A recent article and a interview with the most inept business adviser Henry Blodget, brought to force how America looks at spending and bankruptcy. Debtors want to enforce age-old laws that provide prison terms for defaulters. Henry is saying this is preposterous. Is it really?
Americans are in such a bad situation because they live beyond the their means. It is like a Ponzi scheme. You get money form the Bank/credit card on one and you give it to a builder, yacht manufaturer or a car dealership, on the other end. The Banks are stupid and accept you at face value. But the biggest idiot is the one that lives beyond his means. Or, does he think he is really smart? All he does is simply "Keep up with the Joneses"?
This unfettered spending has helped the economy grow!! This whole concept of putting debtors in jail is a great deterrent. All the law-biding citizens will start being careful on how they manage their finances. Of course, there are some free-thinkers that would prefer the free food in the jail. This whole concept of bankruptcy gives people a false sense of security. It must be taken away. If the lady in the story owed $2K, she should be saving money on gas and walking around. This way she can save money. There is a concept of living within your means.
This stupid Henry and his stupider guest compares the spending by a family to the investment made by a company. Companies by nature are risky entities. They take other people's money and try to build something. Many will succeed but even more will fail. For them the deterrent of jail will prevent investment and will not allow job creation.
What are your comments?
Americans are in such a bad situation because they live beyond the their means. It is like a Ponzi scheme. You get money form the Bank/credit card on one and you give it to a builder, yacht manufaturer or a car dealership, on the other end. The Banks are stupid and accept you at face value. But the biggest idiot is the one that lives beyond his means. Or, does he think he is really smart? All he does is simply "Keep up with the Joneses"?
This unfettered spending has helped the economy grow!! This whole concept of putting debtors in jail is a great deterrent. All the law-biding citizens will start being careful on how they manage their finances. Of course, there are some free-thinkers that would prefer the free food in the jail. This whole concept of bankruptcy gives people a false sense of security. It must be taken away. If the lady in the story owed $2K, she should be saving money on gas and walking around. This way she can save money. There is a concept of living within your means.
This stupid Henry and his stupider guest compares the spending by a family to the investment made by a company. Companies by nature are risky entities. They take other people's money and try to build something. Many will succeed but even more will fail. For them the deterrent of jail will prevent investment and will not allow job creation.
What are your comments?
I don't disagree that people should live within their means.
ReplyDeleteBut what bothers me is just that there are 2 sets of laws in America, one for the (wealthy) corporations and one for people. Corporations can get away with anything, since their representatives write the law. Companies are given undue advantages, all in the name of creating jobs. One must be really stupid to believe that, with all the outsourcing and high unemployment numbers, despite all the taxpayer funded bailouts !
:-)
And banks are not stupid to give loans !
- Ramesh L