Ya know, I've been thinkin'. I'm a thinkin' man ya know.
Just a few thoughts on our no money down culture.
Hey, what a country we live in. Why you don't need money or good credit to indulge yourself
by shopping till you drop. We are a country of well trained consumers and now you don't
need to have any money to do it.
"No-money-down furniture, no payment for three years!" Yeah, three years later you owe
$30,000 on $7,000 worth of furniture. Don't worry, the finance company will let you pay
it off at 24% interest in a 4% inflationary economy.
No money down for big screen TVs, cars, boats etc. Yeah, no money down on a car that
your finance for 72 months. Hell, after 3 years of payments , you owe more money
on the car than it's worth. Even though you would have to come up with money to
sell it to a private buyer, don't worry because you can trade it in and get the finance company
to finance your negative equity plus get a new car. Isn't that grand?
I've figured out that people with no money will buy anything. They are so well trained
to buy stuff they don't need with money they don't have. These well trained buyers are becoming
bipolar. When they buy the stuff, they're happy for a week or two. Then the monthly bill comes
in and the become unhappy. Then , in order to be happy again, they go out and buy again and so
goes the cycle of mental ups and downs. Truly bipolar.
Don't you just love the way the credit card companies suck the dumb downed in on their scam.
You go out and charge $2,000 and at the end of the month they say you owe the minimal payment
of $19. The idiot doesn't realize that even if he never charged again on his card, the amount he
owes will increase astronomically with 18 to 24 percent these robber barons charge.
Which brings me to the present problem of sub-prime loans. The inarticulate, uneducated,
dumb person without a job, bad credit and no money has been able to buy a home and furnish
it at the same time with a liar loan that some crooked mortgage broker filled in the application
because the idiot couldn't fill out or understand a loan application. The closing costs were even
included in the loan for the home that was worth a lot more than it really was due to a dishonest
appraiser on the payroll of the home builder and whom the home builder had a relationship
with Slippery Sam's Mortgage Company.
Then these loans were packaged and the brilliant Wall Street executives who are and were
making millions in salaries and commissions while heading up Hedge Funds
bought these packages. Now the whole scam has come crashing down but everyone
along this sad tale of transactions got their piece of the pie in commissions and kickbacks
and the poor sucker who acquired the home had a chance to enjoy the wonder American
experience of living in a nice home before it was foreclosed on and now our tax money
or rather our borrowed money from China, Germany, Russia, Japan, etc is now bailing
out the last ones to hold the debt.
What a great way to do business. Only in America.
Remember the ads: No money no problem, bankruptcy OK, credit shot OK, zero down
no payment for 12 months. etc
The average American has forgotten how to get ahead in life.
There used to be a stigma for taking bankruptcy. You took pride in your signature. You took pride
in keeping a good credit score. You never incurred credit card debt because you paid
all you charged at the end of the month and you only used the card to the extent that you
could pay if off each month.
Generally you didn't buy "toys" unless you could pay cash that you had saved up for.
You always tried to save and invest at least 10% of your income each year. You always have a
rainy day fund. But the most important trait of people who get ahead in life is
they defer gratification.
Would it be too much for the average Joe and Mary to ask themselves the most important
financial question , "Do I really need that stuff that the ad bombardment is saying
I need?"
I'm through thinkin' now.
Bob
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