The economic collapse explained

wrong linky.. I haven't read my copy yet.. but this is my favorite mag. They have very interesting stories there.

Ohhhhh man, you had to remind me about the 401K!

Indeed a very good article. We have become a world of "imaginary" money. It made me think to simpler days (waaaay back in history) where you simply owned what you could afford. Obviously that model is the polar opposite of where we are at right now, but I think in the recent years "credit" has been given too freely. When I started college (99) there were banks lined up on campus, giving you free shit to sign up for their credit cards. Yes... they have given LOTS of credit, probably boosted themselves up for a short while... but they targeted people who more likely than not could not pay off their cards. I can't remember exactly what I was making when I went to college, I think $10 an hour, 25 hours a week.. so that's $250 a week? $12K for the year... yet I was granted cards with up to 5K limits. It would take me more than half a year to pay off just the balance, I don't even know what the % would be on one of those. YET banks keep allowing LOW income people to get a lot of credit. People should only buy on credit if they absolutely have no other option. AND if it's something that is a necessity. (And $200 gym shoes are NOT one of those things). Why aren't finances taught in school as a requirement? Why are there so many people that are uneducated about line of credit UNTIL it becomes a problem. It seems like every one I meet these days is trying to "get out of debt".