[lug] Credit - was: [Letting folks pay from the web.]

[Nate Duehr]

On 2/2/2010 4:26 PM, Davide Del Vento wrote:
>> Before getting too riled up about the state of credit, feeling good about
>> using cards for their rewards, and the general cost of credit for business
>> owners, you should read this NYT article:
>>      
> I don't know who in the heck invented this thing. It's clear that
> somebody has to pay for these "rewards", and it's clear that the cc
> company is not the one that will. In my opinion the reward cards
> should be outlawed - no brainer.
>    

Yeah, because what we need is more Government regulation.  That'll fix 
it.  LOL!  And I'm sure they'll need some more money to run the Division 
Of Making Sure Credit Cards Don't Offer Perks of Homeland Security.  Haha.

> I'm originally from Italy, and over there it's pretty common for most
> businesses to not accept credit cards at all, and the ones that do
> accept them have a "minimum" amount of 50 or even 100 euros. And this
> is without "rewards", I believe if they would introduce them, cc will
> be just dropped for cash completely. The only pain is all those coins
> (the smallest bill is 10euros, imagine that with dollars...)
>    

It would be interesting to see when the "water" stops sloshing back and 
forth in the glass if this is where we end up leveling out at.  But 
right now, people want their "convenience" and their consumer debt more 
than they want a healthy fiscal lifestyle where a budget is required, 
not just optional (How many websites are out there that say they'll 
"Show you how to set up a budget!", sheesh... how do you LIVE without a 
budget, other than 100% irresponsibly?)... etc.

The problem's not the banks, nor the "system"... it's in our own heads.  
It's how we view money vs. things we want.  We're spoiled brats who buy 
things on credit as "instant gratification" and then wonder why we (as a 
nation, not me!) are paying 14% of our disposable income servicing 
INTEREST payments.

I know a guy who's pushing hard to present basic financial topics like 
budgeting and how interest works to high-schoolers who DO NOT GET THIS 
SIMPLE TRAINING FOR LIFE in our school system, and he has to fight all 
the time that it's not part of standardized testing, and it'll be an 
EXTRACURRICULAR activity if kids want to come to his after-school 
presentations he does for free.

It's virtually unbelievable to me that we don't teach basic budget 
balancing in schools... then I realized... well, why would they want to 
do that?  Then the kids would get out and notice that the SCHOOL 
DISTRICT'S budget isn't balanced, and use their knowledge to vote 
against Mill Levy's and demand Administrator's pay came down...

It all interrelates...  :-)

Nate