Not everyone is as educated as you think you are in regards to finances. But let me give you a scenario, about 15 years ago I was in an auto accident that left me incapacitated for some time, at the time I had impeccable credit. The beauty of it was that I had insurance but the person at fault, not only didn’t have insurance, but no license and had seizures–this is why he had no license. In the meantime, my insurance coverage wasn’t enough to cover me and the passenger in my car that was hurt, so in a nutshell, as great of an employer as I had, I ended up losing my job, as an employer has no obligation to hold it, regardless of the circumstances, however once I received a medical release, which believe me couldn’t come soon enough, I was eligible to reapply and start over…..fine. But then the so called friend, had the same thing, guess what I get sued, so then I sue the idiot with no insurance, too bad so sad, he is collecting government money, can’t get that and has five children to feed. In the event this guy ever wins the lottery or comes upon some cash, I’ll get some money, but other than that, I was SOL. So a bankruptcy later, it took several years to recover financially. You are correct in stating that people live beyond their financial abilities–such as life. But don’t ever think that none of this could happen to you, I never thought it could happen to me and even in 20 years, the laws have not changed. It is too difficult to establish laws for every set of circumstances. There are always going to be people that try to live up to other peoples superficial beliefs, eventually they learn that you’re never going to be remembered for your material possessions, you will be remembered for the type of person you were and your contribution to others and how you made a difference in their lives.

I always paid my debt, even when I lost my business and went from 120,000 a year to 35,000 a year. I could not however prevent the financial disaster that ensued during my divorce. For the first, and hopefully the last time, I had no choice but to default and file. I hope the good life doesn’t get pulled out from under you and have to face a person as yourself.

Sometimes life happens and you don’t get a choice.

I agree with you. There are instances that are unavoidable, such as medical issues, but still. I know people who make a very good living and STILL put everything on credit cards. I personally do not have a credit card, never had one (I’m 34 years old) and probably never will have one. I’ve never had a brand new car, and while I would like one, if I can’t pay cash for it, I don’t need it. My husband and I were fortunate enough to have bought our house before the mortgage mess hit, and that is the only thing we owe for. There are things we’d like to do to the house, but are refraining from using the house as a bank in order to finance our projects. I guess I’ve been poor too long to “need” expensive things or spend a lot of money on stuff that are not necessary.

I don’t find lack of education to find a good job a good excuse either-perhaps you should have used your credit to get a student loan and there’s still plently of jobs that pay a decent salaryavaiable to those without an education-it’s called manual labor.
All Americans aren’t selfish-but that has become the common mentality-the gotta haves-instant gratification instead of saving for what you really want. I own a house (well actually the bank does) but when I shopped for houses I made sure despite the gorgeous expensive house I viewed and was qualified credit wise to purchase that we bought a house that the mortgage payment did not exceed our rent at the place we were renting at the time. So if we were able to pay our rent-we would surely be able to afford the mortgage. My mortgage is a little over $500 a month so if we can’t afford that then we can’t afford to live anywhere!! Sure my house is a little smaller then I would have liked and it’s not exactly my dream home but it is on an acre in the middle of the woods-which I love and guess what-thus far we’ve been able to afford our mortgage.
I have two friends-one was using her old outdated not so fashionable cell phone and the other went out to buy a new special one for $300 with all sorts of services and then made fun of friend #1 and her old phone. Guess what-2 months later friend 2’s phone was sitting in a drawer because she couldn’t afford the monthly service charges. Haha-I’d rather have the old phone than the new one sitting a drawer!

Why are you on this rant? To take your question one step further, why should anyone be considerate of anyone’s problems that they could have avoided if they had handled things differently? We all mess up in a variety of ways and are in need of mercy and forgiveness. It is usually a mistake to get too judgemental about other people since it is usually impossible for you to know what it has really been like for them. In order for a person to look down their nose at other people they usually have to overlook some of their own faults.

Totally and completely agree. You signed a note saying that you will pay X amount of dollars per month until the debt is paid. You didn’t say “if” I can or “if” I have a job or “if” I have money left over after I’ve done everything else I want like smoke, drink, gamble…etc.

“especially people with fairly great incomes”….if that was the only group of people affected by the current economic climate then I would agree with you. BUT they aren’t.

I work my a** off, my husband works his a** off…we live within our means…we pay our bills. Have you purchased gas lately? How about food? EVERYONE has to re-evaluate their budgets- my food bill is 35% higher than a year ago…I spend $80 a week on gas for the car…

as for “having the same luxuries and privileges”…who are YOU to assume what I consider to be a luxury or a privilege- I don’t weigh those things monetarily.

Because they’re still human beings. True, people shouldn’t take on more debt than they can handle, but it doesn’t make them bad people if they do. It doesn’t make me angry that some people can afford luxuries and others can’t. What makes me angry is that some people have excess and others don’t have enough of what they NEED. Americans (not all Americans) are selfish because we’re used to having more than what we need. Excess has become the standard.

I agree! My hubby and I haven’t purchased a home yet because we want to be able to get what we want, not what we can currently afford. We’re working on paying off my car note, which will be done next year instead of another two past that.

You have to have a plan, and even then… a back up plan for your plan. JUST in case something happens… We got a good glimpse as to the what if’s when I was hit in my car by a speeding teenager… That just got her DL and was in a brand new car that Mommy and Daddy had not even put the correct insurance on yet… I hated taking a loan because I lost work for my injuries. We had to pay our deductible to get my car back so I could work and we only had about half of it… plus bills to pay.

So, since then… we’re paying down all of our debt and building up a rainy day fund…. just in case something happens again.

EDIT: Val…. I HATE you… LOL just kidding. We’re military and its a choice my hubby made before we got married. We are up to almost 50K but that is between both of us working. Of course, when he retires in a few years… We’ll be living that good life. It’ll be so nice! LOL

You’ve chosen the name “blessed” as your ID. So… spend a little more time thinking of your blessings than being jealous of other people’s wealth. You’ll spend the rest of your life miserable if you’re always looking at and judging “those” people (while secretly envying their lifestyle) Look, my finances go back and forth. I’ve worked very very hard to get a Ph.D. and make a six figure salary but you know it amazingly goes really fast. I spend every free scent I have just paying for my family and keeping my wife happy. So, if I wanted to splurge on myself (to dampen the suicidal thoughts), yes, I’d have to use a credit card and pay it back.