So how is they are getting deeper?
Now let me see if I am figuring this all out correctly.
Right now around me I appear to be the one person out here completely financially stable as:
1) I am actually sticking to a budget that plans on earning LESS money than I actually do
2) Did I mention budgeting?
3) Refusing to use credit.
Thus around me I am continually getting phone calls of just how bad that their financial situation is from friends and loved ones out here in Alberta. And this is the province that is once again starting to have a real hiring boom.
Now...I will grant some details that shed some more light to make clear that it really isn't so Black and White. There is an awful lot of grey and it is that which I think is making the situation more difficult then it should be.
Employers not offering enough. That seems to be the root of why so many jobs are staying open longer than expected. Unless the employer though is willing to do their part in allaying the "cost of living" then how can they realistically expect someone to work for them and then go ahead and have "extra money to spend"? Ah...yeah, unfortunately that is where "credit" seems to creep in, and fill the gap, and in time suck one down the rabbit hole. "Oh I'll catch up those payments...soon!" But now there are a lot out there with maxed out credit cards, and it isn't happening.
This is why I have one card...at zero. If I have to pay anything using it, I do it then get online and pay the amount before it processes. Eliminating that factor helps keep one on budget, "If you don't have it, then don't spend it." Credit appears to have created an "Illusion" of having it. And it's a trap I am seeing.
You know there is this "silly commercial" that comes on the radio station that I listen to that at first "offers for your house to help with your plane tickets" for a "much needed vacation" that you can't afford. Seriously. They will loan you the money on the value of your home. Every time that commercial came on it was a "FUCK YOU!" from me at the radio just hating what it represented. It was a "Let me get this straight, they are already in debt...you want to put them MORE in debt?!? On one of the few things they might ACTUALLY own? Isn't this how the economic model and bubble got shattered in the first place?"
Evidently I'm not the only listener who felt that way. Response to this commercial was pretty darn bad.
Ah...so they changed their tact. Now the commercial from the same company offers to "consolidate and pay off all your bills with the value of your home". This I grant IS a bit better, at least the money is going somewhere and might even do some good...problem is I've seen this dance before now a few times, and it works short term, and then epically fails LONG term. The root of the matter there is while it eliminates the debt at the cost of your equity and costing you now more years of house payments and interest, it doesn't eliminate the SPENDING HABITS that got you into the mess in the first place. And that is what the credit companies are counting on. So this commercial also gets a big "FUCK YOU!" from me each time.
You see I did watch this brilliant show that had someone offer to come in and rescue families from their debt load, but it had this rather brilliant condition. To get the money the families had to break the habits that got them into the mess in the first place. And wow, there was a lot of brilliant insight in there about what expenses a family could realistically eliminate. Sadly some families do indeed fail. (It occurs to me there are a lot of Governments at all levels and corporations that need to learn this.)
It reminded me of why Fredrick the Great was....well Great, as he came up with this "novel concept" of when you ran out of money you STOPPED spending. Funny the British Empire came up with a very similar thought line too during it's hay-day. France and Spain went bankrupt so many times and then when it came time to finance wars once again interest was through the roof...vicious circle that. (Paul Kennedy - "Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" Someone studied.) I remember the City of Toronto during when Jack Layton was a Councillor there had the same ideal. "We will spend money on a project until we run out, and then WE STOP." Layton was good at blocking attempts to borrow money a lot when things like that happened. Problem was he moved on to try and fix bigger issues, and then amalgamation happened and the sleigh ride of debt for that great city began. If I remember they were "promised" by the province of Ontario that "any overage that 1st year would be covered." When that bill came in at over $150 million...yeah province refused. Big surprise there. >insert sarcasm< And then the collapse really began. Borrow more money, economy is great we'll get it all back in taxes! Oh wait, province and federal government is down shifting more services to us to pay at a municipal level while keeping taxes in their coffers...well maybe next year!
This has gone on for what about 12 years now? The debt of the City of Toronto is now well into the Billions. BILLIONS. 3.5 and growing last I knew. And you wonder why Toronto's economy; not to mention Ontario due to Toronto being the "engine"; is messed up. It's like not giving oil to an engine literally...it is going to seize.
>rubs bridge of nose<
See it's why I get so concerned for all these beloved family and friends out here. Some of them are in pretty decent jobs with pay, but they can't get out of "the hole". And I end up glaring at "credit" a lot as being a real root...but sadly not the cause itself. It's the spending habit. Problem is "credit" tends to encourage that habit.
You know I remember way back when I once was young being told about how people properly saved for everything. Homes, cars, etc. It was the hard lesson of the Great Depression. Our immediate family here went through a tough time and are now acting the same way. Savings to us is a BILL that is ALWAYS paid. Bills up front, never deferred. If we want something, we budget and plan and save for it, then get it. Quite a few times sticking to that drill has killed off "impulse spending", which I am starting to understand the whole "credit" environment enjoys. Right now the end result I can see in our bank accounts is we have Zero Debt. All bills paid in advance even. And while we have "just the one credit card" it sits there at Zero. If used in the very rare occasion it is because we have budgeted the money for it and at first chance stick to the discipline of paying it off right away.
Is this fun? That's a good question. There are plenty of things me and the Overunit would love to do Right Now...and the answer is a firm "No." Yeah that makes both of us a bit angry at that reply... "use the credit card? Oh HELLS no..." But I'm the same way...but if we want a good reminder of why...we just look at the bank account. We're going to buy the house, period. (And the cold voices we got when we called them to REDUCE the credit limit...REDUCE! Like we don't understand how the game is played. Oh no, we REALLY understand the rules, AND we peaked at the Game Master manual...so no reduce thank you.)
>deep breath<
But you know I think that's the real tragedy of it. Our beloved friends and family didn't plan on being in this mess. Heck there are a lot of them that DO try real hard to stick into a budget, counting every dollar and cent that comes in, and start to look like they are getting back on their feet. That's when fate does a horrible kick to their pins and knocks all that out. Or someone they trust owes them then has their collapse and it becomes a domino effect. It's...not Black and White in the end.
A brilliant article a dear and loved family member out East posted talked about the "Myth that Money can't buy happiness". It is a brilliant and blunt article that cuts right into the fact that once certain stresses and pressures are relieved...and the vast amount of those are financial, life DOES get easier. Happier. etc. But that there is this whole mythology constructed by the popular media that "Being poor is better"...uh huh. Look I'm not saying being Rich is better...but being Secure...ah, yeah that's a much better word for it. If you knew that the whole bunch of pins that very important thing called "Your Life" wasn't going to get whipped out by a whim or act of fate, wouldn't you be a lot less stressed and unhappy?
I look at the whole "Occupy Movement" and grant they have a lot of valid points...yet they miss the other half of the important equation. Yes there is an imbalance. But you also have to address the habits that are feeding the imbalance. And that I am not so sure any side has really come to grips with. Again, the whole issue is not Black and White.
The grim part is though some dear loved ones aren't going to break their habits. They are "habits", and those run deep. And they wonder why they can't get out of the mess they find themselves in. That's the trap. For some I wish them success and that life would quit kicking them and give them the chance to "get secure" as they are indeed "playing smart, the dice rolls are just sucking." so to speak. But others, you've got to stop the habit. As that habit is making the wrong people win.
It's the hard lesson I had to learn. Habit can become your destiny.
Right now around me I appear to be the one person out here completely financially stable as:
1) I am actually sticking to a budget that plans on earning LESS money than I actually do
2) Did I mention budgeting?
3) Refusing to use credit.
Thus around me I am continually getting phone calls of just how bad that their financial situation is from friends and loved ones out here in Alberta. And this is the province that is once again starting to have a real hiring boom.
Now...I will grant some details that shed some more light to make clear that it really isn't so Black and White. There is an awful lot of grey and it is that which I think is making the situation more difficult then it should be.
Employers not offering enough. That seems to be the root of why so many jobs are staying open longer than expected. Unless the employer though is willing to do their part in allaying the "cost of living" then how can they realistically expect someone to work for them and then go ahead and have "extra money to spend"? Ah...yeah, unfortunately that is where "credit" seems to creep in, and fill the gap, and in time suck one down the rabbit hole. "Oh I'll catch up those payments...soon!" But now there are a lot out there with maxed out credit cards, and it isn't happening.
This is why I have one card...at zero. If I have to pay anything using it, I do it then get online and pay the amount before it processes. Eliminating that factor helps keep one on budget, "If you don't have it, then don't spend it." Credit appears to have created an "Illusion" of having it. And it's a trap I am seeing.
You know there is this "silly commercial" that comes on the radio station that I listen to that at first "offers for your house to help with your plane tickets" for a "much needed vacation" that you can't afford. Seriously. They will loan you the money on the value of your home. Every time that commercial came on it was a "FUCK YOU!" from me at the radio just hating what it represented. It was a "Let me get this straight, they are already in debt...you want to put them MORE in debt?!? On one of the few things they might ACTUALLY own? Isn't this how the economic model and bubble got shattered in the first place?"
Evidently I'm not the only listener who felt that way. Response to this commercial was pretty darn bad.
Ah...so they changed their tact. Now the commercial from the same company offers to "consolidate and pay off all your bills with the value of your home". This I grant IS a bit better, at least the money is going somewhere and might even do some good...problem is I've seen this dance before now a few times, and it works short term, and then epically fails LONG term. The root of the matter there is while it eliminates the debt at the cost of your equity and costing you now more years of house payments and interest, it doesn't eliminate the SPENDING HABITS that got you into the mess in the first place. And that is what the credit companies are counting on. So this commercial also gets a big "FUCK YOU!" from me each time.
You see I did watch this brilliant show that had someone offer to come in and rescue families from their debt load, but it had this rather brilliant condition. To get the money the families had to break the habits that got them into the mess in the first place. And wow, there was a lot of brilliant insight in there about what expenses a family could realistically eliminate. Sadly some families do indeed fail. (It occurs to me there are a lot of Governments at all levels and corporations that need to learn this.)
It reminded me of why Fredrick the Great was....well Great, as he came up with this "novel concept" of when you ran out of money you STOPPED spending. Funny the British Empire came up with a very similar thought line too during it's hay-day. France and Spain went bankrupt so many times and then when it came time to finance wars once again interest was through the roof...vicious circle that. (Paul Kennedy - "Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" Someone studied.) I remember the City of Toronto during when Jack Layton was a Councillor there had the same ideal. "We will spend money on a project until we run out, and then WE STOP." Layton was good at blocking attempts to borrow money a lot when things like that happened. Problem was he moved on to try and fix bigger issues, and then amalgamation happened and the sleigh ride of debt for that great city began. If I remember they were "promised" by the province of Ontario that "any overage that 1st year would be covered." When that bill came in at over $150 million...yeah province refused. Big surprise there. >insert sarcasm< And then the collapse really began. Borrow more money, economy is great we'll get it all back in taxes! Oh wait, province and federal government is down shifting more services to us to pay at a municipal level while keeping taxes in their coffers...well maybe next year!
This has gone on for what about 12 years now? The debt of the City of Toronto is now well into the Billions. BILLIONS. 3.5 and growing last I knew. And you wonder why Toronto's economy; not to mention Ontario due to Toronto being the "engine"; is messed up. It's like not giving oil to an engine literally...it is going to seize.
>rubs bridge of nose<
See it's why I get so concerned for all these beloved family and friends out here. Some of them are in pretty decent jobs with pay, but they can't get out of "the hole". And I end up glaring at "credit" a lot as being a real root...but sadly not the cause itself. It's the spending habit. Problem is "credit" tends to encourage that habit.
You know I remember way back when I once was young being told about how people properly saved for everything. Homes, cars, etc. It was the hard lesson of the Great Depression. Our immediate family here went through a tough time and are now acting the same way. Savings to us is a BILL that is ALWAYS paid. Bills up front, never deferred. If we want something, we budget and plan and save for it, then get it. Quite a few times sticking to that drill has killed off "impulse spending", which I am starting to understand the whole "credit" environment enjoys. Right now the end result I can see in our bank accounts is we have Zero Debt. All bills paid in advance even. And while we have "just the one credit card" it sits there at Zero. If used in the very rare occasion it is because we have budgeted the money for it and at first chance stick to the discipline of paying it off right away.
Is this fun? That's a good question. There are plenty of things me and the Overunit would love to do Right Now...and the answer is a firm "No." Yeah that makes both of us a bit angry at that reply... "use the credit card? Oh HELLS no..." But I'm the same way...but if we want a good reminder of why...we just look at the bank account. We're going to buy the house, period. (And the cold voices we got when we called them to REDUCE the credit limit...REDUCE! Like we don't understand how the game is played. Oh no, we REALLY understand the rules, AND we peaked at the Game Master manual...so no reduce thank you.)
>deep breath<
But you know I think that's the real tragedy of it. Our beloved friends and family didn't plan on being in this mess. Heck there are a lot of them that DO try real hard to stick into a budget, counting every dollar and cent that comes in, and start to look like they are getting back on their feet. That's when fate does a horrible kick to their pins and knocks all that out. Or someone they trust owes them then has their collapse and it becomes a domino effect. It's...not Black and White in the end.
A brilliant article a dear and loved family member out East posted talked about the "Myth that Money can't buy happiness". It is a brilliant and blunt article that cuts right into the fact that once certain stresses and pressures are relieved...and the vast amount of those are financial, life DOES get easier. Happier. etc. But that there is this whole mythology constructed by the popular media that "Being poor is better"...uh huh. Look I'm not saying being Rich is better...but being Secure...ah, yeah that's a much better word for it. If you knew that the whole bunch of pins that very important thing called "Your Life" wasn't going to get whipped out by a whim or act of fate, wouldn't you be a lot less stressed and unhappy?
I look at the whole "Occupy Movement" and grant they have a lot of valid points...yet they miss the other half of the important equation. Yes there is an imbalance. But you also have to address the habits that are feeding the imbalance. And that I am not so sure any side has really come to grips with. Again, the whole issue is not Black and White.
The grim part is though some dear loved ones aren't going to break their habits. They are "habits", and those run deep. And they wonder why they can't get out of the mess they find themselves in. That's the trap. For some I wish them success and that life would quit kicking them and give them the chance to "get secure" as they are indeed "playing smart, the dice rolls are just sucking." so to speak. But others, you've got to stop the habit. As that habit is making the wrong people win.
It's the hard lesson I had to learn. Habit can become your destiny.