Thoughts on Debt

Usury by definition is the loaning of money at exorbitant interest rates. This is a term that is condemned by both the Torah and the Koran, so why is it that it is our primary theme in American culture? Many people would say it is so that we can own a home, a car, and so forth, but if you think about all the debt in this country and the fact that our government is the primary benefactor of the interest we pay, there may be something to the fact that maybe we are just convinced that we need to live in debt. Look at the facts:

Credit card debt with interest rates hovering at about 24 percent used to be a crime, but since our government entered the picture, there are no real corporate crimes anymore. And as wages shrink and prices soar, American’s will use more and more credit to hang on to their “I want it now” lifestyles.

College tuition debt, the new growth area in the debt industry. In most Western nations college education is free or nearly free. This type of debt gets the youngest adults in our society started off in debt before they even can get a reasonable job. Why is it that in other countries, they can get an education for nearly nothing, but here in the US the government who runs the colleges for the most part is benefiting 2 fold from these monies. First they benefit from the money that is paid for the schooling, and then they benefit from lending you the money to go to school, how is this legal?

Medical debt, the latest twist in the health care story in America. While health care is a right and is publicly financed in most countries, in the U.S. 42 percent of Americans either have no health care coverage, or have pay-nothing private insurance scams. Again, who is getting the money we pay for medical care? Oh, that’s right it is our government.

Mortgage debt. Need that dream house, the little place with the white picket fence. No problem all you have to do is make payments of half your income to a mortgage company for 30 years. Now they have even made arrangements for poor people to get in on the act with sub prime loans and buy it now pay it later loans, this way they can be in debt like everyone else.

National debt, my favorite. A small percentage of people, through both good fortune and wise decision-making, avoid the debt trap. But not to worry, everyone pays taxes — well, everyone below a certain income. Now that is us paying off our country’s debt, well all the welfare spending money, tax breaks for the rich, and military spending money, has to come from somewhere right. Don’t worry you are paying that off and currently each one of us owes the Federal Government about $32,000 each to pay off their “deficit” which that is right comes out of our pockets too.

Thank goodness our government has us to take money from on a regular basis, otherwise they might go broke.

Tags: broke, buy now pay later, college tuition debt, credit card debt, interest rates, live in debt, medical debt, mortgage debt, national debt, sub prime loans, usury