Stuff Happens
[Thorzdad][2a] does a good job of summing up what is wrong with America [in his comment][2b] and why we are in this financial crisis:
> And, honestly, you can’t put card problems down just to over-consumption.
We always lived in our means.
This starts out good.
> But, then I lost my job and, almost simultaneously, we got hit with a succession of major
expenses…transmission work on the car, medical expenses, AC in the house died in the middle of summer, etc.
Then he had a run of bad luck. It’s good that he planned for a rainy day and had some money saved for when bad things happened.
> We **_simply had to_** turn to plastic to make things work.
Uh, no you didn’t. This is where you start contradicting your first statement of “always living within your means”. Always means all of the time. Even now.
> This, on top of draining our savings to pay the other
bills, like health insurance.
At least you weren’t using the plastic for everything.
> So, yeah, a lot of credit problems probably ARE due to unrestrained buying. But I have to think a lot of it is also due to simply “shit happens.”
I think you will find that much less “stuff happens” to those who are prepared.
_Response to the [Consumerist][0] post on [How Credit Cards Are Getting Meaner][1]._
[0]: http://consumerist.com/
[1]: http://consumerist.com/5315420/how-credit-cards-are-getting-meaner
[2a]: http://consumerist.com/people/Thorzdad/
[2b]: [1]: http://consumerist.com/5315420/how-credit-cards-are-getting-meaner?t=14246121#c14246121