The majority of people don’t have money to throw away
August 29, 2008 (Friday)
A new word has been coined: “staycation.” More people are using their vacation time to stay at or near home, taking in the movies, picnics, museum visits, etc. etc. The high prices of just about everything, but especially gasoline and airline tickets, along with higher hotel rates and admission fees to many events have erected a barricade between John Q. Public and traditional vacations.
Of course, some people will pay anything because they have the money. Prices mean nothing to them. In fact, if asked they probably could not tell you what anything costs. These are not the folks who are trying out the “staycation.”
The majority of people don’t have money to throw away. Some of them have lost their homes. An increasing number of them are losing their jobs.
The worst result of the high prices will take a little time to appear. Here’s how it works, it seems to me. Many people pay their bills with credit cards. Some are able to pay off the balance every month. The card is just a convenience, a way to pay without carrying a lot of cash. Others use the card because they don’t have the cash to pay the rising prices. They start taking advantage of the minimum payment to pay the credit card bill. High interest rates and additional charges make the balance higher and higher. Soon the minimum payment is too much to pay, so the consumer uses a second credit card to help make the payments on the first card. Following this process eventually leads to debt so great it cannot be paid. A hopeless situation.
If none of this applies to you or to someone you love, be glad, but pray for those whose dreams include being able to pay all their bills on time.