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Deadbeat consumers
From the NCP Revue (http://www.pueblonative.com/blog):
Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to tackle an issue that is plaguing our society. It is time to address a 500 pound gorilla in our living rooms. As if it weren’t bad enough, this primate apparently has had a banana chute installed. it keeps growing and growing and growing. Sooner or later, if we do not act, this monkey will end up squeezing us out of house and home. That gorilla is consumer debt. According to one article (http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Business/story?id=1457162) in 2006, credit card debt was $800 billion last year. The average American household is, on average, in debt to the tune of $9,300 on a median income of around $46,000. Our debts keep rising and rising, and we must change our tactics. Oh we’ve tried some half-hearted measures, like offering consumers help and putting limits on the interest rates of credit cards. We’ve even drawn innocent credit card companies into the limelight, grilling them about "deceptive practices" and praying on the elderly. That’s hogwash: grandma did not survive those 89 years because she didn’t know what she was doing. Just because she has problems with her eye sight, her memory and bouts of loneliness does not mean that she should get a free ride. And think of those who suffer. Vacations planned by executives for themselves and their children must be put off. Bonuses must be forgone for upstanding and honest executives, or at the very least reduced. I have it on very good authority that some CEOs are actually down to three homes. It shocks the conscience and is a burden on the soul to believe that these men must suffer because of other men’s greed. Given an honest look at the deficit and the people who are harmed, we must call a spade a spade. We can not beat around the issue anymore. As painful as it is, with data like this, we have only one conclusion: American consumers are deadbeats. You heard me right. They are deadbeats. Filthy, stinking, lying no good deadbeats. It is not that they cannot pay. Anybody who knows math knows $46,000 is a far greater amount than $9,600. There is no reason for any American to be in debt, but somehow, these consumers are. There’s no hope for them. We can never think we will see the day when the American consumer will voluntarily pay his debts. There is literally nothing we can do to make a man honest when he does not choose to be. Americans have dealt with deadbeats, however, and quite effectively in one area: child support. Family courts have heard the whining of non custodials and have not bought any of it for a second. You lost your job? Get a new one now, and one that pays the same amount. You can’t find one, well then work two jobs. You only need eight hours of sleep: 16 hours of work will do wonders for your ethics. And it has worked. Every time child support has enacted a stiffer measure, it has brought more money in. Check out the facts, if you don’t believe me. Illinois has netted more money by clipping the passports of delinquents (http://www.belleville.com/mld/bellev.../16747753.htm). State after state boasts of the money they have netted with child support stings and driver’s license suspensions. The only thing one wonders about is the patience of these saints at the CSE office. If such trivial things like the loss of freedom and liberty net that much money, how much more if the threat of the death penalty loomed over the heads of deadbeat fathers. They’d literally BEAT their way through to the caseworkers desks, check in hand. And if they didn’t? If they still wouldn’t pay, a corpse doesn’t generate income, you might say. Aah, but that’s where insurance comes in. As a very caring custodial parent once informed me, the silver lining is that a custodial parent can collect that insurance money for a child. A law stating that a life insurance policy would not be null and void in the case of execution could lead to millions of dollars in back paid child support. I believe the very same tactics could be used with the same results on consumers. Let’s stop trying to be the nice guy. Let’s stop trying to offer a hand out. You want help, you’re going to dig yourself out your own way. The first thing that needs to be done is all of these unnecessary regulations forbidding bill collectors from calling repeatedly. That is not harassment; obviously a man can’t pay a debt if he forgets about it. They are merely reminding people of their duties to pay what they owe. Bill collectors should be able to contact people at any time and any manner they wish. Letters, calls, e-mails. Why not allow them to be present when checks are cashed so they can remind the employees of what they should be paying rather than what they want. But even child support realized that there is no perfect way to guarantee voluntary compliance. That’s where wage assignments should set in. No more limit of 10 or 20 percent. If it garnishes the whole check, then at least that person is not in danger of spending money they don’t have already. See, you pay people AND teach financial responsibility. But that in and of itself is not enough. Some people may job hop, or they may get paid under the table. How do you catch those people? Easy, so easy in fact, that a caseworker can do it: "deadbeat posters". Now I know there is some reporting in terms of the three credit bureaus, but that is not enough. First off, the person has to voluntarily give you permission to read it (something that should be abolished in my opinion). and secondly, we are not only interested in stopping these people from borrowing endlessly, but paying back what they owe. So let’s put these posters in the newspapers. Let us buy billboards and ads listing these people and their last known location. That way, store managers and others know enough not to let people of this ilk use their facilities. They can tell these people, "Before you use that money on yourself, pay what you owe and stop leeching off others!". And while you may be able to ignore phone calls and such, you can’t ignore a billboard on your way to work, and you can’t turn off all the televisions around you. And as a last resort, tough as it may seem, we must bring back the debtors prisons. When our founding fathers abolished debtors prisons in 1833, they had no idea of the travesties that it would bring about. Even their humanity and forgiveness would be sorely tried should they look at this situation. There are those who say that a debtors prison does not generate any income. They have a point. Why should we allow these miscreants to live easily in a cell with three square meals a day, when the point is to teach them the value and duty of work.? Which is why any period of imprisonment must be accompanied by forced labor. As I said above, these are lazy people you are dealing with here. You cannot expect them to voluntarily get a job, they must have one handed to them and have a hand to their back to keep them at their position. In fact, they could do productive work serving the people that they have ripped off. Credit card companies need people to bundle and prepare their mailings. Car companies always need shag men to keep their automobiles clean. And I think several banks know of properties that they have and could sell if just a few improvements were made to them. A few hours labor each day, and everybody is satisfied. in fact, why stop when the prison sentence ends? The person has a job, now, and is productive. Why let them off the hook so easily? Why encourage them to get right back in the situation they were in. So, I propose a lifetime probation for anybody found criminally in debt. To make sure they get into no trouble, we could erect halfway houses (built by debtors labor of course) and strap them with GPS devices. We wouldn’t want them to accidentally walk into a car lot and walk out with a car, would we? And any costs of that could be paid out by the very same jobs that they are doing now. So let us take a lesson from the wise souls in the family court. Let us be freer with the whip than we are with the carrot. Let us make these "deadbeat consumers" aware that if they will not voluntarily pay their debt, we will be there to make them. Let us wipe out consumer debt, and see a better society. |
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Deadbeat consumers
"John Meyer" wrote in So let us take a lesson from the wise souls in the family court. Let us be freer with the whip than we are with the carrot. Let us make these "deadbeat consumers" aware that if they will not voluntarily pay their debt, we will be there to make them. Let us wipe out consumer debt, and see a better society. But John, women hold 80% of credit card debt! So much for enforcing anything! LOL |
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