So, you cut back on your lifestyle; performed a so un-Greek personal austerity reset but your credit card balance is still creeping up; or perhaps you are slowly burning through your savings; or you are at the end of the line; abandon ship. Whatever, you have a lot of company out there. (Image)
Why is it so hard to make ends meet these days? The days of living high on the credit hog are over and we all have to get small but in the end, we still have to make ends meet; we have to pay for food, pay for utilities, buy gas, etc. How to make that work?
We all bought a lot of stuff during those days of easy credit. Debt driven demand drove up the value of lots of things. Homes increased in value so much that they became a kind of income harvested through a home equity line of credit. Autos got big and powerful again making them unaffordable to buy and operate now that we have to live within our means. Cell phones replaced land lines and cost a lot more; especially when everyone in the family has to have one. Maybe you have a home that you cannot sell and you are stuck living 20 miles or more from your workplace and your car is fast reaching the point when you will need a new one just to get to work.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
Frontline has done it again with another great documentary. The Card Game, perfect for Black Friday, brings us up to date on lobbyists efforts to stop a Consumer Financial Production Agency and also overviews the credit card companies' role in the financial crisis. Lowell Bergman produced this documentary. He also made The History of the Credit Card.
We've noted many times on The Economic Populist how the continual focus of the United States citizenry as simply a bunch of consumers is just plain wrong. We hear cries 70% of the economy is based on consumerism, how this creates demand and so on....
But here's the real situation. The consumer is plain tapped out.
Happy Holidays everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in a bit, but I've been extremely ill and well the holiday-related madness. Anyways, if it pleases the court, I'd like to talk about the latter. Yes, despite several outpatient surgeries and other things I tried to trudge through that oh-so-Christmas event known as shopping. Ok, I only went out three times, but that was enough for me. Frankly, I am beginning to believe they should change the name of Christmas to Consumermas. There was nothing I could find meriting all the hassle at the stores. Especially didn't feel like contributing more funds to China in the form of some plastic trinket. Seriously, is this what the holidays are all about now?
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