Well, all of them, plus some of the irresponsible ones who over spend on frivolous things, like fancy purses and shoes(you know, the stuff like Paris Hilton and other celebrities have).
The dumbasses with the credit cards. Why can’t people be responsible for their own actions. This isn’t rocket science, if you charge on your credit card you have to pay it off.
Deregulation! And deregulation is a Republican idea that destroys the average Americans family life!
Credit card pushers and people that don’t know how to use them. It’s a little word called “responsibility” and Americans don’t do well with that.
Let take accountability for our own flaws. It’s the one who says “charge it”.
Like you can blame fast food restaurants for making people overweight or Budweiser for drunk driving!
the only debt problem I know of is the sub prime mortgage crash. Otherwise no problem except the people that aren’t responsible and let the credit card take control of them and their financial life. I don’t feel sorry for them- stupidity should be punished.
Neither.
The people who over charged thier credit cards.
They push BMW’s on people on TV all the time too,
So are we supposed to blame BMW when someone buys a BMW and then cannot make the payments ?
Can you imagine if the credit cards companies started denying people credit cards ?
They would be accused of being racist, anti poor, etc.
JM Keynes, the most overrated economist of the 20th century. Keynes repackaged all the economic fallacies that had been discredited time-and-time-again in complex language so that they would be impossible to debunk.
JM Keynes believed that the way to get rich was to spend money. If you run out of money, you should borrow it and spend even more. His idiotic ideas led to government deficits and to the credit card bubble. He’s also responsible for the continued popularity of 3rd Way “mixed market” Socialism.
Under a laissez-faire Capitalist economy, people save their money and therefore, their wealth increases over time. Interest rates lower as savings rates increase. Prices deflate. In a Keynesian economy, the government creates a bank cartel which prints money, causing price inflation, and the more money it prints, the lower the interest rate. Keynesian economies provide a “safety net,” so that people have fewer incentives to save their money.
The Credit Card bubble and the 2nd Great Depression that is upcoming should be blamed on the same people who caused the 1st Great Depression, the Central Banks (such as the Federal Reserve), the Keynesians, and the big government advocates (whether they are of the Democrat or Republican variety). The only way to fix the problem is to return to pure laissez-faire Capitalism.
Do you really want to know or do you just want have some reason to **** GWB?
Prior to the Carter years (yes, let’s blame him) credit card companies were limited to how much they could charge and it was a single digit number. The rate of inflation increased under Carter and the interest for money (the prime interest rate) borrowing also increased but CC companies were still stuck with low interest rates by law. With the help of the CC companies the democrats in Congress (yes, lets blame them too) passed a law that allowed CC companies to charge the rate allowed by the state where their home office was located. No more federal oversight! The then governor of South Dakota (before he killed a motorcyclist with his car) was ready. He went to NYC and spoke to the CC companies and told them he had a bill ready in South Dakato that would allow them to charge 29% interest and more. The CC companies leaped at the opportunity and opened home credit card offices in South Dakato. The governor later said that he created a Frankenstein monster (there was no upper limit established in the law). Delaware followed suit and if you look, most addresses are South Dakota and Delaware.
Who to blame? CC companies acting in their own self interest making more money as a percentage than the oil companines? Democratic law makers from the 70s? Jimmy Carter for allowing the economy to get in such sorry shape? The democratic governor of South Dakota and his tame law makers? The people who use credit cards? Remember about those people they are playing against the house with the house rules. The house almost always wins. No George Bush though or Ronald Reagan or any republican. Sorry to ruin your night.
Its true South Dakota, and Delware have laws make it possible to charge higher interest rates than the market going rate. Still, its complex reply to begin with because saving money the return on it is less than would be gotten putting money in stocks, or short term investments, and real estate gets a better return than a savings account. Still, having savings aside is good in case you lose a job. People do live beyond thier means back in the 1980s it was luxury just to have cable tv, or even color tv for sale. People standard of living is a lot better than in the 1980s because interest rates now are still pretty low to finance a house. Economic growth after 1970 is treadmill that leads to more goods for the comsumer than is really needed. Still, freedom of choice of goods and services benefits billionares to the working class. America debt problem is of indiviual choice, but the rules are written by the credit card companies, and lenders that slant the rules to ensure they are making nice profits from thier investors. The goverment is guilty by not taxing excessive compsumption. When I hear about a person making 80k a year in debt hard for me to pity them because I grew up we did not go out to eat, or go on vacations all the time, or buy boats, brand new car every 2 years. People back in the 1950s thought ac was a luxury and a tv set was one at the time, or house was only 1000 sq st in the 1950s and now is 3000sq we lost preceptive of how things were then and how they are now. Its does not just apply to the Untied States. Look at Canada, UK, Austraila, western europe there all living beyong thier means, and China is not than happy to fund the lifestyle of excessive comsumption till thier markets develop then will have make choice about the use of resources actaully. Supply side been growing faster than wages, which means you wage lost power in nominal sense, but in purchasing power China, or freerer trade is boostng that PPP power by 5k to 10k a year in most western countries. The CC problem is a complex problem, and the west is to blame for it
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December 19th, 2009 at 2:33 am
The people who cannot control their spending, and cannot live within their means to avoid debt.