Yup, debt is purposely setting you up to put you in exactly that bind, and then you owe the serious interest. Kind of a reverse lottery where you lose. It does

Yup, debt is purposely setting you up to put you in exactly that bind, and then you owe the serious interest. Kind of a reverse lottery where you lose. It doesn't happen to everyone, but at scale, Life Happens, and a certain percentage of people will get behind and wind up paying huge interest, and there's the profit model. Also, people are chronically up in arms about taxes, but here, they are signing up for voluntary taxes on everything. At least taxes buy something real, like roads, mostly reliably safe food supply, education, police, fire defense, etc., while interest just buys indulgence today then headaches tomorrow. Interest is fine if you are creating an asset that create greater future value (e.g., building a business), or where the asset itself is a security (e.g., a house). But for transitory consumption, debt is a losing game. (I'm distinguishing debt from credit cards as a payment convenience paid every month - don't let them slide)