theprotege Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 The U.S., at least, has had debt as an almost cultural thing for a decent while -- people thinking they can turn money into even more, and lenders finding the people that can more valuable than the people that can't.That having been said, I've seen some pretty big messes as people accumulate debts (oh boy student loans are *great*), credit cards get tossed willy-nilly at students (what do they *really* care if they can charge 20+% interest for awhile and someone eventually goes belly up), etc., etc. Last I heard recently, average debt for folk finding they need to declare bankruptcy (skyrocketing in general), is at about a year's salary, depending on the individual, and it's increasingly not people who've spent recklessly. This does mean an increasing number of people in debt in the 10s of thousands due to no *real* "fault" of their own. Anyway, won't comment personally on people I know one way or the other, but debt is commonly getting into the 10s of thousands, a bad medical care system / cut benefits are adding to expenses, U.S. personal bankruptcies are at an all time high (again, without reckless spending), and educational system with its expenses consistently *flagrantly* outpacing inflation isn't helping a lot of current younger folk. (I will say I think U.S. post-secondary education is going to hit a very cold, hard wall within the next couple of years. The lifelong student loans I've seen people saddled with are ridiculous, the college system itself is grossly inefficient and unaccountable, and student loans themselves aren't even dischargeable in bankruptcy. There's a major mess brewing, if not already boiling over. Don't know if the initial question was asked for such reasons, but....) amen brother... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malechai Veteran Posted December 5, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 5, 2003 my debt? My car loan and soon to be mortgage. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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