Go stand in front of a magazine rack. Take a look at all of the covers. You don't have a face or a body like those. You do not own a car like that. Your old fishing boat can't compare to that one. You need to change your diet and exercise program to match that one. The pictures that you took on your last vacation certainly are not like the ones on the photo magazines. You don't own one of those, or those, or one of those. On and on.
Looking at all of the glossy beautiful mag covers make me feel kind of wanting. I want that and I want that and... You get the point. It is easy become transfixed with the notion that a person does not own enough stuff. Or more to the point, the right stuff. And even if you do own some of the type of stuff, yours is too old. You need new stuff.
In our country, we like to buy stuff. No problem there. That is what keeps our economy cooking along. The problem is that we like to buy stuff on credit. Why pay now when we can pay later. Put it on the charge card. Charge it. Charge. We can buy all kinds of goodies and not even worry how much they cost. Who cares how much. I'll take care of it later. Do I still have money on my card? Can I get my limit raised? No problem.
Big problem. Our country is in debt. How much? Depending on who you ask, the numbers vary, but the results are the same. Americans are in deep doodoo with their credit cards. We buy what we see and what we want, when we see and want it. No waiting until we have the cash or even working harder to get it. Just buy it now.
Our lack of saving in this country is laughable, or scary. Some folks in their 40's and 50's have no savings. But they keep on buying with that plastic. They look well off but their monthly debt payment is huge. When will they stop usng credit? More importantly, when will they start saving?
Last year. China bailed out Citibank. We couldn't even bail out our own company. This will happen again and again if Americans do not stop using credit cards for every darn thing they see. We must start saving in this country.
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