We're doomed

I usually scroll through personal finance headlines as part of my daily routine... and if one happens to peak my interest for the day, I will of course scan the article for more.  I barely made it past the first sentence of this dud:  Average Credit Card Debt

"American families are taking on increasing amounts of debt as incomes fail to keep pace."

This article, written by a journalist with Masters from Columbia University, clearly highlights the fact that a Masters is no more than a sheet of paper.

The fact of the matter is, income is not keeping up with what people want!  ie.  buying the latest iPhone the second it comes out, TVs, cars, oversized homes... the list goes on.  Here's more from this gem of an article:

"Indebted households today have credit card balances averaging $16,061 — just shy of 2008's high, according to a new NerdWallet report, based on data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Census Bureau.

And total household debt, including mortgages, has ballooned to $132,529, up from $88,063 in 2002, when NerdWallet started tracking the data. While household income has grown by 28 percent in the past 13 years, it lags the the cost of living, which increased 30 percent during the period."

Gee, I wonder if mortgages are a factor here??  I was happy to see at least this article did not dive into minimum wage hikes and tax reform.

There's a simple fix to all of this, and no it's not reducing our medical expenses, or skyrocketing tuition enabling you to churn out beauts similar to this article, or reducing cost of food -- simply live within your means and stop worrying about what people think about you, or worse yet, worrying about what other kids/families think about your kids!  If you are worried, you're by default teaching everybody that succumbing to peer pressure is the right thing!