E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe financial shocks that began in 2007 prompted a lot of Americans to change their free-spending ways, especially when it came to taking on debt.
Several years on, some Americans may be reversing course, either by choice or necessity.
The Federal Reserve said Monday that Americans sharply increased their borrowing for big-ticket items like cars and education expenses in March and whipped out their credit cards more often.
Experts say the surprising increase of more than $21 billion in consumer borrowing may be a sign that Americans are feeling more comfortable taking on debt again. Or it could be that many are running out of other options.
With the economy still relatively weak, many say it’s doubtful that Americans have forgotten the harsh impact of the recession, financial crisis and credit crunch.
“I would hope that we as consumers have learned our lesson from the economic downturn that hey, we’ve got to watch our spending and spend what we can afford,” said Bill Hardekopf, CEO of lowcards.com, a credit card comparison website. “I would think a great number of people did learn that.”
But even with those lessons in mind, some Americans may feel they have to borrow money.
Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics with IHS Global Insight, said consumers may be taking out car loans because, after years of scrimping and putting off major expenses, they have little choice.
“People are in a position where they have to buy new cars,” Edelstein said.
Are you at risk of losing unemployment benefits?
Americans also may be rushing to take on student loan debt because they’re worried about a potential increase in the borrowing rate, he said. The interest rate on certain student loans could increase to 6.8 percent in July, from 3.4 percent currently, if Congress doesn’t take action.
It’s also possible that students are taking on new student loans faster than the old ones are being paid off thanks to the weak job market, said Alex Matjanec, co-founder of MyBankTracker.com, which provides information about banks, loans and credit cards.
Revolving debt – which is largely composed of credit card debt – accounted for about $5 billion of the increase in March. Still, total credit card debt is much lower than five years ago, before the recession, housing crisis and credit crunch changed people’s habits significantly.
Hardekopf said part of the reason for the March increase could be an aggressive push by banks to get people with good credit to use their cards more. He said banks have been pushing better incentives and rewards, although interest rates have not changed much.
Hardekopf also has seen an increase in credit card offers to higher-risk borrowers with lower credit scores. After years of tight credit they may be getting tempted by the more aggressive offers, he said.
Edelstein said he doubts people will go back to the free-spending, pre-recession days.
One big reason: Housing wealth, or a lack thereof. Before the housing bubble burst many Americans enjoyed the security of having a lot of equity in their homes. These days, with so many homes underwater, people are more likely to have to rely on their paycheck.
“You don’t have that cushion,” he said.
Leave a Comment:
The biggest consumer in the U.S., the Federal Government, hasn't learned a thing and they're going to cause a true financial disaster in due course.
There is indeed a problem with a political system that has to maintain itself by doling out money to interest groups. Voters need to start thinking rationally, and get rid of all the bozo's in D.C. that are really the heart of the financial problems.
I agree! The problem is that you can't get honest people into DC because it costs so much to run for office.
On that statement, the US consumer has learned a lot over the last 4 years: Greedy Wall St. crooks, CEO's who received compensation from bail out monies for running their companies into the ground, political figures who receive annual pay raises despite the economic debacle going on... no responsibility being taken by our leaders. Yes, quite an education we've all received while standing in long unemployment lines.
yeah right....people just found a new way to scam the government and taxpayers!
There was a little mentioned tangent to last Friday's very disappointing NFP print of +115,000 (driven by a surge in temp jobs offsetting a collapse in full time positions): as David Rosenberg notes, the jobs number was about half of another far more important number - that of Americans applying for disability , which in April was +225,000. He continues: "this is the new stealth stimulus program - so far in 2011, nearly one million Americans have applied for disability and year-to-date, 333k have actually enrolled (covering 539k family members).
Prices are high, my income is low. Why on earth would I want to take on more debt? I want to keep my house! If I can't pay cash for something then I don't really need it. I pay my household bills and buy groceries and gas. I'd love to have some new clothes and a new pair of shoes, but at this moment it's not in my budget and I am certainly not going to take out a credit card to buy these things...I can do without!
It is one thing to have a population temporarily on unemployment benefits, but now we see that once removed from those benefits, our government is putting people on permanent disability. That group, 3 million since Obama took office, will never work again. I know of more cases of people on disability than unemployment. That is scary. So basically fewer and fewer people are working. That begs the question how on earth those remaining working, will be able to pay for the millions on government benefits that need current workers to pay for those benefits. I think that is where the misunderstanding is. People still believe that money is in some sort of account that can pay for all these benefits. They fail to understand the current workforce must be paying the bills which means more and more taxes to support those benefits. We are definitely heading in the wrong direction.
Vote for scientists/economists and stop voting for politicians/religious zealots. As an environmental engineer I get downright frustrated when I see a politician spew out half truths about the environment/ecosystem/OUR DRINKING WATER.
In relation to the article, why would anyone ever be comfortable with debt? The only time I'd willingly go into it is in the case of a medical emergency. The first thing I did after graduating from college last year was to pay off my loans in the following months before the interest even kicked in. All the same, I'd never take out a loan to buy a car or any "luxury" item.
So very true, and it is my belief and that of many others that the dark age of collapse will last may years, at least a lifetime and possibly more.
Temporary positions have always been around. Acting like there being some is new is crazy.
The government isn't to blame for people going crazy with getting credit cards, using credit cards, & not paying off credit cards.
That said, the government is responsible for regulating what they can charge to consumers. What type of shady ways they might lure people into getting credit cards they cannot afford to pay off, etc.
I noticed some people saying they couldn't get credit without having credit cards...that is incorrect. I don't use credit cards and I got my credit history up before buy my first house by using secured loans. You can use your tax refund to either buy a certificate of deposit or just keep the money in your savings and borrow off that. It's a loan so the bank/credit union does make money from lending your money to you. But by making regular payments to the loan and paying it off you gain a credit history. Depending on if you make the payments or not. If for some reason you hit hard times....they use the secure part to pay off the rest of the loan. Then it shows you paid off the loan. Just be sure to let the bank/credit union take the secure part before you are late too often on the loan payments or it doesn't help as much. I hope this helps many of you out there that need to build up credit. I speak from experience.
Soon as the Tax payers are on the hook for the post office's failures Americans will for sure not be feeling better about borrowing more money from China to pay for a failing institution.
@Letusreason -- Shrinking the government to fit our weak economy - only means we end up with a weak economy and no government. Who will protect the wealthy then?
The only way out of our fiscal mess is to grow the economy to support our level of government. That way we have a stronger economy - can afford to pay off debt - and still have a functioning government.
Continuing to simply throw money at the wealthy is not going to 'fix' anything. The wealthy are quite capable of taking care of themselves.
It is time to put our money into the economy where the economy actually works - the middle class.
Just look at the logic being handed out to Americans by the media and the politicians- Default on your house, default on your loans, student loans aren't fair, my house's value going down isn't fair, we need high paying jobs but hate those having high paying jobs, we need to spend more money to get out of debt, unemployment checks create jobs, don't worry about what it says- just sign it, we need to cut spending but we can't cut programs- people depend on them, can't cut from my pet project, yeah- we spent $5+ trillion in new debt in three years but the other guy spent $5 trillion in debt too...........
In the end we ALL owe somewhere between $35,000 and $70,000 for just the federal government debt TO DATE. You owe it. Your baby- owes it. Your grandchildren owe it, etc. Guess what- it hurts to pay off your commitments, but you chose to take them on- for better or worse- so make some hard decisions and get yourselves inline. That goes for our personal finances and our government's.
The poll question is a little misleading: I use credit cards frequently to take advantage of the rewards points, but my balance is always paid on time without racking up finance charges. I've accrued close to half a million AMEX points in the last 5 years because of this.
But then OTOH, I wouldn't expect the average American to worry about personal debt problems when the feds are $15T in debt with a budget deficit of over $1.5T.
Shocker, I am sure that the 50% of the people that pay no federal taxes are just fine with the other 50% supporting them, and footing the bill for the government debt through FEDERAL TAXES. 50% supporting 100%, hmm fuzzy math ? The government sets the worst example for debt management possible. Why would lazy entitled people worry about debt? You raise taxes and you think the government would be responsible? You give an alcoholic 1 bottle of liquor and he drinks it the same day, you think if you gave him 2 he would only drink one each day? That is how our government spends money, them more they get the more they spend.
@George.Zimmerman -- Everyone is subsidizing your AMEX points.
Every card swipe generates a fee for the bank. Those swipe fees are paid for by higher self prices. Everyone is paying the higher shelf prices to subsidize your AMEX points. Don't you feel like an 'entitled' banker now?
The private debt burden on our country is three times the Federal debt. The total debt burden (public and private combined) is four times our GDP. If government debt is a big problem - private debt is three times bigger.
That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. Yes, all CC take a portion of revenue from the retailer, but that money is more than made up in the form of higher volume to the business. Otherwise, why would any business accept anything other than cash? My points are simply a reward for being a local customer to my CC company, while generating and estimated 7-8K in revenue for them over the past few years.
As for private debt............frankly I couldn't care less about that. It's every individuals personal responsiblity to manage their own finances and if they start defaulting on their loans, that's no concern of mine. Yes you could make an argument that more defaulted mortgages lowers my home value, but again, since I have no plans to sell my home, what do I care what it's worth?
Hello folks, why not no debt problem here! We have been conditioned to talk in terms of trillions, not millions, not billions, but trillions with a T. Don't worry we have it on good authority that the mostly European bankster Federal Reserve has purchased a more efficient printing press so that it can keep up with the demand and increase our interest payments to them.
We have been conditioned to talk in terms of trillions of dollars of debt without having any concept of the size of the hole we have been digging.
Let’s put this in a context that should give us pause when we talk about the size of our debt.
One million seconds is twelve days ago.
One billion seconds is 32 years ago.
One Trillion seconds is just under 32 thousand years ago.
Our national debt is over 15 trillion and climbing as we need 10.4 billion a day to keep our economy going. Either our leaders are completely inept or just plain corrupt as the banksters are the only ones benefiting from our government’s policies. The masses are falling in line with our government as they are managing their debt with more debt. What a country!
This article runs completely contrary to the vast majority of comments posted here. It seems to be an attempt at injecting some kind of fantasy into people's consciousness.
The rational being that if you say it's so and keep repeating it, maybe it will become reality.
Obama certainly feels comfortable with debt, but most Americans do not.
Is Joe Biden as "comfortable" with mounting public and private debt as he is with gay marriage ? Obama certainly is "comfortable" spending other people's money. ;o)
@George.Zimmerman -- Those card 'rewards' are compensation for you to increase market penetration for the card company. You are paying more in increased self prices than the value of the 'rewards' you receive. You are paying a premium price for those AMEX points. The card company is not giving you anything.
Private default has the same effect on our economy as public default. The big difference is that the government is not allowed to default. Foreclosures will have a larger impact on your finances than the national debt.
The only way to pay down both our public and private debt - is to grow the economy to provide the money. Shrinking disposable income - to pay debt - will only shrink our economy. That creates a downward spiral to no demand - no jobs - no income. Debt cannot be paid without income. Debt cannot be paid by creating more debt.
Exactly why some are taking on more debt. if you feel the whole system is going to collapse soon anyway, why wouldn't you borrow as much as you can, while you can.
Letusreason "The biggest consumer in the U.S., the Federal Government, hasn't learned a thing and they're going to cause a true financial disaster in due course."
Amen to that. The National Debt has gone from $10.0 Trillion for Bush's last fiscal year (2008), but it is now $15.7 Trillion, an increase of 57% in only 3+ years.
The government wants us in debt as individuals. The national debt is unsustainable but the left has yet to realize that. It is obvious the media on the left is publishing this garbage.
Roy 57% in 4 years just curious what will it be if he is given 4 more to roll on spending what we don't have? % wise is a nightmare if he follows the past 3 yrs
I invite you folks to check this out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/30-years-spending-priorities-federal-budget-2012/
Note that the Bush administration spent $4.2T in Bush's last year, while Obama spent $3.7T during his last full year. If you further examine the various areas where money was spent you'll see a significant jump in "Income Security" under Obama's administration - this includes things like unemployment insurance, and so on... expenses that go up when you have significant unemployment.
@ROY WILSON-336103 -- Yep, saving the entire financial system of the United States was an expensive proposition. Good thing Obama spent that money or Wall Street would not have recovered.
Too, bad George Bush cut 'n run on the economy - just like he did in Afghanistan.
Nerm_L I guess you missed the SCATHING article from Newsweek?
Why Can't Obama Bring Wall Street to Justice?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/why-can-t-obama-bring-wall-street-to-justice.html
Despite his populist posturing, the president has failed to pin a single top finance exec on criminal charges since the economic collapse. Are the banks too big to jail—or is Washington’s revolving door at to blame?
Obama came into office vowing to end business as usual, and, in the gray post-crash dawn of 2009. The public was shaken, and angry, and Wall Street seemed oblivious to its own culpability, defending extravagant pay bonuses even while accepting a taxpayer bailout. Obama channeled this anger, and employed its rhetoric, blaming the worldwide economic collapse on "the reckless speculation of bankers." Two months into his presidency, Obama summoned the titans of finance to the White House, where he told them, "My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks."
Why, despite widespread outrage, financial-fraud prosecutions by the Department of Justice are at 20-year lows
Attorney General Eric Holder’s lucrative ties to a top-tier law firm whose marquee clients include some of finance’s worst offenders
How Obama’s trumpeted “task force” for investigating risky mortgage lenders—announced in this year’s State of the Union speech—is badly understaffed and has yet to produce any discernible progress
But the president's claim as avenging populist may prove trickier, given his own deeply complicated, even conflicted, relationship with Big Finance.
The bankers may have found the president's tone unsettling. Candidate Obama had been their guy, accepting vast amounts of Wall Street campaign money for his victories over Hillary Clinton and John McCain (Goldman Sachs executives ponied up $1 million, more than any other private source of funding in 2008). Obama far outraised his Republican rival, John McCain, on Wall Street--around $16 million to $9 million
Obama has had 3 years to “get the bad guys on Wall Street” and has done NOTHING about it! WHY NOT????????????????
Sounds like Barry CUT N RUN!
@FedupwithFed -- It is extremely difficult to convict someone of breaking a law that does not exist. We all know that what the bankers did was unprofessional, unethical, immoral.
Eliminating regulations and laws (shrinking the size of government) simply makes fraud a legal activity.
- Exactly who has been screaming about too much government regulation - too much government interference in business?
- Exactly who has been deregulating the financial industry and eliminating government interference?
- Exactly who has made bank fraud legal?
I seriously doubt that Obama's name can be honestly mentioned as a proponent of deregulation.
Did you bother to READ the article? He campaigned on it! Another FAILED campaign promise! Why? Because he is bought and paid for by Wall St!
@FedupwithFed -- So why are you not calling for campaign finance reform?
If Obama's crew of pirates are raking in all that Wall Street cash - then why are you not trying to make that activity illegal?
If Obama is intentionally avoiding bringing legal action against bankers - because the bankers made huge donations to Obama's campaign - then when will you demand campaign finance reform? When will you demand lobby reform?
That is the problem with RWNJ Republicans - they try to gain petty political points and miss the entire point of what they are shouting about.
Missing the point only makes you pointless.
Voters need to start thinking rationally, and get rid of all the bozo's in D.C. that are really the heart of the financial problems.
I'm voting against my state representatives/senators. I don't care if they are Republican or Democrat. Screw them. I'll also most likely vote third party during the presidential election. I'm not voting for Romney or Obama. We need to abandon partisan lines!
the president has failed to pin a single top finance exec on criminal charges since the economic collapse
That is because most of the people who caused the bubble and resulting collapse are not top finance execs, but both republican and democratic lawmakers who forced banks to do stupid loans.
Government-subsidized Fanny and Freddie are still backing over 90% of home loans to make them more affordable and so more people run up housing debt. Why don't we learn? This is what CAUSED the problem to begin with! The government has no business messing in home loans.
If this was a story during the Bush era, the headline would read "Poor economy forces higher credit card debt." But, since this is just a shill front for Obama's re-election, the Messnbc spinners put a positive edge on something that we all should find extremely troublesome.
Things are getting worse and Obama is even asking France's new leader (another socialist) to hold off increasing taxes and to cut spending. Proof that Obama wants to derail our economy and bring us to the levels of Europe. Deplorable.
Love your Avatar and handle. Yes most Americans are more comfortable with the CRUSHING debt. They are clueless to history and ignorant of the facts. Does Weimar Republic ring a bell sheeple? Does monitizing the debt mean anything? The collective gullibility of the American people should never cease to amaze you. BTW Another four years of our Marxist in chief will finish off this once great country.
So I wasn't the first to see the article as a "tail wagging the dog" article. "Hey, it says people are making more debt, so it must be OK for us to do so as well." Well no it's not. Those in debt need to continue to pay down, and those of us, like myself who is not in debt need to make good choices in spending and not listen to the propaganda on MSNBC. I'm sure the sheeple, believing this article and running out and getting themselves in trouble again would cause a slight "uptick" in the economy, which Obama would immediately claim is a result of his policies. When in reality, his policies have failed to do what he said they would. Neither a person or a govt. can "spend themselves out of debt." The quicker they both realize it, the sooner we will fix our own problems, rather than borrowing from the Bank of China.
So this is how America ends.
Not with a bang but quietly with a crushing debt. *very sad*
ObamaLies: "...hold off increasing taxes and to cut spending. Proof that Obama wants to derail our economy..."
I'm not an Obama (or Romney) fan, but in the long run, that policy is what makes the most sense. It's economics 101, as you can read by this Democrat's advice, who based on economic philosophy, would be considered a Republican today:
http://www.wnd.com/2004/07/25640/
I'm no longer worried about my own debt!!
I'll do as the government, I will raise my credit card limits, and spend, spend, spend..!!
I may even buy a copier to print more money, and spend, spend, spend.!!
They are getting worse. As evident by the increased unemployment...er... as evident by the lack of economic growth...er... as evident by the stock markets poor performance...er... I guess things arent getting worse.
GTFO
Mike, did you ever think the Stock Market has become "numb" to some extent, to the Media and their commentary on the economy? If Joe Average can see through the propaganda, don't you think those who run the Stock Market would as well? Yes, there is still fluctuation, but not like before, when there was an up or down, based on the news of the hour. Over-reacting to the hype is not useful to anyone.
Mike you need to look deeper to understand the numbers. Unemployment went down .1 percent last month due to more people getting out of the employment ranks (they stopped looking for work and therefore don't count). The economic growth is the slowest ever recorded after a recession and the fed says with the current systems we have it will continue to drag on. The stock market took a hit with the election of the Socialist Party candidate in France even before he takes office. You can be happy with the numbers but I'm not.
@Mike
It really is a shame you believe the manipulated numbers my bet is you would have seen through the lies when it was the Bush adminstration BUT hey since it's Obama they must be telling the truth.
Right?
Do you actually believe anything coming from the government, media outlets pushing government propaganda?
Consider that world governments Are directly responsible for 246 million early deaths in the last 100 years.
Who funded all the Chaos but our loving banksters at times they funded both sides of the conflict!
Usery credit is a noose many people ruin their lives with.
Read confessions of an economic hitman.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John
Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in
an era of globalization. And Perkins should know. For many years he worked for
an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (less
developed countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for
infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at
Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and
construction companies. This book, which many people warned Perkins not to
write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire
consequences on both the victimized countries and the
U.S.
Show More
Show Less
Mike, yes things are getting worse. Our national debt isn't just "growing" out of control, it's SPIRALING out of control. It's past $15.7 trillion now, and has actually surpassed our GDP for the first time in history...extremely dangerous territory.
I'm not sure what planet you live on when you say 8.1% unemployment is a good thing. While it's certainly better than the 10% it hovered near for almost two years, it's still way too high...and given the fact that it went "down" due to so many discouraged workers giving up, I'd say it's still a pretty dire situation. Our 2.2% growth just reported is terrible.
Housing is still a mess and people's health care premiums have actually INCREASED since Obamacare was
forced down our throatspassed.If you see all of these as "good things," I'll have whatever hallucinagenic drugs you're obviously abusing.
Lots of whining people on here with all kinds of excuses why the economy is in the tank even though the numbers disagree with them.
Is unemployment way too high? Sure. Is it Obamas fault - nope.
Is the economy still sputtering? Sure. But show me an equally disastrous economic situation where the economy recovered more quickly.
Whine more please.
The economy would recover if left alone. All the government 'tinkering' does is delay and prevent a recovery. Having an ideologue in office is not helping matters either. The government is not the answer to all your ills. Relying on the govenment to take care of you is pathetic. Looking to the government to solve all your problems is beyond pathetic. 90% of the problems we currently face are a direct result OF government.
Look at both sides, both parties. How many politicans are really intelligent? Most have the intellect and morals of used car salesmen and alley cats. Power and prestige is the goal, also the tons of money to be made. How many poor congressmen out there? How many democrats are lawyers? That right there should tell you something.
You can always tell people that have never done drugs by their drug analogies. Right Jax? Only a moron would say such a thing.
Anyway, this was the worst recession since the great depression. Does anyone know how long it took to get out of that hole. We did not recover until the War. I like how all of the righties think we should have just bounced back in a year.
By the way if we would have introduced the austerity that the right wanted we would probably be in a double dip. Ask Europe how austerity is working out for them. We are gaining private sector jobs and losing govt jobs at the state and local level because there was not enough stimulus.
Mike last quarter the GPA grew less than the Government spending. So I am not sure you can actually call that growth.
It would kind of be like saying Hey looked I saved a $100 but you overall debt went up $102. You do know that you really didn't save any money?
Rob, Why is Europe doing austerity?
The late 70's were not much better than now and looked how we came out of that.
"We are gaining private sector jobs and losing govt jobs at the state and local level because there was not enough stimulus."
You do mean there hasn't been enough borrowing to continue to pay for state and federal jobs, right.
Well, austerity works if done in such a way that people aren't impoverished and tossed to the curb to support unsustainable loans. The people will revolt. Greece has two issues never really addressed. One, they avoid paying taxes and two, when the money does come in, the government uses that money to pay for defense. Greece spends more money on it's defense budget than any other European country.
Granted, they are in a tenuous position with their neighbors, mostly Turkey, however, they have lots of money tied to French and German weapons manufacturers. Lots of money. When people go hungry because the money is spent on war machines, you have a problem. Enough money to buy a submarine but not enough to feed grandma?
I used to worry about debt - my own and the government's.
But nobody else is.
I've changed my thinking.
We as a country and me as an individual need to live for the moment. If somebody is willing to lend we should all be willing to receive. If the debt can be paid fine. If not, so what?
I'll be dead and buried before that philosophy is tested.
That is unfortunately the thinking of our idiots in D.C., except they don't think they'll be dead. They just think they'll no longer be involved in government, and they'll have plenty of money to weather the problem.
Sad but true. On both comments. I wish I could learn to not give a $hit.
I winder how many people pay the minimum on their credit card yet charge to the max?
You are part of the problem that if not so what attitude is why we are where we are.
So what someone else will pay meanwhile everyone else gets to pay.
Hey why work the governemnt can support me.
Why eat I will just be hungry again later.
That is called depression.
I'm sure nothing new is perhaps feeling the same as the rest of us do at times.
It gets awfully tiring to see day after day those who aren't frugal live a much richer life. I can see it at the grocery store where the food stamp users have carts full of food I could never afford. After leaving the store they generally climb into a expensive vehicle I would never be foolish enough to buy.
I have felt for some time now that those who save money and not get into debt get the short end of the stick in our country.
People who save and live responsibly are indeed getting the short end of the stick. That is the problem with a socialist mindset. The productive are punished. They support not only themselves but a family of illegals and welfare mooches. Hard to pay for all that. The 'redistribute the wealth' mindset of socialists never looks at who really gets screwed. Rich people can pack their tents and leave, middle class, not. Middle class people are the real victims of socialism.
As was noted, America suffers from two classes. The rich and the poor. Between the two, the middle class is squeezed til it runs dry. We pay to support both classes.Think not? Go look at the democrats and republicans. Democrats are all about feeding the 'poor' (not the truly poor, but rather, the mooches, aren't too many truly poor welfare drones) and pass all this legislation that eventually goes to support the non-productive. The republicans support the affluent and both parties are industriously destroying the last vestiges of the middle class.
Smart people quit work, go on welfare and spend, spend, spend since savings are only there for the government to take and 'redistribute.'
My girl1. You have put your finger on the exact problem. There is a definite economic penalty for doing the right thing. And you can only do it for so long before you go broke. Eventually you and your family either starve or you throw away your morals and stick out your hand like all the rest.
For the past 60 years the government hasn't learned the simple lesson that unending dependence on credit is not good; not for me, not for the government. The government is addicted to credit and that dependence is like any other addiction and it can't be solved by feeding the addiction. No new taxes until government learns their lesson! And it's not just because of the recession. Even when the economy has been red hot and money was gushing into the treasury, the government spent all of that AND MORE. Cut the spending, no new taxes, don't raise the debt limit, DON'T FEED THE ADDICTION!
This artical sponsered and paid for by the Credit Card Companies of America.
LOL every ad on this page is for Credit Crads.
LOL - great observation. I'm sitting here reading this with a B of A ad taking up half of the page.
DEBT = SLAVERY
PUBLIC DEBT (debt the government takes out in our names) = FORCED SLAVERY TO BANKS, CORPORATIONS AND THE FED
I just love some of these comments from the Obama haters, where were you while we had two wars going, on credit? Bush tax cuts on credit? Medicare part d on credit?
The arrogance is amazing, yes the Bush years all rainbows and unicorns, then Obama came in started SS, Medicare and Medicaid, added affordable health care.
11million illegals crossed over, he personally over saw the banks and mortgage company's give and than package bad loans.
It's just amazing how he took a surplus and ran up this huge debt! my sarcasm for the day!
The truth is my husband and I started paying off all credit cards, years ago every trip we plan and save, every job around our house, we remodeled our kitchen, saved the money before hand and live on a budget!
The truth is my husband and I started paying off all credit cards, years ago every trip we plan and save, every job around our house, we remodeled our kitchen, saved the money before hand and live on a budget!
"Old School is better."
Ahh, but Obama is all for redistributing the wealth, granting immunity to illegals, millions of them, not going after the Wall Street and bank fraudsters, raising taxes (only on the wealthy, at first, remember, the income tax was only going to be levied on 'rich' people, how's that working out for you?) and cutting the military. The civilians working in the military have seen an increase in numbers while the servicemen and women are seeing a drop in numbers. Soooo, the federal employees are increasing at the expense of the real soldiers.
Guess if there was a need for some soldierly action the DOD office workers could throw their laptops and cellphones at the enemy.
Obama didn't start the problems but he sure as hell isn't helping any either.
People won't understand the gravity of this until the weight of our debt crushes us. The people of Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugaul continue to elect socialists whose only hope is to increase government spending so I am not surprised that our fellow US citiznes continue to whistle through the graveyard. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
Makes me want to go out and charge,charge,charge so I can feel comfortable.
With someone like Obama who is ready and willing to bail out irresponsible behavior, who me worry? France just elected its first socialist president in over 20 years. Copy cats.
Yup Marx and Engles would be proud.
More clowns still espousing the old Marxist tripe? You people are real jeopardy contestants.
Has nothing to do with Obama, Bush, Republicans or Democrats. It's the government stupid! They play us and spend. All of them have been doing it since the early eighties. Just look at the chart showing our national debt. Elect Mitt, they'll spend more, indebt us more. Elect Obama, they'll spend more, indebt us more.
Ron Paul. Notice how the media marginalizes him? Wonder why? Obama is indeed a marxist, socialism is merely the stage that comes between capitalism and communism. Karl Marx wrote that.
Interesting tidbit, Marx fathered seven children, one with his wife's maid. Four survived to adulthood and two commited suicide. His only son, born out-of-wedlock, was never acknowledged by his 'father,' the founder of communism and socialism. Guess ol' Karl was too busy telling others how to live to be bothered with caring for his own child. Typical of the progressive mindset, do as I say, don't follow my example, I have nothing of value to offer there.
"The various fates of Karl Marx's progeny were so tragic that in 1898, near the end of her life, Eleanor wrote to her half-brother, "I don't think you and I have been particularly bad people--and yet, dear Freddy, it really seems as though we are being punished."'
Eleanor commited suicide. Seems following Marxism is a form of cultural suicide.
http://www.trivia-library.com/children-of-famous-parents-father-of-communism-karl-marx...
There should be a third option here. No, I am not increasing my debt but have not quite using my credit card. We use our credit card for daily purchases but pay off the credit card every month. We maintain a budget. Unlike our government.
Southernview, we do exactly the same thing. We use our credit card as a matter of convenience and pay it off every month so not to accumulate debt. Do you know what the banks call people like us? They call us "deadbeats" because they dont make any money for our credit card use. When they start charging a fee just to use the card I will stop using them or go to another bank that doesnt charge.
I have never really understood why people do that. Why not just use a debit card?
scylla1: It's basic. If you use a credit card and pay the balance in full every month, you are essentially using the banks money for up to a full month, while your money is earning at least a small amount of interest. And I do mean SMALL. Plus a credit card has much better fraud prevention. Someone gets your debit card, your money is gone from your account, at least till you jumpthrough the recovery hoops.
Not only that, you are keeping your credit score high. The more credit you have available, the higher your score. It's kind of funny, you have to have credit to get credit. Its why I use mine about once a year and pay it off at the end of the month.
Roadwarrior- And what was the President suppose to do?
What would have McCain done?
The answer now to the Republicans, cut all entitlements make up the debt on the backs of the middle class and working poor.
Heck they won't even consider going back to the tax rates of the 80's, they won't take away the Corporate welfare for the oil and energy Co's that we have been paying for decades!
The Ryan plan adds to the debt, yeah great plan, but meals on wheels sorry elderly we have some "job creators" to worry about!
Hummbird, Your Obama has ran up the debt more in three years than all other presidents combined. Dont tell me how great he is. Obamas policies unfairly attack the very people who are the ones who create jobs. Do you listen and read. Most employers now wont hire anyone because they dont know what to expect from socialized medicine, AKA Obamacare! "I was never given a job from a poor guy". When people dont have a job, they dont pay taxes, they dont pay taxes so the government gives them a handout, gives a handout that we cant pay for, government borrows more so the debt increases, debt increases so lets tax the job creators even more and when that happens, companies downsize leaving more unemployed. Obamas plan, oh yeah, he sure has the answers! I'm not trying to be either sarcastic or disrespectful to you but this is the real facts of the matter.
Totally and completely WRONG. Stop being a brain dead parrot and start thinking for yourself.
Mike, you just keep drinking the cool aid. Those are true facts and if you had a brain you could easily check that out for yourself. You are the one who is completely wrong and believes anything that comes out of the left. Why dont you open you eyes and do a little fact checking on your own instead of just spewing what you want to believe. I bet you also believe unemployment is only 8.1% and Obama has created 4 million jobs. Just close your eyes and dont look at the facts because I know they are confusing to you you brain dead idiot.
Im so sick of pointing out economic figures to idiots. If you are saying he produced more debt than all other combined - produce the numbers genius? And dont forget to subtract 2 trillion for the wars that went on the books in 2009. Oh wait - you are probably assigning complete financial blame for them to Obama too. Brilliant.
He's probably going off the brilliant article Fox put up a while ago about how Obama has run up more debt than all 41 previous presidents!!!
Too bad Obama is number 44. They curiously leave out Clinton (surplus, lower debt) and Bush (deficit, massive debt). It's a lovely play on words to go from Washington to Bush 1 since most Americans don't know we've had 44 Presidents. This nonsense is on Youtube and some other conservative outlets. Pure spin.
TARP was Bush but much of it's execution is blamed on Obama. The Obama Stimulus (ARRA) that everyone rants about was only about 270 billion worth of actual stimulus, over a third of the 770 billion was tax cuts (oh the horror).
People need to at least understand what they are talking about. You're already on the internet, just fact check before you spew.
We're broke because we have to be under the current system. If Americans were smart they'd reform the military with 1/3 of it's current budget, abolish SS for anyone under 60 and disband Medicare and Medicaid in favor of a far more stringent disability program and then a Single-Payer Healthcare System for EVERYONE. We could cut taxes too across the board, but too many people are making too much money so we'll just keep on going down the road.
Btw, if you think electing anyone, even from the Tea Party to be President is going to get Obamacare taken down... think again. The right will never vote against something that makes Health Insurance Companies billions of extra dollars per year, not unless they want to lose that money (HA!). The right will continue to fight it through this election, but soon it will fade. The Left will never give us a single payer system either because Obamacare is good enough for them and they're getting Health Insurance dollars too. We're stuck with Obamacare until it totally bankrupts us as individuals and families, but hey the government doesn't need to care, it doesn't cost them anything other than the time they have to pay it lip service.
In the poll, I like how there's no option to indicate you use credit cards but pay them off each month. Ironic.
Yeah I noticed that as well.
Polls are so easy to manipulate like our unemployment numbers.
Our unemployment numbers aren't manipulated. You can pick from whichever official number you want since there is one to describe each situation.
The incumbent will always go with the lower number, the challenger will pick the higher.
Simple to understand, I don't know why Republicans think this is a manipulation, they did it too with Reagan, Bush 1 and Dubya.
I live In Sioux Falls, SD.. I swear every day I am on the road I see NEW CARS I mean brand new cars all over.. Can someone please explaine to me where these people are getting their credit to do this?? And then I see them at a restraunt parking lot too.. like they go out to celebrate after.. Sure.. the jobs are good here.. unenmployment rate is low.. cost of living is cheap here.. But I still don't understand it.. Not only brand new cars.. ut there are homes eing built here like monopoly!! I live in a brand new townhome and 3 new houses just went up around me.. I don't understand where ppls are getting money to go out to eat, buy brand new cars and build new homes in todays economy.. And mind u.. these ppls have small children and these are 3 car garages!! Yes, 1 for the toys.. Pls explaine.. so confused here ..
I just drove past a 1959 Chrysler Imperial Crown Convertible, less than 100 in existence and they cost anywhere from 100K - 297K. My guess is this one was in the $297,000 range, as it was mint mint mint, in every way.
Almost crashed gawking at it.
Confused, credit is easy to get now. The average age of the car on the road was something like nine years, and people took advantage of the low, low rates to buy. I write a lot of contracts at about 2.49 every day.
nice try MSNBC. just another poor attempt at trying to make people feel good about the economy.
MSNBC's title - "Americans are feeling more comfortable about debt".
MSNBC's poll - 76% of pollsters vow to stop using credit cards.
happy liberal fools day
Folks it is spelled "okay", not "OK". OK is the abbreviation for Oklahoma!
OK, thank you.
And Oklahoma thanks you also.
M'kay.
;)
Bubba....Gee, that was really important....Did I spell every word correctly? Did I punctuate properly?
Bubba, you are too funny.
Haahaahaa Who the f@ck cam up with this "americans feeling more comfortable with debt" who is this stupid twat. Who the f@ck feels comfortable with debt. Stupid
It was Obama spin machine and the liberal left wing media, like msnbc. Gotta get the messiah re-elected ya know!!
I like how every single media outlet outside of Fox News is the biased liberal media. Only one news source tells it like it is eh? ROFL!
Nope fox is biased as well but should be watched and contrasted to sites like this.
Other sources for ferretting out the truth.
Infowars
NoAgenda
Dan Carlin Common Sense
Grass roots radio
Mark Levin Show
Kuntsler cast
Plenty of other news outlets in podcast form you might actually be able to shed those blinders Mike.
Variety!
When they all start lining up on bad news you know your really in trouble.
Why do you fear debt? It's a monetary tool just like investments and your check book. Did you pay cash for your house? Well gee...that mortgage is a loan/debt.
Blinders? The only news show I watch is the News Hour with Jim leherer on PBS and my local news. Try again.
I think people are more comfortable with debt because they are more comfortable in their job security. Those who held onto their jobs probably feel they weathered the storm and are going to be okay.
What ever happened with saving for a rainy day? I don't have any credit cards, no debit cards, no cell phone, or no car loans. I have lived over 60 years without this stuff, I don't see why I need it now. The last car that I financed was in 1973. My mortgage has been paid off for 15 years now. If the American people ever hope to retire someday, they better get their act together.
@tweet
Retire are you kidding me?
They are stealing pension funds, death benefits of veterans, and looking at nationalizing peoples 401k and TSP accounts.
Where is the last large untapped pool of money to fund government?
benr - wtf are you talking about? nobody is stealing your pension or 401(k) account. retirement is possible for most people who take control of their life and plan for their future.
So true. My wife and I decided a long time ago not to buy a big expensive home, expensive automobiles, or take trips or cruises all over the world. I have put three children through college without any of them taking out a student loan. The best advice that I ever got, was when my father told me when I graduated from college, to start saving for retirement now. If retirement is something that you want to look forward to, then it is entirely up to you. Quit depending on everyone else.
I wouldn't buy a big expensive home either. One, I wouldn't want to clean it, two, I wouldn't want to fork over the property tax, maintenance and utilities costs.
People are raised on debt which is sad. It's not how much something costs but how much is the payment every month. It goes on and on. But what's worse is when instead of driving a Camry, the person who is deep in debt goes out and buys a BMW!
Perfectly stated. If people sat down with their financial calculators (anyone remember those?) or better yet, the CUMIPMT function in Excel, they'd see exactly how much they're really paying for that $45k car or that $400k house with just the monthly payment plan.
You'd think that alone would scare them away from the "bare minimum I can afford monthly payment" mentality.
Jax, don't know about the house, but car loans are so low right now, the 45000.00 car is a deal if that is what you want. And truthfully, the 45000 dollar car is about a 38000 dollar car after rebates, so why not buy? Anyone qualified to buy the 45000 dollar car is probably financing at about 2 to 2.5%.
D. Lock.....thanks for being the first to notice what the article really entails. Also, where to they get these terrible misleading headlines? No mention of any study of how people feel about the economy. If there was one, it would be misinformation, not that we haven't heard this kind of Journalism from MSMBC too many times before. Tried to post this without the colorful language cleokl provided us with.
What people? Who and where do they live? What kind of work do they do? What age are they? What is their income level?
Americans DO NOT feel better about debt, it is just another story put out by the White House press with a smoke screen to try and take the pressure of the White House.