How the Rich Stole Our Money--And Made Us Think They were Doing Us a Favor

[CrispyQ]

13. An excellent article.

Though Diner’s Club cards originated in the 1950s, the charge cards as we know them today were truly born and popularized in the mid-1970s and early 1980s – not coincidentally the same time as Wall Street deregulation, 401(k) transitions and the birth pangs of the real estate boom. The boom in popular credit had two major effects: to enrich the same financial services companies whose success disproportionately benefits the wealthy, and to disguise and soften the effects of stagnant wages.

Another article I read some time ago stated that Americans are trinket rich but equity poor. We have iPhones & iPad & gadgets galore but no equity. That also helps to disguise stagnant wages. People think they are doing better than they are because they have new gadgets & new furniture & new cars. Most of it on credit, but they have it.

My mother thought my husband & I were losers because we live in a small house & drive old cars & our furniture is the crap I bought in the 80s. But when she passed, my sister, who she thought was wildly successful with her new house, new furniture, vacations & new car, could not write a $2000 check to put my mother in the ground. Nor could she charge it. The only time my BIL has ever been decent to my husband was the day my mother died & we paid for her expenses.