How We All Spend Our Money…
I read the article in Forbes:
In my mind it presents a skewed version of the truth. The results and conclusions are based on a compilation of information from Master Card. What it fails to cover would be how people are handling the confusion over what their cards and banking accounts now do. They say that if you build a better maize, you get a smarter rat. We threw down some consumer protections and the rats got a lot more crafty… so crafty that they’re running in all directions and most of us are scrambling to figure out what our banks and lending institutions new games are. When you no longer have overdraft protection or you fear that it may jump start exorbitant interest rates… it will invariably modify some of your discretionary spending habits. Many of us have seen cards arbitrarily “readjusted” from $10,000 and $15,000 lines down to $5,000 and $10,000 lines with no explanation. This is just one area of many where MC or the other card companies would have a conflict of interest. They’d be disinclined to share information that casts them in a bad light.
Moreover… the report is based on where folks spend money who are still spending it. If you have a job, chances are you’re employer hasn’t given you much of a raise over the last couple of years. (not surprising inasmuch as most of us were getting raises just below the cost of living over the preceding six years) For you, this downturn has remained pretty much station-keeping/business-as-usual. For people who are fortunate enough to still be working… their delusions and illusions are pretty much on an even keel. This report is about them. In truth, a valid report would have to include the spending habits of the unemployed and grossly under-employed also. Discretionary spending then includes things like Ramon noodles instead of pot roast. It may no longer include a car payment or insurance… but rather a monthly bus pass. Instead of a letterman’s styled team jacket for you favorite team, it probably means laundering a three year old coat and using a needle and thread to patch up the sweatshirt that you’d planned to dump last year… Layers are warmth.
It would be easy to go on and on about this. In truth, those folks who have jobs don’t seem to understand why the deadbeats who got fired are in the fickle pickle they’re in. It is easy to point at our falling investments and beleaguered home values and say, “We all got hit by it… but you just get through it. I did. What’s wrong with those people?” Your comeuppance will likely show up years down the road when you can’t retire on your retirement, your social security was blown up by poor planning and profiteers, your healthcare has been rolled up into another corporate boondoggle, and your kids can’t be bothered with you because they’re trying to keep their own heads above water. The folks who are the quickest to judge and point fingers are too busy trying to pridefully boast about their guts and accomplishments to realize that they’re on thin ice and just lucky that their company has managed to hang on to them–they’re nobody special…. just lucky.
America seems to be long on pride and short on empathy. Articles like this don’t lend themselves to the reality check most of us need.
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