Americans are in more debt than ever, and it could be due to strange money disorders. That’s according to a new CNBC article.
According to CNBC, “The average American has $38,000 in debt — a quarter of which comes directly from credit card charges.” Consumer debt hit a record high in December 2018 at about $4 trillion.
It’s possible that money disorders are to blame, including money worship and money avoidance, says Robert Exley Jr. of CNBC.
Brad Klontz, author of “Mind Over Money” says that these various money disorders could be due to past trauma and other psychological issues.
Read more about money disorders here: What’s behind my compulsive spending?
Visit The Sharyl Attkisson Store today
Unique gifts for independent thinkers
Proceeds benefit independent journalism
We have no debt. What’s killing us is taxes and insurance. From your figures, someone has our debt. I’ve always said that about soft drinks per capita–someone’s drinking for us. And since we’re 80, we never had college loans or grants (weren’t available), so no debt for education.
I think it is due more to the lack of integrity and personal responsibility taught in the home. Cellphone peers are the mentors of kids today, and parental influence falls behind and morals are no longer taught at home or in the schools, an entire topic within itself.
I think that the cost of living (renting an apartment for example) has surpassed the income coming in. I know it sounds like a step backward, but I look at our economy as one the same as war time. In that vein, if couples could somehow have an arrangement where only one person works and the other stays home, we could rebuild communities while at the same time create a home life that is lacking in these times. Someone needs to be home to cook meals – which is a huge savings – while contributing to the community simply by being home and partaking in community events!! We’ve lost the “mother” in family life, and while I use it in a pejorative sense here (feminists would be outraged with me), what I mean is that we need to have one or the other (whether it be gay, straight, male or female) stay home to take on the role of mother. That would free up more jobs for those who need to increase their salaries. Moreover, it would increase home buying which would then cause rental communities to lower their rents. People cannot afford to pay for their housing because they are exhausted from not having a home life. And salaries are not increasing at the speed with which the cost of housing has increased. And where a home life is lacking for a child, in a community where one adult or the other is always home, naturally creates a community where a child can find acceptance and a feeling of home away from school. If couples want to switch roles each 6 months, that would be good too. Being creative with their roles, making a little money on-line while at home can help with expenses too.
Isn’t the root of the problem obvious? People are just following the example set by a government that spends money they don’t have like there’s no tomorrow and a predatory fraudulent banking system that lures them into their web of economic slavery. And with the cost of living outpacing incomes for the last 40 years, many fall prey in their efforts to just maintain their standard of living. We are fast becoming “subjects” rather than citizens.
“Timeless” sayings like: “neither a borrower nor a lender be,” and, “never buy anything you can’t pay cash for” were important lessons from those who lived through the Great Depression. They are old fashioned in our modern, sophisticated age, and will remain so until the reckoning, that is. Reckonings are always great, albeit painful, teachers, and find students – now absent – willing to learn.
The pendulum swings….
Financial responsibility is no longer taught. The idea of putting oneself on a budget is rare nowadays. I read stories about people who are living pay check to pay check, but then look at their lifestyle: A bigger house than what they need. There is a big screen TV in nearly every room. They dine out 3 or 4 times a week. Those other days when they dont, they order in or pick something up. They dont pick cars based off fuel mileage, but what they want. Smartphones, tablets, and other gizmoids.
These are not poor people, but the middle class.