The older I get the more I realize that debt

[Loren Littlejohn]

should be avoided at all cost. Especially high interest debt, but honestly any and all debt is fucking horse shit.

Pretty fucking envious when someone says they own their car and house outright.

I swear I'm going to do everything in my power to pay cash for my next car as well (own one, paying for the other).

Also, fuck the government trying to lower my school loan debt payment $40 a month extending it another 2 years.

Just to be clear though I'm only talking personal debt here.

Anyhow, stupid little rant over.

 

[SocialNumb]

I own my houses and vehicles outright.


Really though, even when you do you're going to keep on paying for them.

 

[Skinny Viking]

^ "houses"

cock

 

[StefTD]

I hate debt, avoiding it as good as possible but atm still about 600€ but that's another story, going to sell some
stuff and trying to find some clients to get rid off it, already paying into a building loan contract since I am 12
through my dad (earned at least a little bit since then) so if I am able to buy a house in the future, it's going to
help a bit.

The mother of my gf just finished paying off her school loan debt last year, she's in her 40ies and finished studying
with 26, main problem, she already had a 5 year old child at that time, so no way to work during studying most
of the time because she's single mother, in the end she had to get a few credits and so on just to have enough money
for her daughter and herself to get something to eat and stuff.
After her time at the university she actually had pretty well paying jobs (at the moment in switzerland, and she earns
alot, like 10k$ a month) never bought a house or a car because she had that much debt that she wasn't able to pay
it off.

I know people who buy stuff for 50€ on credit just to have it at first, no way for me to do something like that, a friend
of mine worked at a bank and said there were some guys in his area, just turned 20 (didn't study, so no school loan debt)
and actually worked a bit, but due to their style of living they already had 150k-200k € debt.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I own my houses and vehicles outright.


Really though, even when you do you're going to keep on paying for them.

Yeah I know the whole taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc...


But seriously I would love to not have a mortgage. Adding up how much income would free up if my school loans, car, and house were paid off would be quite a hefty chunk of change.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

due to their style of living they already had 150k-200k € debt.

This is stupid no matter who you are.

 

[sprack]

Everything but the house is paid off. Making extra principal payments every month, have about 8yrs left on it.

What sucks is paying for private school for the kids though. It's more than the house payment.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I listen to Christian, Right Wing radio every morning -- Glenn Beck gets my blood boiling every morning (it is really good at waking me up, what a cocksmoker that guy is!)

Anyway, to the point -- on Monday (Labor Day [edit: oops, Memorial Day]) I slept in and got a chance to listen to another DJ who was talking about debt. He actually had some really good advice, saying debt is the worst thing for most people. He says everyone should live like college students until your first home is paid for. You should drive a $1500 car until then, etc.

I can't remember the guy's name but he made a lot of sense to me. We need more right-wingers like him and less of the Glenn Beck/Joseph McCarthy type.

 

[StefTD]

that's actually the way I live
but almost nobody buys a house or a flat here before you're in his 30ies and many people never do.

 

[colonel kurtz]

I listen to Christian, Right Wing radio every morning -- Glenn Beck gets my blood boiling every morning (it is really good at waking me up, what a cocksmoker that guy is!)

Anyway, to the point -- on Monday (Labor Day) I slept in and got a chance to listen to another DJ who was talking about debt. He actually had some really good advice, saying debt is the worst thing for most people. He says everyone should live like college students until your first home is paid for. You should drive a $1500 car until then, etc.

I can't remember the guy's name but he made a lot of sense to me. We need more right-wingers like him and less of the Glenn Beck/Joseph McCarthy type.

a)it was memorial day...not that it matters, but i just felt the need to mention that

b)unfortunately, our entire economy - from the time of the founding fathers - has been built upon the principle of debt. while it would be great to see most of our fellow americans living debt free and driving around in old/cheap cars, the simple fact is debt is the food that feeds our fucked up version of capitalism

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

a)it was memorial day...not that it matters, but i just felt the need to mention that

b)unfortunately, our entire economy - from the time of the founding fathers - has been built upon the principle of debt. while it would be great to see most of our fellow americans living debt free and driving around in old/cheap cars, the simple fact is debt is the food that feeds our fucked up version of capitalism

So if you are American, you fall into one of three groups. You are either

(1) in debt
(2) not in debt and making money off those in debt
(3) not in debt and not making money off other people's debt.

Most people are in the first group. If you are in the second group then you are fucking rich. Third group is going to heaven.

Anyone in the first group who makes fun of the 99% protesters is an idiot.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i'm definitely pretty solidly in group 1. i actually just spent a fuckton of money at the beginning of the year paying off debt, only to find more getting piled on me - mostly in the form of overpriced medical bills related to my kids

right now, i'm looking at $80k left on my house, $9k on a car, $4k in student loans, about $2k in medical bills, and a few hundred on a single credit card

the thought of getting all of it but the mortgage paid off in the next year is awesome, but it's rrrrrrrreally hard to do...GAS is a mother fucker, you know...

 

[TesticleMilkshake]

should be avoided at all cost. Especially high interest debt, but honestly any and all debt is fucking horse shit.

Pretty fucking envious when someone says they own their car and house outright.

I swear I'm going to do everything in my power to pay cash for my next car as well (own one, paying for the other).

Also, fuck the government trying to lower my school loan debt payment $40 a month extending it another 2 years.

Just to be clear though I'm only talking personal debt here.

Anyhow, stupid little rant over.

This. I'm looking at over 30,000 in student debt. This is by the end of my Masters (hopefully someone will pay for my PhD)

Grants are hard to come by, competition is pretty stiff with everyone out of work and heading back to school; although I received a very humble rejection from a grant intended for PhD students (pleased with my research as a MA student so far!)

 

[JeffTD]

b)unfortunately, our entire economy - from the time of the founding fathers - has been built upon the principle of debt. while it would be great to see most of our fellow americans living debt free and driving around in old/cheap cars, the simple fact is debt is the food that feeds our fucked up version of capitalism

This, namely since we found out in the 70's that we could stimulate demand by just giving everyone credit. Everyone has seemingly forgotten that the reason we needed to stimulate demand is because wages had stagnated and have remained repressed since.

There are fundamental, systematic flaws/risks associated with capitalism that we continually refuse to address until shit hits the fan and then we just shift blame around because it's easier than actually looking at the system from a different point of view.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I listen to Christian, Right Wing radio every morning -- Glenn Beck gets my blood boiling every morning (it is really good at waking me up, what a cocksmoker that guy is!)

Anyway, to the point -- on Monday (Labor Day [edit: oops, Memorial Day]) I slept in and got a chance to listen to another DJ who was talking about debt. He actually had some really good advice, saying debt is the worst thing for most people. He says everyone should live like college students until your first home is paid for. You should drive a $1500 car until then, etc.

I can't remember the guy's name but he made a lot of sense to me. We need more right-wingers like him and less of the Glenn Beck/Joseph McCarthy type.

Sounds like Dave Ramsey I think. He hates the whole FICO system and always advocates for getting rid of (permanently) personal debt. I listened to him once, apparently it's possible to not have a FICO score at all (I didn't know that personally).

He is also a christian right winger.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

debt is the food that feeds our fucked up version of capitalism

Sure is, and those that sell debt are fucking really GOOD at it. Shit capital one has had David Spade, Jimmy Falon, and Alec Baldwin hocking their shitty cards. And that's all that I can think of other than the vikings.

Think about it as a commodity (debt and loans themselves). What other product has people fucking BEGGING for it.

Please sir can I has a credit card that doesn't suck? No you will get this piece of shit and like it. Ok, life and society has sold me that I need one in order to pray to the Gods of FICO so I can function in society so I will accept your shitty terms and that 28% APR.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

There are fundamental, systematic flaws/risks associated with capitalism that we continually refuse to address until shit hits the fan and then we just shift blame around because it's easier than actually looking at the system from a different point of view.

Believe it or not, some of our high-up Republican friends have started addressing the flaws (I have to give them credit on that). We've already started to see our privacy rights vanish. If we were to maintain our old privacy standards of 25 years ago, then the USA would arguably be in a lot worse shape right now.

The next step could be a direct edit to the constitution, one that we all agree on. We are still a ways off from that. My guess is that the first change will be the addition of something like "in harmony with the Earth" appended at the very end of the document. This would be a good, seemingly non-invasive first step that would open the doors for more crucial (and painful and inevitable) changes that our kids are going to have to deal with.

Go ahead and laugh at the Genius Gone Insane's wild comments. Just remember in 50 years that you were laughing and saying "haha you fool, the Constitution could never change." And then dig my steel toe boot out of your mouth.

And I'm not talking about "Amendments", I'm talking fundamental changes.

 

[colonel kurtz]

The next step could be a direct edit to the constitution, one that we all agree on.....And I'm not talking about "Amendments", I'm talking fundamental changes

the agreed upon changes which you mentioned are called amendments. even if we were to change existing articles of the constitution, it would require passage of some sort of amendment to do so.

My guess is that the first change will be the addition of something like "in harmony with the Earth" appended at the very end of the document

not gonna happen. too many people in this country either don't give a shit about balance/harmony, are unwilling to make the sacrifices needed to achieve it(which is really almost all of us), or are silly christians who think god made the earth and populated it with people for us to rape it void of all usable resources, only to have ol' jesus swoop in at the last minute and save the day.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

not gonna happen. too many people in this country either don't give a shit about balance/harmony, are unwilling to make the sacrifices needed to achieve it(which is really almost all of us), or are silly christians who think god made the earth and populated it with people for us to rape it void of all usable resources, only to have ol' jesus swoop in at the last minute and save the day.

I think right now you are probably right. But look at how much things have changed already. I was one of the people guilty of laughing at hybrid cars when they came out (Genius Gone Insane is not always right, and enjoys being wrong because it means he is learning) but now I actually respect people who buy them. They are still gay as hell though and I couldn't buy one ever. And most of society accepts them. Also, organic foods are more popular, etc. I mean we have a long way to go but the young people in the USA are slightly less ignorant than their parents so I think in 25 years or so we'll be able to make a huge change like that. Whatever, it's all speculation.

 

[drew_drummer]

The older I get the more I hate brown people and jews.