Musings on Debt
Surfing around the internet today and yesterday, one would think the sky is falling here in the U.S. Everywhere you look is a headline screaming the alarm about the stock market, the subprime mortgage situation, and of course debt. Consumer debt. Corporate debt. Mortgage debt. National debt. Debt, debt, debt…credit worries, credit card worries, credit crisis.
Now, I’ll admit I’ve only had one semester of macro-economics, and I only got a B in it, but I am wondering why all this news is - well, news. It’s not new news, because most of these problems were mentioned a while back. The national debt clock has been going in NYC for a while…and now they are building a new one I have heard because the current one won’t have enough digits very soon.
The mortgage situation had been pointed out many times before this summer, but the ones saying it couldn’t last were dismissed like Cassandra of Greek legend.
Corporate debt has suddenly been thrust into the general spotlight, and just this morning I read my cable company is in hock up to their corporate ears. Good thing I didn’t try to get a job there after the Army! It also might explain the recent internet problems I have been having. It’s somewhat ironic, since I cut back on cable TV for my get-out-of-debt effort.
Now it seems the big national media concern is consumer credit card debt. There’s an AP story on it and one on CNNMoney on how they think it’s bad but they’re not quite sure yet. And everywhere related to business and money on the web says the sky is about to fall…makes me glad I shut off the TV!
It’s kind of funny, in a sad way, because the alarms were there: Maxed Out and In Debt We Trust came out almost a year ago, and both documentaries said the U.S. was headed for trouble with credit cards and subprime mortgages. Dave Ramsey has been saying it for years (y’all knew I would go there!) along with many others who are less strident about debt in general.
All of these warnings and alarms and “The sky is falling!” screams make me so glad I decided to get onto the get-out-of-debt plan back at the beginning of the year. The end is in sight for us with the truck note scheduled to be paid off in the early spring, sooner if tips stay good for my weekend pizza delivering job. I just worry about my parents, who are still in debt with auto loans and credit cards. I also worry about friends and neighbors who are in that same situation. I so badly want to reach them, but they see me living like I am in poverty and think the whole debt elimination idea is just not for them. Hopefully when I am building up my big emergency fund and then my pharmacy school tuition fund they will see the sacrifices are worth it.
I just hope the sky doesn’t fall before then.
