You're right. But "intentionally charging and not paying" is criminal. I have zero sympathy for those with a "credit card bind"... it's a trouble of their own making. And BTW.. just how many wrongs DO make a right?
Lending is a risk-taking activity. Should you go to jail when you have a profitable trade and someone else loses? The only reason banking is "so important" is because debt = money and outstanding money/debt = aggregate price level AND the aggregate debt exceeds the productive capacity of the system by many multiples. Depositing your money in a bank is assuming a risk. Storing your wealth in a US treasury is a risk. Storing your wealth in gold is a risk. Storing your wealth in jpy/gbp/eur or anything is a risk. Embrace that life is a risk and you cannot achieve absolute certainty in your future.
How many wrongs make a right? Well when someone has perfect credit history for 6 years straight and Chase triples their interest rate from 8-24% for no reason other than they can and after a few years of all of their payments just going to interest and they eventually just run out of money and stop paying, well maybe that doesnât make a right but it sure does make things feel better. You canât treat people like crap and expect them to keep taking it forever and ever.
A bill is the same as a debt, it is owed to someone else. Dirkd said donât ever use credit cards for useless crap we donât need. Heâs assuming that credit cards are only used to buy unnecessary things. So Iâll ask again. If I go to the hospital because I broke my arm and the doctor says itâs going to be $1000 to fix it but I only $500, what should I tell the doctor? Well gee doc, Iâm not supposed to borrow money, I only have $500 now, so can you fix half my arm now and Iâll come back when I have the other $500.
Iâll ask you the same question, is that the best scenario you can think of? I know lots of broke people, none of whom have $200 jeans or $500 purses. Managing your money right assumes that Murphy never shows up. How is someone who makes $25000 a year supposed to save up a 50k emergency fund? This âliving within your meansâ crap is so outdated itâs rediculus. When peopleâs cost of living is rising exponentially more than their incomes, itâs simple mathematics that to live within your means simply means living without. Living without health insurance. Living without education, cars, emergency fund, quality food, and sometimes even a roof to sleep under. I already know that you are over 45. Only you people talk like that. Of course there are no examples of people under 30 doing what you talk about. You want to know why? Because there are very few people out there capable of doing that. Iâm 25 and used to save about $1000 a month by living cheaply and working like crazy, but those days are over.
Trump walks away on his debt every so often, Banks get bailed out for making bad decisions and then they hand out bonuses. What is happening is they are taking away the morality of bankruptcy and the regular Joe the plumbers see this and figure if its good enough for the rich, its good enough for me. The problem is the bankers are rich as long as the Joe the plumber is willing to borrow and pay back debts. If that bottom falls its gonna screw things up.
Trump actually goes one step further and licenses his name/brand to real estate projects. One of his recent deals south of the border went BK and cleaned out the condo deposits and he stated it wasn't his call as he only lent his name to the project... Structuring your income as royalty income and utilizing the proper off-shore domicile yields tremendous tax benefits too!