“Neither a borrower or a lender be.” This economic counsel comes from the Bard — known primarily as a dramatist — but also as a pretty shred businessman. Jim Wright, ex Speaker of the House, agrees. “Don’t borrow, don’t lend”, he says.
And all you borrowers can heave a big sigh of relief. The former Speaker has joined your team, your debt is his debt, in a manner of speaking (pun intended). Jim Wright has noticed that among the long list of human frailties, using tomorrow’s money for today’s pleasures is way up on the list, ranking somewhere close to lust and Vodka martinis before late afternoon.
And since the ex Congressman, to his credit, realizes that not even the U.S. Congress can heal the human heart — well, why not punish the devilish institutions that encourage and profit from this sinister situation. We’re talking abut banks and their credit cards. Because of them, some of us are up to our eyeballs in a sea of debt, says the Speaker. (Wonder what HE carries in his wallet?)
No credit cards — no debt, says the slayer of plastic dragons. We need some new laws. Little Joey Public, had a tummy ache last night ‘cause he had three slices of pie while his distracted mom was doing dishes. The Wright way is is to treat us like children and strike us with legislation. Politically it is unwise to ban apple pie. People love apple pie and will destroy electorally any apple pie-hating politician who keeps it out of their mouth. But you can tame the greed of the apple pie industry by legislating ingredients, size of slices, price, location of pie stores (not within 300 yards of a school). And paramount, legally speaking; NO PIES SOLD ON CREDIT! That oughta reduce tummy aches. Of course, the Apple Pie Industry would take a hit and lovers of pie, who don’t get tummy aches, will suffer. But you can’t enjoy dessert without chopping up apples! Result: a diminution of our free space; but probably no diminution of tummy aches because zealous overeaters and kindred lawbreakers always find a way to skirt the Province of Legislation.
In the case of credit cards, Wright laments the typical borrower who is ground under “the iron heel of credit card rules”. Sounds like KingKong KreditKorp oppressing the peasants. And if you didn’t know better, you’d gather from Wrights remarks that there’s probably a law that every American of 21 or over MUST borrow at least 10K annually under penalty of death. Freedom of choice? What’s that?
The ex-Speaker, in his syndicated column, goes on to decry our personal debt; a million and a half Americans “were forced last year into filing for personal bankruptcy”. He goes on to call variable interest loans “a trap, a snare for the unwary”. And get this; we’re paying bond interest to the Chinese government! That’s bad? The Chinese surveying the international marketplace, unlike the ex congressman, think that U.S. Treasuries (all that debt!!) are the place to be. (Which incidentally, negatively impacts that deceptive and phony statistic called trade balance.)
All I can gather from Wright’s rant is that we need laws disrupting the fragile, but still free, market in borrowing and lending of money. I bet the Chinese government, our lenders, sitting on the lid of a free market explosion — that will sooner or later blow them to political oblivion — readily agree
