Ego
Bad education
Propaganda of American exceptionalism.
America is a third world occupied country but everybody is in denial, obese and wearing nice clothes 😌
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crazy how people in brazil used to look up to American living standards, but it turns out americans have more inequality, violence, worse education, health system, worse food, and the list goes on
I swear the biggest lie is that America is somehow a better country because it has houses that are expensive and fast food so that it can import what essentially accounts to slave labor when they finally come over excited to work for lower wages and live in cramped housing without their social networks other than the other slave laborers.
Its probably how we make it how people not climbing financially can still feel superior. No one has to pay the debt if you can keep getting new people on a lower rung.
Americans rarely have access to real bread
Who’s pretending?
We’re all broke. Unless you’re a boomer trying to sell a $0.50 house you bought in the 50s you paid for on a gas station cashier salary. They’re ok for the moment. But even a lot of them are going broke now too. Highest demographic of newly homeless last I heard.
Because those boomers who are broke were attempting to keep up with those who actually had money. I know a few examples…
Do we count mortgages as debt here?
They often are, yes. I’m not sure exactly what “in debt” means to OP. But, when I use it like this I generally mean “negative net worth” not “carrying a line of credit”.
I currently have a balance on a CC, but I don’t consider myself in debt, because it’s smaller than my checking account balance, and that’s smaller than my investment account balance, and that’s smaller than my retirement account balance.
I don’t own a home, but I also didn’t really consider myself “in debt” when I purchased my current car.
Oddly enough I would say I am “in debt to” my CC company, because I do owe money to them and they do not owe money to me. The “to X” part of the phrase restricts my consideration to just two-party financial relationship, in my mind. When you leave off the “to X”, I consider all the financial relationship I have and (roughly) sum over them.
Same here, funny carry a balance, but at least for a couple of weeks I owe my credit card company.
Simply because if I use my debit card, i get nothing. Use my credit card and I get 2 to 3 percent off…
Yeah, I pay it off about twice a month, but usually between the day I schedule a payment and the day it arrives I’ve used the card again, so it’s rare for me to have a zero (or negative!) balance.
I do like the CC rewards, but they get that my “shorting” / charging the merchant. So, if the merchant is part of your community, try to avoid involving a CC processor by paying in cash. (I think cash is a pain to deal with, so my in-built preference is for some sort of card / phone payment system.)
While I have no debts, sometimes my bank account is hovering at a $200. I hate the insecurity it gives me.
Because we want to spend our end of days in comfort
Flexing.
Because being poor means you’re weak, and weakness makes you’re a piability to your friends, useless, and prey.
It’s part of our culture. It dates back to when America was new. Plantation owners wanted to pretend we had a rich and powerful economy and history and culture. They made everything pristine and gaudy and exp wove looking but there was no substance. Look at the architectural decisions made in plantation houses and how the elements are still used in homes today.
We pretend we are better than we really are.
I’m guessing not admitting your finances are shit is pretty universal, no need to pick on 'Murica.
Americans are big on appearances. Gotta seem religious. Gotta seem rich. Gotta seem happy. Gotta seem free.
Seem
In debt doesn’t mean broke. People with a mortgage that they are easily paying off have debt. Millionaires and billionaires have millions and billions in debt. Debt itself isn’t bad. Debt can be good.
Just a small correction there: debt can never be good.
But debt can be necessary, but that is only because some financial institutions have made it so, because many of them make their money from peoples debt.
So they spread the myth that debt is good, despite the fact that the world would be a far better place without debt.
Absolutely false. Debt is a tool. It’s a wealth multiplier.
You can use tools incorrectly, and that can harm you. But used correctly, they can let you do things quicker and easier than you could have without them.
No, debt can be good. If you’re making more money from an asset than the interest on the loan used to buy that asset, it’s good debt.
Good for who?
Rich people always say never to use your own money to start a business.
You can’t figure that out from my comment that you responded to?
For the person holding the debt.
Isn’t it insane that 4 people downvoted my comment saying that if you’re making more money from debt than it costs to have the debt, it’s good debt? Do these people not understand how money works?
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I would rather no debt, but I kinda need a house because it’s illegal to buy a field and live there in a yurt
Come out to the country. Just make sure your field is outside city limits, and you’ll probably be fine living there, as long as your sewage doesn’t drain into a protected waterway. A 3-phase septic wouldn’t be too hard to put in, but it’s a lot easier if you’ll rent heavy machinery instead of shovels.
Not an option in the UK
Well, I would say you could immigrate to the U.S., but that’s a bad idea for a number of reasons, IMO.
No countryside up in Scotland anymore?
There is countryside but you are not allowed to live on land without planning permission, I presume Scotland has a fairly similar system too.
The average American is living paycheck to paycheck with bad, high interest debt and killer monthly minimums. Many people roll their underwater car loan into a new underwater car loan. The housing market is taking a turn.
People are mostly broke.
The point is that being in debt isn’t the same as being broke and living paycheque to paycheque. Rich people have more debt than broke people because banks etc are far more willing to give rich people debt since they can actually pay it back.
