I totally believe this.
I work at a gas station part time(wouldn't have had to do this a couple of years ago) and I see people "charging" their gas all day long. Its scary!
My husband is blue collar but has a trade. This "should" have provided a steady increase in income as we grew older but alas..its gone down because of the economy. Because of higher gas prices though his bids have to go up. This doesn't work well.
With three kids and a house and cars etc...just to pay taxes, insurance, utilities and food bills its all we can do. There is no extra for saving.
And what? are we supposed to tell our kids, "sorry, sucks to be you, if you were only born a few years earlier you could have experienced family vacations, game boy's and extra curricular activities."
Are we really expected to forgo family fun of any sort because the government can't get their shit together? This is where it hurts a middle income family and this is why I resent it.
Of course the economy will pick up again...in a few years at aleast...just in time for my kids to be all grown up and moved out. Lovely.
I have zero rolling credit card debt, and I charge my gas all day long. Why do into the store when I can stick my card into the gas pump? In fact, I charge everything. I haven't had cash in my wallet at all in the last few weeks. I have simply gone mostly cashless. Not only do I not have to worry about how much cash I have, by simply going on line I can easily see what all my expenditures are. It makes budgeting a lot easier.
Change jobs. Sorry but your "anecdotal evidence" means YOU are on the low end, NOT that the whole economy sucks. The facts are vastly different then the supposed "Facts" people tell you. The DATA tells a vastly different story then this "owe poor me" mythology.
You're funny...
Some people might just find it more convenient to charge it than having to carry cash. Many of these same people will pay off their cards every month and use the loyalty program points to fund their next vacation. Not scary, just smart.
And what? are we supposed to tell our kids, "sorry, sucks to be you.
I'd tell them to take their education seriously, finish college and work hard to always improve themselves. I'd also tell them they live in a country offering more opportunity than any other place in the history of the world. You could instill in them a positive attitude about their future, an understanding of personal accountability, the importance of persistence and, especially, not to blame others if they should fail at something.
[spews beer over monitor]
Think that it might have to do with the fact that most folks don't want to come inside and pay you with cash, and opt for the convenience of swiping a card at the pump? And how do you know if they're swiping credit or debit cards? LOL
You're joking, right?
Have you never heard of a debit card? It looks just like a credit card, but it pays for purchases with money from checking.