Reply #29: I am not saying $X is enough. I am saying I have seen a lot of... [View All]

[TheMadMonk]

...evidence for people crying poor, whilst dining on take out several nights a week and buying all the latest and greatest gadgets.

No TV? Is that you saying you're a slave to advertising? Because, therein lies a great deal of the plight of the poor of developed countries.

I've also seen a lot of "middle class poverty" in people who took out 110% home loans with honeymoon rates and made only minimum payments during that period; Who used interest free and no payments for 12/18/24/36 months store credit to purchase items with depreciation periods better measured in minutes than years; Who put cash on plastic; Who put plastic on plastic; who never make more than minimum payments on anything.

Yes, banks predatorially offer pre-approved cards to kids without jobs and raise limits sans requests to do so.

They're betting that a certain percentage of people are too fucking stupid to get out of their own way, and those people promptly rise up, saying "I'll take that bet." and then proceed to prove the banks are right.

Race track or the financial district, it's the bookie's wife who wears the fur coat.

This is not about right or wrong. I mightily disapprove of modern financial practices. It's about what is and the futility of behaving as if it were anything else.