Talk about a deciding factor in life. A necessary evil. There arent many of us who can pay for a new car or home in cash. Kinda hard to put the kids through college collecting soda cans. Credit is something you absolutely need, in my opinion, in order to take care of your family and survive in America. Heres the problem: Just because you need good credit to live, doesnt mean youre going to be able to afford it.
From the beginning of civilized life, I believe credit problems have existed in one form or another. I think cavemen had to borrow a pig from the guy next door occasionally. This wasnt a bad thing until the neanderthal version of Chase Manhattan reared its ugly head. All of a sudden that poor caveman who borrowed the pig now owes his neighbor 2 pigs, because his neighbor figures why not make a profit?. Weve brought this example of exploiting others from the stone ages to the modern world, and its hurting everyone it touches.
Lets call our first credit victim Bill. Bill just turned 18. Hes a bright kid, who graduated high school with honors and is looking to attend an Ivy League school so he can change the world through medicine. Now Bills parents, John and Lisa, arent rich people. John works as a mechanic at the local garage, while Lisa works full time assembling products in an office supply factory. Living paycheck to paycheck, John and Lisa have to juggle their bills just to get through the month, like most other American families. They have an average amount of credit card debt, and have taken a second adjustable rate mortgage on their house in anticipation of giving their son the opportunities they never had.
The day finally arrives when Bill gets his college acceptance letter. Bill and his parents are thrilled that he got in to a top notch school, but hes already started off a step behind. The reason I say this is that Bill has learned how to manage credit and bills from his parents, who learned money management from their parents. There arent any (as far as I know) credit management courses in high school. No one taught Bill how to live within Americas greed-driven credit system.
Bill and his parents are hard working Christian people, and through their faith they all make it through Bills 8 year college journey. Bills graduation should be a happy time for this family, but it isnt. Bill juggles his finances and struggles with credit problems, just as his parents did, and took out four high interest student loans, which hell be paying on for many years. His adult life has started with a ridiculous amount of interest laden debt, and less than stellar credit. John and Lisa on the other hand have filed bankruptcy. They are having trouble paying their house note and necessary bills every month due to the second mortgages skyrocketing interest rates and high interest credit cards. They have very little money saved for retirement, because most of their income goes to keeping the lights on and having food on the table. This situation is actually an above average example of financial living in America. Some of us have it much worse.
Think about the kid whose parents taught them less about credit management and financial responsibility. His parents arent bad people, because its hard to teach your child something you know very little about yourself. This person will probably go through life living on credit advice from the mediathe very companies that want all of his moneyteaching him how to give it to them. Most likely this person wont be able to afford a college education. Even getting a decent job will be difficult, because a lot of companies require credit checks along with the employment application. This situation hits close to home for me. As a matter of fact, it hits home dead center: This was my financial situation after high school.
There arent a lot of options out there for hard workers with poor credit. You cant get loans (unless its from Jimmy 2 Fingers the loan shark), buy a house or a decent vehicle, or even get a decent credit card, which living in the world today absolutely requires. A person cant even access the internet or rent a car without having a major credit card. Even the video store up the street requires you to have credit so you can rent their DVDs. Bankruptcy isnt really even an option for the average American any more. It doesnt wipe out your debt like it once did; it puts you on a payment plan. Isnt the reason Americans file bankruptcy is that they cant afford a payment plan??
Western Union Economy Option
Its interesting to me that were the richest nation in the world, yet there are so many of us that go without. In reality, were not the richest nation. Only a few people control the money. The Bible teaches us to loan to your brother without interest. It also teaches us that if your brother cant repay his loan, to forgive him his debt (what bankruptcy used to be). I realize these concepts may not fly in the business world today, but if we had stayed with these principles from the beginning poverty and debt wouldnt even exist.Think of it like this: If banks and the government were only allowed to charge a 2 percent interest rate, individual debt would be reduced astronomically. As debt is reduced, so is stress, which relieves Americas need for therapy and medication dependence. Reduced stress also leads to happier people, who in turn would be more generous toward those in need, rather than having to be focused on themselves. Happiness and abundance would reduce crime to near zero. The reduced crime rate would then reduce the tax rate because of the decreased need for law enforcement. This is the most positive snowball effect I can imagine.
I agree that there would still be greed in the world. You cant get rid of it. However, if just 20 percent of those people who make absurd amounts of money would focus on giving and helping, our country would start to live up to the Christian values it was founded on. We would no longer need our unfair and biased credit system. Im talking about real giving, not the stuff you see on TV, where a celebrity helps a needy family by giving them a house or money. Its not real help if you could afford to do that for 600 people but you only help one family. Thats called publicity.
America was founded on Biblical values, but has turned into a race, with the finish being a big stack of money at the end. If you can afford to help someone financially, help them. Give freely and openly. Corporate and individual greed tears at the fabric of America with razor sharp teeth. I dont understand how one person could have solid gold statues and more money than they could ever spend, while down the street children starve. Does it really take 300 million dollars to survive in this world? The answer is no. Ill give you one last quote from the Bible: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter Heaven. For their sake, I hope the wealthy take heed.
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