Debt is a State of Mind

Germany is regarded as a country where people save more, spend less.

Christmas is here. It's the season to be merry in debt. Still more debt coming our way as credit card companies remind us that they increased the limit. Spend more, get more points! How is that even legal?

“Fifty per cent of Canadians struggle with debt and 48 per cent of working Canadians couldn’t pay their bills if their pay was delayed one week.”  The Credit Counselling Society.

What the quote calls ‘pay’ is even academic because there are five or six creditors waiting at the door to be electronically paid.  The bank account bounces back to zero, after that.   

There are very few people with real money in the bank (savings) like the country called Germany.  They would like to save like that but it is impractical.  Some financial commentators don’t like it though.  They accuse Germany of saving too much and spending less. 

There are millions of print and online articles about managing debt but they are water off a duck’s back because capitalism has a surname: credit.  Governments function on credit, so do companies and individuals. 

Individuals are even more susceptible, because credit allows them to fulfill the Canadian dream of being alright financially: pay the mortgage, the car, internal and overseas vacation, buy kids the latest digital gadgets, their sports gear and other items that demonstrate that the family is alright.

All this buying cannot come from pay checks.  It’s credit cards and will be like that for a long time.  What we need is a warning such as the warning on a pack of cigarettes that smoking is injurious to health. 

Debt is injurious to health, should flash as soon as you put your credit card on the machine.  You can key in your pin number after that if you want to ignore the warning and buy the $800 sneakers. If it scares you, you walk away debt free.

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.