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> We're doing pretty good here if a poor person is implied to have a house worth insuring ... Basically I agree, but for many people, buying a house on a mortg
by lutusp 13y ago
> We're doing pretty good here if a poor person is implied to have a house worth insuring ...
Basically I agree, but for many people, buying a house on a mortgage is a modern kind of economic slavery. Young people often don't get the big picture, and sign a mortgage or two before appreciating the meaning of compound interest.
House loan, car loan, a child or two, and your life is over. And there are forces in society who think that's a perfect outcome -- married people with these kinds of obligations have no political power or options -- they're doing all they can just to stay afloat.
>> rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is backed up by simple economics.
> It may be but it definitely is not backed up but what you said.
But it is. In a mathematical sense and in the long term, the distinction between rich and poor is a delicate balance, teetering on the fulcrum of compound interest. A few bad choices that at the time may seem trivial, like accepting an unfavorable mortgage rate, over time can decide your economic fate.
Also my point about credit cards -- if you run a perpetual balance on a card, you're in essence loaning money to rich people. Over time these and other similar factors cause a widening chasm between rich and poor.
There really is some substance behind this folk saying.
- smsm42 13y ago>>> and sign a mortgage or two before appreciating the meaning of compound interest. Signing a mortgage is not that easy nowdays, you have to show appropriate income. Though yes, basics of economics, finance and statistics should be taught in every school right after arithmetic. There's not many things that are as important in modern world and as widely being ignored. >>> House loan, car loan, a child or two, and your life is over I know a lot of people who have houses, cars and children, and their life is far from over. Unless, of course, you understand by "life" the things you did as a freshman in college - but there's more to life than that. >>> married people with these kinds of obligations have no political power Married people with obligations have vast political power in any democratic society. That's why we have mortgage interest tax deductions and healthcare tax deductions - try to mess with those and your political ass would be kicked out faster than you can say "my words were taken out of context". >>> if you run a perpetual balance on a card If you do it, you constantly make irresponsible behavioral choices. That's the point - it's all about behavior. The chasm doesn't widen by itself - it's because you keep digging!