OUR MONEY MADNESS PANDEMIC I


The inventor of the dollar had a great idea. I can exchange the value of my labour for goods. This was good because I worked, earned a dollar, and then saved it so I could buy the goods.

Over the past decades we have tried an easier way. When I want goods I use credit to get those goods and end up with debt. We have worked that game to the point where I can now owe more than I own. My debt is over 100%, which we will likely pass on to our children.

How did we get there? The insurance companies learned that when they get people paying they can keep as much as they dish out. Then, the furniture and car companies learned that with credit they can make more money on money than on goods. In the process, we end up paying double for all that we buy. That is why credit is dumb. That is why savings is smart.

There are things worse than having no money. When we chase it full bore we lose sight of why we are doing it - our values and behaviour get messed up. Family life is more hectic and frustrating than an airport. We have lost sight of what’s important in our lives. We are raising our kids in some money fantasy world.

Our money-driven fantasy world is weird. When we can’t stand the pressures we do drugs, alcohol and all the other diversions. To get money we gamble and lose the money we didn’t have anyway. We can destroy our way of life.

Nations have the same problem. The big money managers have the credit virus big time. On the brink of disaster they convince our governments to lend them our money to bail them out so they can turn around and lend us our money at high interest rates. All these big guys think they can solve the credit crunch by borrowing more money than we knew existed, if it does.

In the meantime, families have a pile of credit card, car loan and mortgage debt deeper than we know how to shed. The big guys get rid of debt by cancelling their obligations - leaving savers who loaned, empty handed.
We can only do this with personal bankruptcy which takes us into a new lean world. We need a better family money solution than those coming from the big guys. That solution is not asking the big guys for even more of our money from the government so that we can supposedly borrow our way out of our debt.

Let’s hear from you on this latest FAMILY CHALLENGE.