Families take on increase in debt. The headline jumped out at me. Here we go again—we humans never learn. And then I read on, Analysts say a $241 billion quarterly bump means Americans feel better about the economy.
How do we humans have a chance to learn when the good news being deeper in debt is (and I quote) “an indication of improving consumer confidence as the economy gains steam.” Once again, consumerism leads the way and the good news reinforces that the way out of this recession is to spend, spend, spend. Forget about any personal consequences. Increasing your debt is the right thing to do—it’s your patriotic duty!
Remember the 2008 tax rebate? That extra $600 they gave us to spend was going to kick start the economy. Did it work? Don’t think so—five plus years later, we’re still in the same boat. Yet the message hasn’t changed: spend, spend, spend—even if you don’t have the money—use that credit card, beef up your debt!
Unfortunately, buried deep in the end of the article where statistics show we never read, you’ll learn this:
- 28% of us owe more on our cards than we have in savings
- Our prime years (30-64) when we most need a rainy fund, we are the least likely to have one
What does this tell me? What are we to do? It’s time to develop your own money radar. Without it, you can’t read between the lines of the economic good news. Without it, someone else will be making your financial decisions—from a headline or an email or a tweet. Without money radar and real financial awareness you’ll succumb to the good news of the day.
After all—you’re only human!
