Debt is a strong measure of person's honesty and competence.
Not the debt itself of course, but how a person manages their debts.
Many of us live within our means. Quietly holding off on luxuries, addictions, and gourmet fare. We delay our gratifications until we can truly afford them, meanwhile grinding away at our mortgages, credit card balances, and other consumer or student debt.
We signed on the line.
We owe the other person their money back, on the terms we agreed to. Pretty simple.
But there is a social shift - inculcated into laws and reguslations - sweeping the country to undo this moral obligation. And its spawning some terrible consequences.
One could argue that even criminal penalties are a kind of debt. You do the crime, you do the time. But not any more.
Many jurisdictions will not even arrest a shoplifter or smash-and-grabber if the stolen item is less than $1000. No debt owed. So, you always get what you subsidize, and that's true of crime and violence too. Same with child abuse, drug abuse, and prostitution. Make it legal, soften or non-enforce the penalties (the debt), and you get more. Other more violent crimes rise in the wake of laxity.
As NYC mayor Giuliani was fond of observing, you cannot allow a single broken window or graffiti, or soon the whole street will decline. And in much more devastating ways of harm to the innocent persons trying to live there.
Add to that Biden's attempts to wipe out student debt (which are contracts freely entered into by adults). The "what about me"'s from whole generations who met their debts are deafening and righteous.
Add to that Biden's interest rate "penalty" for having a great credit score for new FNMA home loans, where the careful and faithful borrowers are to transfer wealth to borrowers with bad credit ratings. Literally the reverse of logic, except to a Marxist.
Add to that the continual Washington DC national debt, a pox on the value of the US dollar and an albatross of $33 Trillion around the necks of future generations. And the debate isn't even whether to live within the scope of tax revenue, but "how much" to raise the Debt Ceiling. Should it go up 5% or 10%? Any tethered accountant would tell Congress and Biden, "No. It shouldn't go up at all. Make cuts in spending."
Add to that the impending "Sub Prime 2" lending and credit card defaults. Didn't we just go through a painful subsidization of poorly managed banks by well-managed banks? Plus heaps of national tax to round it off? Yes. Yes we did.
We're not an honest people any more. And we're not competent.
We say we'll pay, but we know from Covid that politicians will pay us to sit on the sofa. And we're not paying for that.
We're literally screwing our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They will either pay our debts, or they will have no freedom.
Maybe both. It's looking like it.
