Recently, I ranted about overspending by American consumers and I received many interesting responses through email and the blog. I’ve included some of the best rants below, but if you haven’t sent yours in, feel free to do so at any time. Enjoy!
“My father who was a “roughneck” (oilfield) with very little cash always told me to buy when the people are selling!! It has served me well. I sold a company I spent 27 years building. Almost went down three times but was successful because I stayed debt free.
“My wife and I only bought what we had the cash to buy and if we wanted it bad enough we “saved.” What a novel thought! Now we try and teach our children and grandchildren the same principals. I am not concerned about Warren Buffet or Barack Hussein Obama. I am responsible for me and my families survival.”
Best,
L.K.M.
Texas
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“Bailouts will not work. It is like throwing good money after bad. Have we not learned our lessons about debt? The government is intervening in the natural free market forces, thinking politically that it will help them get re-elected. In so doing, the economy gets worse. It is a change all right, from bad to worse.
“It will lead to high inflation and debasement of the dollar or a depression.
“The more bailing out there is, the less purchasing power of that dollar in your wallet. So as a consumer, and with cost of goods skyrocketing, I will just shut my wallet and buy only what my family and I need.
“Let those failing businesses fail or file bankruptcy. That is the natural free market forces.
“Lowering taxes across the board for individuals and corporations is the right thing to do. Let us just hope Obama will change his mind of taxing corporations heavily; that will surely kill jobs. Jobs are what we need to have more of, not bailouts of banks, lenders, financials and corporations who led is into this mess to begin with.
“I am an investor. If my taxes on dividends, interest and capital gains will be raised, then I will get out of the market or make sure I do not earn any interest or dividends or capital gains. There is no incentive to invest anymore.
“The hope of the bailout is to thaw the frozen credit markets, let the banks lend again to each other or to consumers. But who or what kind of consumer will borrow, those whose houses are in foreclosure? Those who lost their jobs? Those retired seniors whose pensions were decimated by the fall of the value of the stock market to less than 50%? Banks will not or should not lend to these types of borrowers, if any. So it is a stalemate. Bailouts will not work.”
A.
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“I think the problem does not lie in how much we spend, but in how much we invest. What’s the return we have (and the economy has) buying a new cell phone with GPS, high-speed Internet or subscribing, as you say, to 900 cable channels? Most of the time it is “just” satisfaction. But the real price of this satisfaction is not written and we’re just learning it is a really high price.
“So stop your spending and start your investing: invest in your health (sports and sleep), try to learn something new or insulate your home. This will make the economy run and will give you a better return.”
M.N.
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“Just another statement to put into your ranting–it is actually my own personal rant: You’re not a homeowner until you actually own the home.
“If our country is to survive, then the government has to incentivize savings.”
J.C.
Hawaii
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“You go ahead and rant. I’m with you. It’s a shame this can’t be a softer landing for the economy.
“It seems to me consumers just don’t want any more debt, period. The circus in D.C. thinks they can fix that. It turns out the banks are mostly hoarding the money anyway and everyone wants some. It used to be when we spent our money with the automakers we got a car. Now they want us to spend our money with them and we get nothing.
“I’m thinking it would be good for more of these companies to go through reorganization bankruptcy. The airlines did it and it worked fine for them. A little corporate (and governmental) housecleaning sounds good to me. I just read Deutsche Bank reported of the $1.8 Trillion in troubled mortgages, 80% are owned by investors. This whole bailout has really gotten crazy. I’m done with my rant … for now.
W.W.
Vancouver, Washington
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“Perhaps you can convince the leaders of this country to do the same. Balanced budget, who cares, let the next administration worry about it. Why ask taxpayers to not spend within their means when our representatives are not doing it?
“That is like telling someone to go on a diet while you are overeating.”
A.C.
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“My father, who would be 106 if he were alive today, was a stock broker, as I was, and he had a famous line that I heard many times. “What this country needs is another good depression and then maybe some of these kids will learn something.”
“I think we may have that opportunity and I don’t disagree with the premise of your rant. I’ve been a banker so I understand a little about what is going on now. I also am a trainer and was in the audience back in the 1990s when a major bank announced to their employees, whom I had just trained, that the bank was introducing a debit card. I was mad as a hatter because my pea brain mind said there goes the float. In retrospect, I have come to the conclusion that every person, no matter their age, must be certified, (don’t ask me what that would entail) to have a credit card. Prior to certification, the only card they would have available to them would be a debit card. They then might find out that they have to have money in the bank before they could spend any money. (“Gee, I didn’t know that money doesn’t grow on trees” or “But mommy and daddy have always bailed me out before.”) Then you might be able to get through to the thick skulls that 25% of your income is the maximum that should be tied up in a mortgage payment, etc.
“You know, maybe the bankers or creditors should go through the same certification training.”
Thanks for listening to me,
S.C.
Thanks to all of those who wrote in and shared your views. We invite you to continue the conversation here.