Maxed Out

I'll post on knitting tomorrow, as I have new socks to show off, but I wanted to comment and promote the movie Maxed Out. It's a documentary about credit card companies and the ease in which people can get credit and get into debt. People in America are over a TRILLION dollars in debt. To me that's not even a fathomable number. It's astonishing how easy it is to get a credit card, then debt, then only be able to pay part of it off, then get another card to transfer the money to, then buy more, then fall behind, and on and on. And what's worse is that the credit card companies prey on the people in this situation. That's how they get their money, through interest and late and over-limit fees.

But what's even worse than that is the federal government. They pay more money in interest on the loans they've taken out than the military, education, and healthcare combined. COMBINED. Social security was, according to the movie, emptied and filled with IOU's in 2005. If you count on it as part of your retirement plan, you will be sorely disappointed. And yet spending goes on and on and there's no plan to balance the budget and pay off the debt. If I'm required to live within my means, have a budget, pay off my debt, why isn't the government? Why do they get to live way beyond their means?

I don't get it. I'd ask questions like, why are we funding the rebuilding of a country that is rich with oil, or why do we send money we don't have to aid other countries. Why is the US the caretakers and police to the world? I don't think there'll be an answer that satisfies though. Yay America.

The movie does a good job explaining what the credit card companies do and how they keep people in debt. Good and rather discouraging at the same time. I recommend watching it.