This does seem like "Sky blue and water wet" sort of reporting, but that's just because of the daft headline. When most people are challenged with affording the basics, that points to a severe economic risk. We've lived through a period of incredibly cheap credit due to where we are in the monetary cycle of the USD as a reserve currency. We sort of brought it on ourselves though, given the vicious cycle of buying cheap junk we don't need on credit, and then the parties selling us that cheap junk buying our debt. We're overdue for some considered and precise deleveraging. Without it, this problem will only get a lot worse.

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micromacrofoot 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It's getting pretty bad, I wonder where the floor is. A growing number of people are using credit to purchase groceries — buy now pay later schemes are also resulting in people putting ubereats on credit

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/business/buy-now-pay-late... (https://archive.is/Cmzis)

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Workaccount2 4 days ago | parent [-]

It's important to note that using credit isn't purely an indication of struggling. A lot of those payment programs offer 0% incentives, and from a purely logical standpoint, the correct thing to do is put everything you buy on a 0% loan for as long as possible.

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micromacrofoot 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It's the "correct" thing until it isn't... because there's an entire industry designed to profit off of punishing you for it. Without regulation it used to even trick you into getting over your head... credit card bills wouldn't even do you the basic courtesy of warning you about how much interest you're paying in an effort to obscure real costs.

Businesses still prey on this sort of obscurification. Ask any Uber driver how much wear and tear reduces their income and you'll get a blank stare. Restaurants pushed for no taxes on tips because realistically minimum wage increases cost them more than this sort of glad-handing "don't worry about it, look at what you have now!"

It's a trap that primarily catches disadvantaged people... industries depend on trapping people. A socially health society should not accept this.

Consider another series of facts: the average car loan is $50,000. The average payment is in the area of $700... only 10% of monthly car payments are under $400. Median household income is $78k, rate of household car ownership is 1.8. This should be economically terrifying, but it's just business as usual.

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bombcar 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is exactly how they trap people. That a few bogleheads escape with a few hundred dollars doesn't bother them at all.

Banning unsecured loans would fix so many problems.

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aprilthird2021 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A negligible portion of people are executing this strategy of yours. Most can't afford what they are buying

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aoskskoans 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> and from a purely logical standpoint, the correct thing to do is put everything you buy on a 0% loan for as long as possible.

Only because the financial system is rigged in favor of capital owners. Targeting 3% inflation is a death sentence for the middle class when you have fractional reserve banking (coin clipping).

They print money and constantly devalue labor while increasing their own wealth simply because they own things. That anyone still defends the fed or modern monetary policy is deeply concerning, and those that do should be regarded as evil and parasitic.

Every major religion has usury laws. Maybe we should respect chestertons fence a bit more.

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Workaccount2 4 days ago | parent [-]

I think the biggest failure is not having economics and finance classes be part of core curriculum. The amount of confusion and misunderstanding from forcing people to personally figure out the system is totally crazy.

	▲	micromacrofoot 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		While this is a common refrain, I think we should also live in a society where governance isn't so bad that you have to educate yourself to avoid the rampant scams in literally every aspect of life. What good is a government that doesn't care for it's most vulnerable citizens.

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siliconc0w 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

We could have used our position to offer healthcare and childcare for all like many less prosperous countries. Instead we started pointless wars, cut taxes for the very rich, and embraced a politics of grift.