Debt + consumerism = slavery!!!

Do you have debts? Most of the people do. Some are more justified than others like a mortgage (who could buy a house cash?). The problem starts when your bank starts taking example on your friendly neighborhood pusher! Your credit company starts sending you promotions like blank checks, no interests for a short period, low interests rates from the central banking systems just get you accustomed to credit. You get sucked in the machine slowly, getting addicted to credit. Add this to the main consumerism philosophy: " I want something therefore I need it!". There is a difference between necessities and desires and that's where slavery starts. Your friends have that nice big screen TV but you don't. You want it but you don't have the money. You go get the mail and find nice blank checks from Mastercard! What do you do? Run to the first "Best buy" and buy the biggest TV you will find. Here it is, plastic happiness! Is it so? The problem is that you will have to repay it someday with some serious interests. The deeper you get, the harder the sharks will bite! The worst your credit gets, the higher the interests. You're screwed! You will have to pay twice this TV if you include the interests over a period of about five years when 2 1/2 years of saving would have brought you the same TV without giving a penny to a banker . Another good example is the subprime crisis in the USA. People who couldn't afford a house still got accepted for mortgage. Whenever you borrow money, you owe it to somebody who's profit hungry and will not stop at anything to recover it's due. At some point the bankers own you and you don't even know it. Your only option is to work yourself to death or go bankrupt. Whatever you choose, they got you. But if enough people get to this point and can't longer pay, all the bankers which were counting their eggs before they were hatched, are going under. That's what we are experiencing right now with the subprime crisis. The credit crisis is starting to affect the whole economy and the interest rate hasn't even gone up yet. Wait and see when the inflation will start to rise! The fed is not helping by keeping the interest rate low. Even more people think they can contract more debts. At this point, at the dawn of a major recession, if you have debts, try to eliminate them now because it will only get harder to do so later. I know what some people are thinking: "There won't be a recession!" I hope so but do you want to take the risk? I think you're better safe than sorry. If you think about contracting some debts, think carefully if what you want to buy is a necessity or a desire. Remember, desires can become nightmares. In the last past years, with a strong economy and low interest rate, people got use to get into debts and get away with minimum damage but times are changing. Don't let the publicities or TV convince you that you need something. You are the only judge of what you need. Before buying a big screen TV, you should think about repaying your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards, get food and save some money for darker days. If you watch TV, you will see all kind of shows which will encourage you to buy, upgrade, trade, flip habitations. The big question is what's the idea behind the show. Who are the sponsors. Considering that a real estate agent takes a commission of about 6% on the sale of your property, I think they have a great interest in "helping you". Banks also want to "help you" by collecting more (or on a longer period) interests. Let's start with buying, it's great to be a owner if you can afford it. Don't go over you capacity to pay and make sure you can still afford it with 15% interest rate. Never believe the banker's calculations without rechecking them yourself. Usually, their calculations on your capacity to pay are based on your salary before deductions and at the present interest rate. As for upgrading, once again, is it a need or a desire? If it is a desire, maybe it can wait. Instead of paying the real estate agent commission and the bank interests, you might be better paying off your mortgage and your other debts or, even better, start saving money for the future; you will need it. If it's a necessity, make sure you can afford it. As for flipping, think twice before you try it! On TV everything always go so well. In real life, you can end up getting stuck with the house or losing money in the process and getting serious headaches. No matter what you do, you're better off expecting the worst and hoping for the best, but no matter what, if you take risks, be ready to assume the consequences of your decisions because sometimes, bad moves can be very costly. Not only in terms of money but affecting your quality of life. If you have to work 7 days a week to repay your debts, you might feel like your banker got you enslaved and you won't get much time to enjoy that great big TV before it's outdated... The point being that you're better to have less and enjoy it than have more and not have the time to enjoy your life, wasting it to make the bankers richer than they actually are!