." (John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 240 )

“Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value: zero.” Voltaire (1694-1778)

Greg West

[cicero's_son]

The newly amended bankruptcy law is a criminal act perpetrated, bought and paid for by commercial pirates masquerading as legitimate businesses.

Perfectly said.

REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP: Are you listening???????? We are not going to tolerate this kind of corruption, not after fighting so hard to put you and keep you in office after 50 years of Democrat rule!

[Centurion2000]

Good strategy

[clamper1797]

Bump

[fuzzthatwuz]

Thanks for the time extended in posting this article. The "Two Faces" of Hillary were particularily interesting:

And Sen. [Hillary] Clinton?

Sen. Clinton, when she was first lady, [was] responsible for stopping the proposed bankruptcy legislation. The White House had been quietly supporting it, and it was First Lady Clinton who talked with her husband and persuaded him that the bankruptcy bill was hard on women, hard on families, hard on older Americans, and was a bad idea in general. And the last act that President Clinton took with Congress was to veto the bankruptcy bill. Mrs. Clinton took credit for that in her autobiography, and by golly, she deserves it. She stood up --

AND TODAY?

Sen. Clinton, when she was elected, the financial services industry brought this bill back. And so one of the very first bills that came up after Sen. Clinton had taken office was the bankruptcy bill. Oh, [there were] a couple of cosmetic changes to it, ... but it was the same bill that had been there at that point already for four years. And Sen. Clinton voted in favor of the bill.

[international american]

"I would recommend you reading more of William Faulkner and less of Ayn Rand."

ROTF.....good suggestion . Rand has ruined more minds than L. Ron Hubbard : )