NYT: Gasp! Consumers being forced to...LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS!!!

[El Pinko]

http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_8217731

Involuntary thrift
Consumers must live within their means
With the current economic downturn, buy now, pay later on its way out
By Peter S. Goodman
The New York Times
Article Last Updated: 02/09/2008 12:42:05 PM MST

For more than half a century, Americans have proved staggeringly resourceful at finding new ways to spend money.

In the 1950s and '60s, as credit cards grew in popularity, many began dining out when the mood struck or buying new television sets on time rather than waiting for payday. By the 1980s, millions of Americans were entrusting their savings to the booming stock market, using the winnings to spend in excess of their income. In recent years, millions more exuberantly borrowed against the value of their homes.

But now the freewheeling days of credit and risk may have run their course - at least for a while and perhaps much longer - as a period of involuntary thrift unfolds in many households. With jobs shrinking, housing prices plummeting and debt levels swelling, the same nation that pioneered the no-money-down mortgage suddenly confronts an unfamiliar imperative - more Americans must live within their means.

''We don't use our credit cards anymore,'' said Lisa Merhaut, a professional at a telecommunications company who lives in Leesburg, Va., and whose family last year ran up credit card debt they could not handle.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Buy now, pay later= Republicanism in a nutshell.

Not what they say it is, empirically and definitively what it IS.

[radfringe]

2. the interest rates keep going up

and choke even more people...

the golden goose is gasping for air, but the corps. won't release their grip..

[Donnachaidh]

3. but but but but -- what happens when the NEXT shiny new iphone, or Game System, or big fat SUV comes

out??? GASP AND SWOON! You mean some may not jump on the next shiny gadget some PR firm tells you you MUST have?

People are learning something? Holy schnikes Batman!

BEST NEWS I've heard today! :thumbsup: :bounce:

[predfan]

4. Hard financial choices..........starting with transportation costs

probably won't be the worst thing for us, since we've all been pretty well spoiled to cheap............cheap gas, electricity, water, imports and box stores bringing down prices at the expense of jobs..............gotta end sometime.

[SoCalDem]

5. We LOVE living that way..

There's just something so liberating about being able to pay your bills when you get tham..and to know that IF you want something, you have the actual money to pay for it NOW..and not shop all over to save 15%..and then pay $29% interest on it..:eyes:

the sad thing is that if you already HAVE debt, you cannot afford to "live within your means", because a large chunk of your income goes to servie the debt you have..

[Quantess]

8. Same here! Debt gives me anxiety.

This is what Dave Ramsey keeps saying. Stay out of debt.

Now, if only the government could stay out of debt...

[mntleo2]

6. The Poor Always Have Lived Within Their Means LOL

...we do not have credit cards, and even our needs must wait for payday. I find it ironic that someone like me who has never in my life owned one, am "ahead of the curve" so to speak. It is not so hard to just wait ...as a matter of fact, it is what all toddlers have to learn when they impatiently want their dinner but have to wait until Mom or Dad has it ready. I feel kind of sorry for the adults who have to have it NOW, and need to re-learn the lesson all over again. It is not so bad to wait unless you need necessities because you learn one important thing when you find out real quick there is a BIG difference between what you need and what you want.



My 2 cents, which is about all I have ...
Cat in Seattle

[Fovea]

7. Note to ny times

Fuck you.
All for the consumerism that brought you ad dollars, you now become a moralist.

Rather, you have actually been amoralist all along...

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

9. Score one for common sense.

If your perceived class level comes thanks to tricky financing or excessive creidt card use, you are most definitely living beyond your means. Even the "comfortably affluent" are suffering right now, because they're ending upside down in everything they own. It's even worse for the average person, hence the rash of foreclosures, bankruptcies, and joblessness. And the impoverished never even benefitted from the so called "surge" in homebuying and technology jobs...so it was a hollow success, at best.

When this country has things like a living wage, non-predatory financing of property, and new job growth, it will be better for everyone. It worked before in the FDR era, and instilled a sense of pride in people who were able to make a difference in their communities, and bring home a decent paycheck to support their families. It's about giving a hand-up, not a hand-out. The important thing to remember is, we need to make sure that these jobs go to the people who really need them, not to contracted political cronies; we don't want the Blackwater/Halliburton stuff that's been going on the last 7 years.

We're really missing the boat right now on things like green-collar jobs, which would make a world of difference for our environment and our job market. That's one of the first things I'd like to see put into place with a Dem administration, and it's been proposed by most (if not all) of our candidates.

(Sorry if I veered slightly OT there.)

[OneBlueSky]

10. Americans used ever-increasing home valuations as their personal ATMs . . .

never contemplating that, at some point, prices would start heading down . . . as that happens, this massive source of additional "income" has dried up, and people are finding out just how much they've overspent in the past few decades . . . the two-Hummer families living in McMansions on the hill is fast being uncovered as the illusion it always was . . . and people are scratching their heads and wondering "Why?" . . .

the answer is "because you can't afford it -- and you never could!" . . .