I've heard plenty of Repugs/conservatives state that the Govt. should only pay for

[zbdent]

what it can afford - if a family spends more than it takes in, it goes broke.

In other words, they're saying "Don't buy something you can't afford."

Well ... let's put that approach to work.

If people wait until they can afford what they want to buy, then ...

Goodbye banking industry ... as I understand it, banks make their money on the interest paid back by people taking out loans ... for stuff they can't afford (right now). Where does the bank get this money? The savings of the people ... so, the mortgages and loans have to charge significantly higher interest rates than they give out to the savings accounts and CDs ... which they have to pay, using the interest collected on the mortgages and loans. Vicious cycle.

Then again, it sounds like a good idea ... maybe the banks could stand to deal with people not bothering to take out loans.

Of course, auto dealers couldn't sell as many cars, so ... bye bye, auto industry ... want to buy a car? Put in the order, and they'll assemble one for you. You'll have to wait a bit for them to put it together ... Of course, that probably would mean that you'd have to pay higher for one, because they don't have one lying around for you to just walk up to and buy.

Bye bye credit card industry ... people would have to wait until they could afford to buy outright what they want ...

[TheDebbieDee]

1. Goodbye children...........goodbye college........goodbye house!

[dkf]

2. It used to be where it was tough to get a credit card.

We have always needed a mortgage to buy a house but they were much stricter about making sure your earnings covered your payments and then some.

Before the banks were in the habit of saying no. Then they decided that the consumer knew best how much they could pay and everything went to hell in a handbasket.

In the end, it may come down to the fact that many people have no idea how to budget and need someone else plugging in the numbers to tell them if they can afford things or not.

[fasttense]

6. No, I think it comes down to the banks not trying to con them.

You left out several steps in the banking nightmare.

1. At 1st banks were very tight with loans And were well regulated.

2. Then the regulations came off. Banks found out they could dump their loans in Wall Street's ponzi schemes, so they let up on restrictions they imposed on borrowers.

3. Borrowers were use to trusting well regulated banks. So banks, taking advantage of this trust, failed to disclose all the details of the mortgage and their funky loan schemes. Did you know MERS was recording your loan papers and in many cases NOT the county or local government? Did you know your loan papers were separated from the deed?

4. Borrowers got conned and then they got into trouble.

Maybe we should just go back to regulating banks so we can safely trust them again.

[Newest Reality]

3. Our monetary

system is based on nothing but debt. Look-up fractional reserve banking. The whole system is about creating debt to create money, plain and simple.

The credit card industry was a result of not paying us higher wages or salaries. Basically, it was a way for people to live, or maintain, a lifestyle that their pay did not increase enough to allow. Pay us less and then loan what we should be making to us with high interest.

So, yes, many industries live and thrive on our debt. Yet, the system we are in creates and supports the conditions for that situation and has been doing it for a long, long time. We are, in that case, nothing more than wage-slaves. In the endgame, you never have the ability to pay back the debt that you were encourage to create in a system where you are required to take on debt in order to live a "normal" lifestyle. You are then selling yourself, (and your progeny for all time) to those who are loaning you money. You are taking a loan that you and yours can never, ever pay back, except in the form of increasingly burdensome capitulation to interest payments. You end-up owning nothing and being owned.

[CanonRay]

4. Basically a 19th Century economy

No mortgages, no financing.

[upi402]

5. Republican Reagan took us from the biggest lender nation to the biggest debtor

Seems Reagan has been deified and his minions baptized in Kool Aid too.

[OllieLotte]

7. You are saying "buy something you can't afford" is a good approach?

That works out so well...at least initially.

[LibertyFox]

8. When we charge or borrow something

There's an expectation that we pay it back at some point or declare bankruptcy.

Do you see any serious effort being made to plan for paying off our national debt? Can I see it?

[Dr. Righteous]

9. You have a misconception about this

You are incorrect as to where banks get the money to loan out. While it's true that they may use locked savings that cannot be accessed by the saver for a pre-determined period of time, they primarily create money out of thin air to do it. This is true because people are able to access their checking accounts and completely withdraw any amount at any amount of time.

If we had sound money (money backed by gold), the constant deflationary pressures of gold would cause the value of savings to continuously increase, and thus not many people would have to totally rely on the banking system for as much as they do now. Debt would be inconsequential, but it really can largely be attributed to fiat currency and the fiat banking system.

[vert1276]

10. WOW just WOW

Did you get this off a conspiracy web site blog or what LMAO, First off the gold standard created fractional reserve banking LOL. Thats the whole point of banks printing bank notes! Good god people this forum is like a freak show of the uneducated! The reserve ratio of a banks has NOTHING to do whether we are on a fiat money system or a gold standard. If it wasn't for fractional reserve banking there would be no banking industry to speak of besides investment banks. Man I could go on for ever about how far off your post was but im not even gonna waste my time because you have no clue what you are talking about.