Ever wondered how a little piece of magical plastic that enables massive amounts of crippling debt ended up benamed \u2013 \u201ccredit card\u201d? Like: Here, have some credit. It\u2019s good for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it can be. Until it isn\u2019t. Which is where the collective individual \u201cwe\u201d are. Steps \u2026 so many steps \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A big part of my \u2026 awakening?\u00a0 Realization?\u00a0 Come-to?\u00a0 Comeuppance (ha!yesss)?\u00a0 Well oh well a big part of it was finally understanding that the entire system is a fraud, and that we are designed to fail.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like that. I like being on the inside. Welcome. I\u2019m probably late but HEY at least I got here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The operation of our entire financial system is based on debt \u2013 in all its myriad forms\u2013 so no wonder so many of its citizens are so far under. [Hosea 4:6<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n The American economic system we live under functions on consumption \u2026 consuming \u2026 using up \u2026 devouring \u2026 which is supported by debt \u2013 borrowing with a price, and that price is interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n See, that\u2019s where you lose me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get it; I understand the concept of interest = the value of the loan to the lender.\u00a0 The lender wants the interest, but wants the money from the loan back more.\u00a0 And failure to pay as promised brings in the penalties \u2013 and a higher price for the loan if the original terms for the loan aren\u2019t met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yup. Gotcha. I totally get that interest is the cost of borrowing, but I don\u2019t get why I should care. Sure \u2013 costs more to have not great credit \u2026 but so what? Debt is life, and life is going cost something regardless of how high the price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, however, is where GOD! showed me where I veered off the better path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never joined my money marriage to Half\u2019s, and behaved with my finances as if I were still single.\u00a0 In the beginning we had joint accounts, but over time, as my disrespectful and dysfunctional money marriage bled into our actual Half realized how unwise (unsafe) joining Half’s finances with mine was\/is.\u00a0 Now? Half handles Half-life, and I handle mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Main problem is I never invited Half to my circus, and Half met my monkey waaay too late. We can work with what we’ve got, but we could be a lot better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So.\u00a0 Here\u2019s this.\u00a0 Our economic system functions on consumption propped by debt, and at current writing the United States National Debt Clock tells anyone who cares to look that tax revenues \u2013 money coming in \u2013 is a little less than $3T (yes\u2014trillion, a thousand billion, which is a thousand million \u2026 yeh) and the total debt (money owed on stuff we got) is ahhh-bouuut $30T, or 10X what we have \u2026 as a nation \u2026 coming in.\u00a0 Nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Riiight. So quarter mil ain\u2019t that bad. Moving on<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other little tidbit gleaned is that high debt is orchestrated by our very social systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember: it\u2019s a \u201ccredit\u201d card \u2026 you have good \u201ccredit\u201d \u2026 which means you can get more \u201ccredit\u201d \u2026 which is actually debt. BUT! Debt managed wisely \/ debt monkey trained well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The market assigned \u201ccredit\u201d to the name of a device of convenience that creates debt, and \u201cdebit\u201d to the name of a equivalent device, but for cash purchases.\u00a0 Why not \u201cdebt card\u201d for purchases with debt, and \u201ccash card\u201d for cash-equivalent payments?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cache. \u201cCredit\u201d sounds fancier than debt, rolls better off the tongue, gooder PsychPop for the mental. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But it is so much more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n See \u2013 there is a certain amount of inconvenience, risk, and social stature associated with use of the debit card \u2026 hold on account funds until the transaction \u201cclears\u201d (whatever that means \u2026 don\u2019t computers communicate in real time? isn\u2019t electricity on both ends?) \u2026 inaccurate balances between conducting the transaction and completing the sale \u2026 unavailable for certain transactions \/ inadvisable for others (incl. rental cars, hotels, vacation packages, online shopping) \u2026 exposure of money to potential seizure (hacked account \/ identity stolen w\/all my cash? What fun).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Banks now put the money back right away but the credit is conditional until the investigation is complete \u2026 aaannnddd if the bank finds that money was properly taken from your account \u2013 even if they\u2019re wrong, even if they didn\u2019t actually investigate \u2013 your money stays gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, the message (from the banking system, from social convenience, from upward mobility) is to get<\/em> credit cards and use<\/em> credit cards as a means to obtain desired goods and services, rather than spend money directly out of your account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaannnddd aNOTHER trick \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If one refuses to join the Credit Circus (i.e., cash-paid, debt-free life) \u2013 one will be penalized, because if one were to desire a good or service upon \u201cget now\/pay later\u201d basis then one would likely be denied for lack of one\u2019s performance in the Credit Circus \u2026 i.e., one has no credit \u2026 rather than demonstrate that one has used credit wisely by \u2026 refusing to perform in the Credit Circus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if one joins the Credit Circus but performs poorly (i.e., fails to train the monkey) \u2013 one will be penalized with \u201cbad credit,\u201d although still capable of playing with debt monkey, albeit must feed monkey more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And as well, if one joins the Credit Circus and performs well (i.e., monkey under total control) \u2013 one will be rewarded with \u2026 the ability to feed more monkey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaannnddd aNOTHER trick \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In retrospect, I\u2019ve noticed a certain amount of \u2026 retardation \u2026 in the practical application of financial skills for ordinary people. Proof?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In three parts:\u00a0 lifestyle propaganda, wage stagnation, and easy credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There also is a total absence in formal education of any practical money instruction; kids should be taught from preschool not that \u201cthis is a nickel\u201d but \u201cthis is a nickel \u2013 don\u2019t spend it.\u201d \u00a0Still not sure where students are supposed to get financial sense from if parents don\u2019t provide it and the skill is not taught it in school.\u00a0 This lack of money mindfulness is so blatant that it must be intentional … buuuht now there\u2019s the innernets and 15-year-old CEOs, so I guess being wholly on our own is OK.\u00a0 Got it.\u00a0 Moving on<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Lecter got it right:\u00a0 \u201cHe covetsss<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Our eyes are often our enemies, and \u201cwe covet what we see, everyday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The internet is both yes and no. I\u2019m a married hermit, and access to the world is nice but not necessary. Images convey more than what is shown, and the constant glorification\u2014promotion\u2014propagation of a generally unobtainable lifestyle (liestyle<\/em> \u2026 yesss) on the internet, in my personal intersphere, dresses my brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But resisting the purchase<\/em> isn\u2019t the problem \u2026 it\u2019s resisting the boredom<\/em> I think the purchase will occupy, because this other li(f)estyle might exist and it looks kind of interesting, perhaps more so than my own.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stuff is supposed to fill the void.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t, but it cost me of lot of money (wwwaaayyy<\/em> too much) to realize that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u2013 li(f)estyle media propaganda, yeh, but not all. Media doesn\u2019t make any one do any thing \u2026 only makes the suggestion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Know what\u2019s better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n GOD! Christ Jesus. Yup. Here HE is again. And was. And always will be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was easy to fall into the trap of debt and nonsense because there was nothing else filling that void, that inner confused, that why. GOD! fills it up just great. I\u2019m so sorry it took me so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it sounds cheesy and missionary-door-knocking and pamphlety but it is! And it\u2019s awesome! <\/p>\n\n\n\n My spirit is settled in His Holy Spirit.\u00a0 No digression. I’ve always been a Christian (in intention if not act, word or deed – ha!not) but had to wander in the weeds for some years before seeking a way out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding Him is leading me from debt as a lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another part of the trick is the crush on wages; inflation and wage stagnation results in the earner working harder and longer to receive less for more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Guess the question:\u00a0 Who\u2019s crushing wages, and jacking up the cost of everything else? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hmmm. Maybe the solution offered to the crush on wages and the high cost of everything is to just borrow to pay for it.\u00a0 Oh, wait\u2026 is\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the big reasons I never cared about credit and FICO scores and all that was due to the fact that \u2026 somebody will always extend credit, and 18 months fixes ehv-ver-ree-thing<\/em>. The debt might be on crap terms but \u201ccredit\u201d still available, still accessible, and the thing desired is still the thing acquired (a RHYME \u2026 ba-dum-dump). Anybody can get credit, including dogs and dead people. Translation: anybody can get debt<\/u><\/strong>. The only question is cost \u2013 for how much, and for how long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the question I should have asked at 18. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well oh well \u2026 like I said, ain\u2019t dead yet. I\u2019m slow, but when I get it I got it and I don\u2019t let it go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire point of the system of receiving goods and services is to include debt as part of the transaction, and it \u2013 the financial system upon which our economy is based and our nation functions \u2013 is rigged for the common man to fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Got it. The country lives by debt designed to cripple its citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Riiight.\u00a0 Well pooter all up in that<\/em>.\u00a0 Just because the system is a trick doesn’t mean I have to fall for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Half once told me to be smarter than the problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, problem, it took me a while, but I finally got you all figured out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ever wondered how a little piece of magical plastic that enables massive amounts of crippling debt ended up benamed \u2013 \u201ccredit card\u201d? Like: Here, have some credit. It\u2019s good for you. And it can be. Until it isn\u2019t. Which is where the collective individual \u201cwe\u201d are. Steps \u2026 so many steps \u2026 A big part … <\/p>\n