Statistic that will Knock Your Socks Off!

I was reading an article by Gary Weiss on Parade.com that blew my mind. "Don't get clobbered by Credit Cards"

Here is a statistic that blew my mind away.

Gary reports...

The 40% of Americans who carry balances from month to month—known as “revolvers,” as in revolving credit—get socked the hardest. In 2007, credit-card issuers imposed $18.1 billion in penalty fees on revolvers—up more than 50% since 2003 and accounting for nearly half of the $40.7 billion in industry profits.

$18.1 Billion dollars. That is Unbelievable.

18 Billion dollars in fees. Here's the thing that gets me. If you are paying a fee on a credit card. You are paying more money for something then you had originally planned.

The obvious exception to this is if you are putting those credit cards to good use. An example of this would be that your card was at an 8% rate, but you were using it to make 10% on your money. In this case you would be ahead.

I should add that this is the only time it is a good idea to be paying a fee when you are making a profit greater then that fee.

The issue is that you can bet that over 98% of that 18 billion wasn't used to make more money. It was used to feed America Materialism.

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with wanting nice things. Treating yourself right feels good. But not when you are stuck trying to pay something off years later that you either no longer use or is out of style.

I'd like to look at how we got to this point? What was the evolution in our society that made us believe that if we wanted something we could just go out and get it?

How did we get this way?

My Grandpa beat into my dads head that if you can't pay cash for something, you can't afford it. He then beat this into my head. I'm glad he did. The only real exception to this I can see is buy a house. (Houses go up in value, so its ok to borrow for them. (Although I say that with caution due to the current housing market)

Here's the question I pose to you readers...

How did our society evolve into one that values material possesions so much to the point that we buy things we can't afford?

Let's hear it....