I was listening to the radio today and I heard the ad for freecreditreport.com. You know the one where the guy bemoans the fact that he when to buy a car and could not get what he wanted because he didn’t know his credit was bad. Every time I hear this comercial, it makes my blood boil because the target audience is obviously people who do not understand personal finance or how credit really works. If you are responsible with your money and pay your bills, you will not be in a situation where you find out your “credit is whack”. At the same time, most people who know anything about credit scores knows that having a credit report does not grant you credit.
So if every one knowledgeable knows this then who are they targeting? The answer is pretty obvious. Those who have no clue about credit, probably have bill payment issues, and likely live beyond their means. With their success, they promote more of the same. This ends up creating more problems for people who need help and not enabling. As the rule of shovels goes, “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”
On a grander scale, this is what the government is doing at the moment. They are spending more on debt (debt maintenance is rapidly growing as a portion of the budget), ignoring their credit (debt level), and living beyond their means (spending more than the tax revenue generates), all while refusing to address the problem because it could affect their power.
We are in debt as individuals and as a society and we refuse to accept the reality of the situation. We must become fiscally responsible or it is just a matter of time before it ruins us. The first step is spending less than we take in, and it needs to be in real terms. The games with off budget, and funds repaid with IOU’s needs to end. The other common game in government is the baseline budget that has built in increases. A reduction in growth that actually increases spending year over year should not be labeled as a cut. Unless we can make these little changes, we have no chance of pulling out of this dive. We must promote responsibility if we are to have a chance, at both the individual and government levels.
- FOP Vermillion