![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/moneylen.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Presidential election is already fading
\n into the rear-view mirror, years of hope and effort either safely in
\n the bank for some (political capital) or suddenly turned to ashes in
\n the mouths of many others. Of course, memories are short and the need
\n for
\n stimulation
\n constant in this brave new society of ours, so we should not be surprised
\n by how
\n quickly the national attention turns to football, the new TV shows,
\n Christmas shopping and celebrity scandals. And yet we are inevitably
\n disappointed and disillusioned by how quickly we forget. For the most
\n part, American
\n interest in politics is limited to leap years, and life in households
\n across the country has already returned to what passes for normal these
\n days.<\/p>\n
But the issues of the election have not gone away, and
\n unresolved are bound to get worse. For millions of American families,
\n in the Red states as well as the Blue, the American dream has turned
\n into a nightmare. They are slowing being crucified by easy credit and
\n rising debt.<\/p>\n
Despite the rosy projections of the Office of Management
\n and Budget, it is obvious to anyone whose life involves private economic
\n transactions of any kind that there IS inflation afoot in the economy,
\n and not in a theoretical sense – in a constant and widespread attack
\n on family budgets and fixed incomes.<\/p>\n
What are the main expenses of a wage-earning American,
\n the millions of working and lower-middle class citizens who lack club
\n memberships, stock portfolios and vacation homes? The simple, irreducible
\n necessities of modern life: rent, gas for the car, groceries, clothes
\n and utilities. These have
\n to be paid every month, or you risk slipping into the "poor" "criminal"
\n or "homeless" categories. All are up.<\/p>\n
Rents in this part of the country have gone through the At the same time, the availability of easy credit is at These credit lines are made to sound so attractive and In addition to the strictly financial implications of these These debts and ropes and lines, which constitute financial They limit our freedom of choice, our freedom of movement How many people had to give up dreams to go back to school, These consequences include dunning, harassment, revocation We speak form personal experience. In the interests Our culture is drowning in debt, at every level. We Jesus reportedly cast the moneylenders from the temple. We all owe. Our system and our lives are based on owing. This is not a healthy state of affairs. The Biblical (painting by El Creco)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Presidential election is already fading into the rear-view mirror, years of hope and effort either safely in the bank for some (political capital) or suddenly turned to ashes in the mouths of many others. Of course, memories are short … Continue reading
\n roof the past ten years as limited housing stock and increasing population
\n have pushed the average two-bedroom apartment close to $2,000. Gas –
\n don’t get us started. It affects the prices of everything from airline
\n tickets to Pizza delivery. The grocery stores raise and lower their prices
\n every week, offering specials and coupons, so that you don’t notice that
\n the raises are a little<\/em> bigger and more common than the lowerings,
\n and that you are spending more every week. And ALL of our utilities
\n are up this winter; oil, gas, electricity, cable TV, car insurance, drug
\n co-payments, insurance. Middle class Americans are getting hit from all
\n sides, and it is insulting their intelligence to tell them there is no
\n inflation.<\/p>\n
\n an all-time high. People KNOWN to have bad credit are getting
\n multiple credit card offers. Dogs and infants are getting credit
\n card offers. Simple, honest working people, gullible elderly and naive
\n high schoolers are bombarded daily with come-ons, offers of big bucks,
\n purchases on credit, low-interest loans and easy lines of credit.<\/p>\n
\n normal that is is a miracle that ANYONE can resist their lure. The
\n simple fact is that the average American is already tied down by a hundred
\n lines of credit and debt, car loans, credit cards, rental payments, memberships
\n and personal loans. The average consumer is like a Gulliver, tied
\n down by a thousand lines and obligations and debts. The total personal
\n debt load in this country has reached $20,000 for every man woman and
\n child.<\/p>\n
\n facts, we belive that they are having a profound effect on the health
\n of the body politic and psyche as well as our national capacity for both
\n personal and economic
\n development.<\/p>\n
\n maturity and sobriety in our society, tie each individual to a specific
\n set of circumstances – to a job, to a house, to a bank. They limit
\n his or her freedom of choice as to where to work, live and contribute.
\n They are the cement that holds our society together, and the chains which
\n hold each person in one place.<\/p>\n
\n and our freedom to change. For example, how many people might
\n have woken up one morning to discover they have developed a conscience
\n overnight, and want to go help refugees in Dafur or endangered turtles
\n in Galapagos, only to realize in the light of day that the mortgage payments
\n and flood of bills make that impossible?<\/p>\n
\n quit an abusive job, change careers, learn a new language, create art
\n or join the circus because they were so mired in petty debt that the
\n consequences of upsetting the delicate economic balance of their lives
\n would be so dire as to be unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\n of citizenship in the consumer nation, and for those who crack and cross
\n the line into criminality, jail. People who can’t pay their bills or
\n debts are considered weak, inferior, and dangerous, as though they had
\n contagious sex disease.<\/p>\n
\n of full disclosure, the Dowbrigade had a close call with out-of-control
\n debt. When our kids were teenagers and our expenses outweighed
\n income, we built up a personal debt which approached the national ave
\n rage.. We
\n wised up several years ago and though consolidation and budgeting have
\n paid off over 60%, including 100% of the high-interest debt.<\/p>\n
\n live enmeshed in a network of debt, not only on a personal level, but
\n on corporate and governmental levels as well. And despite what your
\n bank and your government will tell you – debt is anti-American. Debt
\n is anti-Freedom. It limits the freedom of individuals, companies
\n and the government itself.<\/p>\n
\n Today, the moneylenders OWN the temple, baby. They own the malls
\n and the airwaves, and the airlines, and the INTERNET, for God’s sake
\n (is nothing sacred?) and they own the government. Face it, folks,
\n they own YOU.<\/p>\n
\n Collectively, we are in debt up to our eyeballs. Debt clogs the arteries
\n of American commerce and social life. We have borrowed against our
\n children’s
\n earnings.
\n We have mortgaged our culture and heritage. We have leveraged our future.<\/p>\n
\n day when all these debts come due may be a lot closer than we think. Who
\n will throw the moneylenders from the American temple?<\/p>\n