My dad used to tell me if you don't have the money to buy something then don't borrow the money, just save up for the item.
The world's economy run's on borrowed money. The games that are played, at the levels so high and by people you can not even name, or know by sight, is a scary game indeed. Governments don't run this country, business men do. It's getting to the point where they are starting to rule the world. It reminds me of Pinky and Brain, where Pinky asks brain, "What are we going to do tonight?" and the brain replies, "We are going to take over the world!"
In the last twenty-five years credit has taken over everybody's life, to some degree. The national savings rate is at the lowest, it's been since the great depression. This economic expansion is happening so quickly that it's difficult to keep control of it. Inflation is rampant. I don't care what the government or what those financial guys in the media say. Nobody wants to hear the truth. There is a fine line between causing a panic and speaking the truth, one that can be argued either way by some very intelligent. The general public doesn't want to hear no, they can't buy this T.V. now; they are going to have to wait until pay day to do it.
The public has been successfully brain washed into believing that they need a new iPod every year, they need it now, it must be today, when the new model comes out. Let's not forget that most products that have a shelf life of 6 month to a year have been engineered to fail. Let's continue to use the iPod as an example. After about a year or so of normal use, you will start to notice that it won't hold a charge for your whole commute, through your long run, or perhaps through that long flight that was delayed, like it did when you first bought it. The part that is most likely to fail, is the battery. Well, if you're like me you would just go out and buy a replacement battery for it right? Like with your remote control, or your cell phone. When you go to flip it over to replace the battery, go figure, you can't, and conveniently this problem has fallen outside of your manufactures warranty. This is one of those items that would be beneficial to buy that three or five year "extra" store warranty for. Not only is this clever marketing, but I think this is unethical. Now you have two choices, and more recently a third was added. You can, if you have a home or car stereo that supports iPod natively you can plug them into them and use it that way. But this defeats the mobility aspect that you bought it for in the first place, which was to have it with you on your commute, run, whatever. You could replace the battery yourself, with the help of internet guide with diagrams and a new battery. If you are not mechanically inclined you could send it into Apple, for a fee and have them replace it for you. Now comes the obviously most desirable option, at least for Apple, and the impulsive side of your brain, you could buy a brand spanking new shiny one. <Gasp> Now with this there come a host of other problems. First of all there is the price, say you saved and saved for the one last year and you bought the U2 black 80 GB one. That would've put you back at least four hundred smack-er-aoos. After that you realized that you didn't own all of U2's recordings. So you went to iTunes and purchased them. That put you out about two hundred smack-er-aoos. Since iTunes doesn't take cash, you only have the choice of credit. So through the course of the year you stack up quite a bill trying to fill up your iPod. Then your battery fails! Oh no, I don't want to lose all of these songs, so you go out and buy another $400 iPod. When you go to transfer all of these songs over, you have used up one of your tokens out of seven that is built into the copyright protection of the music. That's a topic for another day.
So what it all comes down to is that instead living within our means, people will want the newest shiniest product. We have forgotten what it feels like to have delayed gratification, to work toward and save for that something, then to have that swelling of pride at that accomplishment in the end. Instead we have become a society that will acquire "it" in almost through almost any means that is available to them. Including but not limited to, borrowing the money at an interest rate that will more than likely be exorbitantly high. For a product and service that in the end, will be disposable. I think this reflects a greater problem with society in the fact that, we are losing touch with our human side, with each other, while unnaturally shifting our focus on to materialistic possessions. Thinking these things will bring us instant happiness. We have been brainwashed, very subtly and cleverly, I might add, by companies that spend a lot of money trying to rewire our brains to buy more things. It hasn't all been bad. Our quality of life has gone up, while our obesity rate has also gone up. I know you can't truly compare an iPod with a house, but it's the principle that is what I am trying to get at. If you can't afford it today, then why do you think you will be able to afford it tomorrow?
You know I think I need a new battery. This darned thing just won't hold….. So continues the vicious cycle.
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