Credit Card Debt Saddles Americans Who “Continue the Same Horrendous Financial Mistakes”

by | Mar 11, 2016 | Aftermath, Commodities | 200 comments

Do you LOVE America?

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    Illustration by David Dees. http://www.deesillustration.com/

    Illustration by David Dees. http://www.deesillustration.com/

    This article was written by Michael Snyder and originally published at the Economic Collapse blog.

    Editor’s Comment: This continuing reality is just one more key factor in what keeps threatening to be the perfect storm of greed and stupidity as the economic sector tips ever nearer to disaster. There isn’t a whole lot holding every thing together, and one can only assume that it is only a matter of time before things just can’t continue any longer.

    With no real purpose in the political and economic system, and only vague importance in the rest of life, most Americans will continue wondering around in a shopping, consumer and electronic daze, and hardly know what is going on until the hammer drops, and they collapse on their own weight just as larger society collapses on itself.

    Credit Card Debt In The United States Is Approaching A Trillion Dollars

    by Michael Snyder

    For the first time ever, total credit card debt in the United States is approaching a trillion dollars.  Instead of learning painful lessons from the last recession, Americans continue to make the same horrendous financial mistakes over and over again.  In fact, U.S. consumers accumulated more new credit card debt during the 4th quarter of 2015 than they did during the years of 2009, 2010 and 2011 combined.  That is absolutely insanity, because other than payday loans, credit card debt is just about the worst kind of debt that consumers could possibly go into.  Extremely high rates of interest, combined with severe penalties and fees, can choke the financial life out of almost any family in no time at all.

    These days, most Americans use credit cards for various purposes, and they can be very convenient.

    And if you pay them off every single month, they don’t become a problem.

    Unfortunately, a lot of people are not doing this.  According to CNBC, total U.S. credit card debt rose by an astounding 71 billion dollars last year alone…

    Last year, credit card debt in the U.S. surged by approximately $71 billion to $917.7 billion, according to a new study from CardHub.com. The research also found that most of the debt accrued in 2015 came in the fourth quarter, when Americans tacked on more than $52 billion.

    “With 7 of the past 10 quarters reflecting year-over-year regression in consumer performance, evidence is mounting to support the notion that credit card users are reverting to pre-downturn bad habits,” CardHub CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou said in a statement.

    And as noted above, things were particularly gruesome during the 4th quarter of last year.

    According to Alternet, Americans added more credit card debt during those three months than during the entire years of 2009, 2010 and 2011 combined…

    Not since we headed into the Great Recession of 2008 have we been quite so loosey-goosey with our credit cards, racking up debt with stunning speed. Of our 4Q totals, CardHub notes, “during this one quarter, we added more debt than in 2009, 2010 and 2011 put together.” That brings dollars owed to credit card companies by each debt-saddled American family up to $7,879, the highest since the Great Recession.

    I can’t even begin to describe how unwise this is.  When I was in my twenties, I made the same mistakes that so many other Americans are making right now.  I very foolishly racked up large balances on my credit cards, and it took years of extremely painful payments to fix those mistakes.

    In America today, 37 percent of all households maintain credit card balances from month to month, and the average level of credit card debt for those households is $15,700.  The following comes from CBS Minnesota

    According to NerdWallet, 37 percent of American households have credit card debt, which is defined as not paying off the full balance every month. Using data from the Federal Reserve of New York, U.S. Census and its own poll, NerdWallet found the average balance for those in credit debt is $15,700.

    What most people don’t realize is that by letting balances run from month to month, you can end up paying just about as much in interest as you did for the original purchases.

    Here is one credit card repayment scenario that comes from NerdWallet

    For the sake of simplicity in calculating the cost of the average credit card debt, let’s assume an APR of 16% and a fixed payment. We’ll also assume a minimum payment of 2% of the principal balance of $15,762, the average as of the end of 2015, or $315.

    Based on those terms — and assuming you don’t add any more to your credit card balance — it would take 84 months, or seven years, to pay off the balance in full. During that time, you’ll pay $10,402 in interest — about two-thirds of the original balance — for a total of $26,164. This averages out to about $124 in interest per month.

    The scenario above assumes that all payments are made on time.  But a single late payment can trigger higher interest rates, penalties and fees that can be absolutely suffocating.

    In fact, some people end up paying back three, four or five times as much as they originally borrowed to the credit card companies.

    If you use credit cards for convenience or to buy things online or to automatically pay bills, that is fine.  Just don’t let balances accumulate.  As you can see, that can be financial suicide.

    And as we head into a new global recession, you definitely don’t want to be saddled with high levels of debt.  All of us have little luxuries that we can cut back on, and now is not the time to be living on the financial edge.

    Just look at some of the troubling signs that we have seen in the news in recent days…

    -The U.S. oil and rig count just dropped to the lowest level ever recorded

    -One Houston CEO told employees that he was laying off that we have entered a “depression

    -It is being reported that 35 percent of all oil and gas companies around the world are at risk of falling into bankruptcy

    -Unemployment in Canada just hit a three year high

    -The number of job cuts in the United States skyrocketed 218 percent during the month of January according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas

    -U.S. manufacturing activity has been in contraction for four months in a row

    -U.S. factory orders have now fallen for 15 months in a row

    -Subprime auto loan delinquencies have hit their highest level since the last recession

    -Orders for Class 8 trucks in the United States dropped by 48 percent on a year over year basis in January

    -The Restaurant Performance Index in the United States has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since 2008

    -Major retailers all over America are shutting down hundreds of stores

    And this list does not even include all of the signs of severe economic trouble from around the rest of the planet that I have been writing about lately.

    Credit card debt truly is financial poison, and it is not something that you want to have during the hard times that are coming.

    Unfortunately, most Americans never learn, and they continue to rack up credit card debt as if there is no tomorrow even as the global economy starts to spiral downhill all around them.


    GetPreparedNow-MichaelSnyderBarbaraFixMichael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.

    Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream

    If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].

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      200 Comments

      1. I bet I haven’t used my C.C. in over 4 months. Until to day when I ordered some AR parts. They would only take a C.C.

        You just got to know when you should have to use them or need to use them.

        KNOW YOUR LIMITS!!!!!
        Sgt.

        • Sgt, yeppers! I use PayPal for stuff online. Works great.

          • What is PayPal’s policy on transactions that involve firearms?
            We don’t allow PayPal members to buy or sell any kind of firearm, whether it’s in working order or not. The same goes for certain firearm parts and ammunition.

            For example, using PayPal, you can’t buy or sell:
            Any firearm, including rifles, shotguns, and handguns, whether they’re for sport and recreation, collectibles, or curio or relic firearms.
            Firearm parts, including but not limited to receivers and frames, silencers, and kits designed to modify guns so that they fire automatically. High capacity magazines, multi-burst trigger activators, and camouflaging firearm containers are other items in this category.
            Ammunition, including propellants like gunpowder or blank ammunition; ammunition or cartridge cases; and primers, bullets, or propellant powder designed for any firearm.
            Stun gun sales are allowed for U.S. residents, but only if the transaction is permitted by law in both the buyer’s and seller’s jurisdictions. (PayPal account holders outside the U.S. can’t buy or sell stun guns.) Before they complete a sale, U.S. sellers must make sure that the transaction is legal in both locations.

            Related items that you can buy and sell using PayPal include paintball guns, blank guns, and air-soft guns, as long as such transactions are legal in the applicable jurisdiction. All of these items must display the markings required by law, must not be convertible to shoot a lethal projectile, and can’t include blank ammunition.

        • The US scum government are the biggest idiot borrowers of money ever. Everything else owed combined is only a small fraction of their stupidity.

          • The vast majority of amerikans are morons anyway. Credit or not they would spend their way into oblivion! I will enjoy watching said idiots eat shit from my debt free deck with no credit cards and plenty of cash. No mortgage, no car loan, no credit cards, NO SADDLE WHATSOEVER! Took me a while to get to this position but at least I WAS SMART ENOUGH TO DO IT WHEN TIMES WERE GOOD! Live high on the hog and have a lot of toys? FUCK YOU IDIOT. You pooped in your litterbox now clean it up lol. Hmmm I think I will go pay CASH for a 40 foot oversea container delivered next week lol. Got to store the thousands of dollars in extra preps I paid CASH for somewhere :p

            • The vast majority are morons?? then you must be one because you can’t even spell Americans.

              • You are a SPECIAL kind of stupid huh Jimb?

                • I love the special ones. So refreshing. By the way, I liked all your comments about CASH. It does feel good whippin out 6 or 7 hundred for a new flatscreen when the average slave (dumbass) pays in plastic. Sometimes I even rub it in by asking the associate (cashier) “do you still take cash?” I love the look they have on their face.

                  • It was plenty fun whipping out 110 new crisp Benjamin’s and paying cash in full for my several new buildings at my BOL, because of the tidy profit I made from the sale of my City house, of a cool quarter million because I qualified to carry a mortgage and used the banks money to leverage the property deal. Renters never accumulate equity and just go away broke. Then brag on here, they have no mortgage. I laugh at these cartoons.

                    -WWTI…

                    • a MONKEY can get a mortgage in amerika….many DO.

                • Genius, Jimb is just another troll and he can go f#$% himself.

                  • I’ve got your troll right dipwad and if you guys don’t know how to spell American then look it up in a dictionary.

                • I got your special kind of something right here GENIUS!

              • Jimb
                The way Genius spelled Americans was the way the old Soviets would have spelled it.

                So all you need to do was ask why he spelled it that way and he would have told you.

                No need to get snippy just ask and people will explain.

                MAC
                Still having problems with the site. At home and at the P.D. Locking up. Two different internet company.
                Sgt.

                • A pinko commie is even worse!

            • Genius, it’s awesome to be debt free, isn’t it? No credit card, car loan, or mortgage for me either. I buy all my preps for cash only. Same with my guns, ammo, etc. I’ve always refused to get into the credit game even when we had a good economy. All I’ve ever cared about is a decent standard of living and survival. No living high on the hog or useless toys for me. Sheeple are truly morons. Can’t fix stupid. can’t fix sheeple.

              • Debt= slavery….. No Debt= semi freedom 🙂 Gotta love it Brave!

                • Y’all know we’ve been sold down the damn river by US Inc. Everything we think we own they think they do and have put up as collateral to whomever they borrowed it from. Debt free? I choose not to believe a lie and am actively preparing for bloody war with my soon be attackers.

                  • That is true siigghhh.

                • shoulda listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd all those YEARS ago, americans…whocouldaknowed?…..them….and ME,…and genius, braveheart…..come to think of it, there’s a LOT of smart people here…anyways

                  Whiskey bottles, and brand new cars
                  Oak tree you’re in my way
                  There’s too much coke and too much smoke
                  Look what’s going on inside you

                  Ooooh that smell
                  Can’t you smell that smell
                  Ooooh that smell
                  The smell of DEBT surrounds you

                  One little problem that confronts you
                  Got a monkey on your back
                  Just one more fix, Lord might do the trick
                  One hell of a price for you to get your kicks

                  Ooooh that smell
                  Can’t you smell that smell
                  Ooooh that smell
                  The smell of DEBT surrounds you

              • Brave = The here we go again, the broken record parrot. You mean the banks refuse YOU to even qualify for credit at all, because you have life long shitty credit history. Like you even have a choice in the matter. Liar. Spin Dr. We been through this and I need to keep call I g you out. That also lends to having zero credibility when you lie to is. Man up.

                -WWTI… I call em like I see em!!

              • Btw Brave, you have no Mortgage cause you own NO property and have been a rental slave your entire life 29th nothing to show for it. And drive $2500 beaters for automobiles. So now you are going to mooch off your Cuz in N GA and live in a shed with your fish cracker friends. Bad decisions your entire life got you to where you are today. I like you but stop Bullshitting us with fabricated lies. NO CREDIT AND NO CREDIBILITY GOES HAND AND HAND.

                -WWTI.

                • i’m callin’ deja-moo….seems like we HEARD this bullshit from you before.

              • Mr Bravefart – a minimum wage earner whose boss had to give him a car because he (Bravefart) drove a clunker and whose cousin is allowing him to share his bol, is giving free financial advice? I think not..

              • Braveheart and Genius will be the kind of Guys 80 Yrs old bagging groceries, since they never knew how to manage their money or establish credit. Cheated on their taxes in their working years and never paid into social security.. You see these people every day shleping their bicycles to go bag groceries to pound out a living and to feed themselves. Then complain how Banks suck, Government sucks, Then claim how great it is not having credit cards or a mortgage, but then return home to their cardboard boxes to sleep their hangovers off. And you can just see the stress they live with maps of wrinkles on their faces white knuckled peddling with the sun in their faces to go to work again the next day, with nothing to show for their efforts, but just to get by. Thinking they are a Genius. Take a look at your local grocery story, That’s these knuckleheads I describe above.

                ~WWTI…

                • WWTI, Are you jealous or something? I HAVE a good job and pay taxes and live comfortably. We have 3 cars (older but good) and don’t need credit for anything. Is that too hard to imagine? I do not want every asshole on earth to know what I buy, where I have been, what time I was where, and the plethora of other info that using cards gives them. We have a nice house paid for, a cabin paid for, older toys paid for, etc. I could easily qualify for a credit card but I DON’T WANT ONE! Bagging groceries? I don’t think so bud. I know too may ways to make money besides having a REGULAR JOB. If you like your credit cards, you can keep your credit cards lol. I like my privacy therefor I will pass on credit cards. Cash isn’t going away anytime soon and I have a debit card if I have to use it. Paypal works for me too. Keep my money in the bank? That is so stupid it speaks for itself. I do believe I hit the nail on the head when I said you must be jealous and can’t fathom having everything paid for and don’t need or want credit cards. Run along now…

                  • G: wwti has gigged me since day one of his posting.
                    He is a legend in his own mind.
                    He is useless, thinks he is a king.

                    One day his neighbors will terminate him for what little he has…

                    Truth is hard to find, maybe you should ship him some shine to change his attitude.

                    But why waste good shine???

                    • i wonder if the trolls here, that are SOOOO easy to spot, realize they are laughed at by EV-ER-Y-ONE on SHTFPLAN for their idiotic ranting rampages?….the only people agreeing with y’all are the OTHER TROLLS here…..gee, wonder if THEY realize all that?….nawww, typical gubmint pricks, left hand don’t know what the right hand is jerking. you have to admire them though, born with almost NO ability to form a complete sentence, yet they obtain a job with the gubmint that probly pays fairly good wages. thank goodness for those human-resource managers that hire them, because they would be unemployable, and on welfare otherwise…i can imagine them at a job interview, doing sumthin’ like a sobriety test, standing on one foot, and asked to touch their nose with their finger…..when they fail to do that, they would be hired….can’t be TOO smart, and be a gubmint troll now. genius caught WWTI smelling his finger the other day, and asked him why he would sniff his finger like that?….”oh, i’m just missing my cousin”, was his reply….you know, WWTI had sex with his first cousin when he was 15, he had sex with his LAST cousin just yesterday….life must be awful boring, living in mommy’s basement….hope they got some food stored when the shit hits the fan….

            • If you can recall the lure to put people into CC Debt was that the Gonvt allowed Credit card interest to be 100% deductible from your FED income taxes. That was pre 1982. Then after that they began to phase out the interest deduction with only 50% deductible, Then the next year only 25% then 10% then zero in about 1985. The debt trap was set up by the ZOG fascist banks and Government. REAGAN also began the massive Government NATIONAL Debt adding Trillions to feed the beast called the MICM-Military Industrial Complex Mafia that Pres Eisenhower stongly warned us about in 1961. REAGAN another fraud Conservative Liar. Rot in hell Ronny aka: the Iran contra father of terrorism for paying off the Iranians for hostages exchange. We are still dealing with that today, for his mass mistakes. Like the other dope Compationate Conservative GW Bush. Liar war criminal neocon who doubled the Nat Debt from $6 Trillion to $12 Trillion. Also for in hell.

              -WWTI..

            • Yeah Genius until you are audited by the IRS as to why you never pay any taxes but Flush with toys. Uncle Karma pays visits on occassion. KNOCK KNOCK.
              Just saying…

              -WWTI…

              • I am not worried about that at all, everything can be accounted for. I do make a good living WORKING A REGULAR JOB.

            • To Genius and Braveheart, My negative comments in this article to you, only applies to this article because we strongly disagree about credit and handling money. I will call out what I think is wrong and will praise when spot on. So if I call you a dope, it means for your comments, not to take personally. It is just this argument. Also I believe everybody should be called out if they are wrong. I also have stated many times here, to call me out, but list a valid reason for your disagreement. Maybe you can convince me to change my mind on an issue. That is how we all learn, and is what a healthy debate is all about. And Mac should post every comment coming in, so we as preppers can decide for ourselves when an argument ensues, what we think is right, wrong, valid or in outer space, or what works best for us. Believe me I had F-Upd credit for a long time in my younger years, learned from it and it took a long time to re-establish a healthy credit history, and it has increased my overall wealth tenfold.

              ~WWTI…

              • WWTI, explain why I am wrong for not using credit and having debt….

                • Crickets…

                • I don’t disagree for not using credit if you can pay with cash, but the consequences for never using credit is not establishing a worthy healthy credit history and credit score. If you read my example of my mother that also has no credit cards and everything paid for is that she is charged more for car insurance, and the ability to buy products like airline tickets, rental cars, nice hotels, buying goods online with credit card which has way more protections than a debit card or using a medium like paypal which charges you transaction fees. The ability to use credit to leverage purchases to gain more wealth and the list goes on and on. BTW/ shut the fuck up eppi-snail, go back to your sand box you bipolar dementia womb hatched drunk.

                  ~WWTI…

                  • credit?…we don’t NEED no stinkin’ credit…..THAT’s what wrecked U.S….your damned credit score don’t mean shit to a person that knows arithmetic. some of U.S. KNOW how to manage our money….you trolls are sooo easy to spot.

        • I have been retired since 2005. I retired at 61. My wife just retired at 55. We have had no long debt since 2002. I have paid pay the short term debt off on the CC each month since 1993. It is not about what you use to pay… it is all about ego and discipline.

          People always ask me how did we do it? It is simple! It is about not buying the biggest and the best. In our peak earning years I bought a smaller lower priced house (the right size now!) than I could have bought. This allowed me to get a 15 year mortgage and pay it off quick. I bought solid made SUV’s and trucks and ran them in to the ground (I still have a 2000 Honda CRV with 197,000 miles). It is all about what your ego is willing to accept.

          Can you forgo the splashy new car to instead make “unnecessary” early house payments? Don’t think I didn’t drool over things I missed. I did. But in the end they are long forgotten trinkets. The price of the pain was worth the end result of years more of retirement. My wife and I would probably be still working if we had not “down sized” to a more modest living standard…

          • Get this, my Mother 77 Yrs old. No debt, No credit cards, house fully paid for 20 yrs ago. Has a few hundred thousand in investments and cash. Complaining that her Car insurance went up. She called and They told her, it was because of a low credit score. Yep this is the problem. No credit history is like having bad credit. So the the car insurance Company asks her how many bank accou rd she has. Like WTF does that have to do 28th being a safe driver or driving history or what kind of car she drives. So all you dopes think No credit keeps you from being a slave are mistaken. It is a Shitty system we got to rip people off who do the right thing. I told her my credit score is 794+ No debt several credit cards and charge stuff to keep a healthy credit score. And next year want to build a bigger house and may take out a construction loan. If you know how to manage credit you can use that leverage to gain great wealth. If you are a dope with no credit you will never accumulate any wealth like Bravehart. Renter slave? Shity cars, etc… Never can buy an airline ticket or rent a nice hotel room, but a shit shack motel room for cash. And no hot smoking women wants to date a shlep dope with no credit or take a nice vacation. And she laughs at you in your $2500 beater when you go pick her up. Life is about choices and decisions. You are either a dope or you are not. Hell I can fly chicks in for visits and throw it on a credit card. Life is fun if you have a clue. Losers spin BS cause they are losers and can’t manage their lives properly.

            -WWTI…

            • It seems to me that we are penalized for having bad credit but not rewarded for having a high credit score. When I was working, earning a good income, my credit score was high for over 30 consecutive yrs, but I didn’t always get the big discounts I thought I’d get. I did get lower interest rates, but nothing to brag about. When I retired I stopped buying on credit and paying it off within a few months, as I had done for yrs because I already had all the stuff I needed — that was when I noticed my credit score dropped to average.

              • all it takes is a couple years of livin’ frugally, and you got cash saved to buy what you want. credit soaks away money that should be spent on other things. once you HAVE a savings, you won’t feel like you NEED those things any more….another added benefit of not NEEDING a high credit score…my best example is i signed a contract for two years for ADT alarm system install, with monthly payments…..like 3 weeks shy of 4 years later i decide i don’t need it any more, so i call to cancel…the guy say “read the fine print”…”you have to let us know 30 days before the contract expires”, or it rolls over for another year….so i quit paying…if i HAD to have a good credit score, i would have had to keep paying, jumping through their hoops…they sent me nasty letters, but i had no incentive to pay…just like when your cel company gives you a phone, and a couple months into that 2 year contract you figger out their service is nowhere as good as the last company…you want out, so you can go back to your old company….but you are a slave, stuck with paying their exit fee for shitty service….no, i don’t need credit….but i got it if i EVER do.

          • We retired two yr ago. No house note, no car note, no RV note. No credit card debt.

            All we owe are utilities and taxes.

            We live the frugal lifestyle.

            Ain’t it great !

          • I think being frugal is a lifestyle in which you are comfortable and happy.

            I didn’t drool over my kid’s brand new car of 25K with high insurance premiums, and expensive underwater home loan of 150K with 10K assessments added on to her high taxes, nor the 30K in credit card purchases of new stylish shoes, clothes, computer gadgets and restaurant bills which caused her to file bankruptcy.

            She never took my advice, and went completely opposite of the way she was brought up, and she wanted a high social status to dictate the way she could not afford to live.

            This is typical of the way younger people are today and why Credit cards and loans make it too easy to lose sight of one’s greed and reality. Credit card debts have NO collateral… There are bankruptcies for these debts that give no pain because food stamps, welfare, or relatives take care of them. No Pain = No Gain. If they keep repeating these mistakes, then they are un-teachable and one day there won’t be any golden net to catch them.

            • While I agree with you 100% on your post, what kind of car did your son or daughter get new g or 25K ? That’s the confusing part.

        • Its that Pagan Holiday called Christmas, Where the Guilt treatment is drilled in hard. Dopes fall for all that Crapola.

          -WWTI…

      2. Who gives a rodent’s scrotum how much credit card debt the weak minded encumber themselves with? When they can’t pay their bills then let them eat dirt. If they can’t tell the difference between plastic and cash, what hope is there for them? None, that’s what!

        • Sadly, Tax, they will come for YOU AND ME – the savers, to bail them out. Just look at all the people supporting Bernie “Free Ice Cream for Everyone” Sanders.

          That’s what negative interest rates are about… a tax on savers.

      3. A fool and his money are soon parted.
        Prof 13:23

        • Proverbs*

        • Proverbs 13:23: (GNB) Unused fields could yield plenty of food for the poor, but unjust people keep them from being farmed.

          What you are quoting is from Thomas Tusser in “Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie” written during the 16th Century.

          Originally written as “A foole & his money, be soone at debate: which after with sorow, repents him to late.”, it was later commonly simplified to just “A fool and his money are soon parted”.

      4. I agree sgt only when no other choice option like all internet purchases cus direct debit from bank account is a big nono also in emergency like needing a tire replaced while traveling so as to keep cash in pocket but so many people use them for every day shit like mcdonalds or even a candy bar and soda i always just shake my head and think wow also i dont think you can even get a hotel room without a credit card

        • I get motel rooms all the time with cash! In fact I think this summer I will put a grand in CASH into my truck just for good measure. Everytime you idiots swipe you card bullshit you are nailing you own coffin shut and voting for the cashless society fuckin fools!

          • Everytime people swipe their CCards at business accounts I’ve set up, I make transaction fees off that transaction. One account I have set up, I make over a $1000 a month off of. Great account I’ve had for over 10 years. It basically paid my mortgage for 12 yrs. I love credit cards and make a healthy living off people using them, and rarely have to work. And why with my great credit with zero flaws, paid cash for my BOL land and buildings. Everything I have is paid for. Cause I have great credit. And leveraged that in past years to sell my last house in the city for a tidy profit. And I will do the same thing here at my new location. The key to credit is make all payments in time. And don’t borrow more than you make to make payments. I went to my credit union and got a zero percent loan for $2500 and a year to pay it back. No shit zero percent interest. Who of you out there can do that? Got the paperwork to prove it. 0% signature 1 year loan. That is where credibility and credit comes into play. And that loan just adds to my already stellar credit history. Lowes even have me a $10K credit line, charged about $8K on it this year with a 5% discount off every purchase. I paid it off every week with cash an actually have a positive balance in the card because I returned some materials back I did not need. That’s how you work credit cards. If I carried a balance over a month it would charge me 24% but never Got into that trap. Got to know how to manage money and credit. Dopes stay in shitty dumpy motels for cash with their dumpy ugly girlfriends and wives. Last Hotel I stayed in was in Palm beach ocean front $350 a night with a hot smoking chick from Miami.

            -WWTI…

            • Too bad you have to rent prositutes because you cannot keep a girlfriend.

              Makes one wonder…

              Fuck you sir…

              • X2

              • If his life was so great, and he was so friggin rich; swamp rat would have friends…mostly girlfriends, and not have to pay for trashy hookers to spend time with him.

                If he was as secure in his manhood as he claims, he would not be on here bragging all the time, on every new thread, that he has everything, everyone else needs and wants.

                If he had it all figured out, he would not be living in a swamp with sex offenders and who knows what else, as neighbors. Also, he would not be an atheistic asshole that turns on his own atheistic supporters here.
                And….he would not be heading for the gates of hell on a runaway train, with all his “so-called” fortunes.

                He is a liar and a fraud, with nowhere else to kill time, but on SHTF PLAN.

            • You probably got an STD from the “hot smoking chick from Miami” and used your credit card to pay for the medical treatments. Bragadious idiot.

        • Godsoldier, in my area you would think cash was banned. Every time I go to a store I see everyone and their dog using a credit or debit card for all types of purchases. When I finally make it to the cashier after being in line for umpteen minutes to make my purchase, I pull out cash. I love to see the cashier’s eyes rolling in his/her head and the people behind me pissin and moanin; all the time I’m thinking, yeah morons, go ahead and enjoy paying those credit card bills with the 25-30% interest rate every month. That convenience does have its own price tag. Not for me. Anyone who says you need a credit card to live is blowing smoke up your wazoo.

          • God how I wish everyone would use cash, the line would move twice as fast! Everytime Im behind some asswipe they have issues and bla bla bla, fook I just want to jump over the line and beat theyre ass! I have spent more time waiting in line for some asshole with card issues than I can stand! Oh I just need a coke and some smokes, heres my fucked up card. GRRRRR If it wasnt illegal to kill these pukes Id fuckin mow them ALL down! Take out the card zombie trash now! YOU MORONS ARE THE REASON WE ARE LOSING CASH! CAN’T YOU ASSHOLES SEE THAT?????

            • There is something called a debit card. Look it up. It speeds up your transactions, allows you to buy things that cash cannot (There is this thing called the internets now) and is just a draw off of a bank account. When you get this thing called a bank account, they do not make you swear allegiance to the devil, get a tattoo on your arm with some numbers, etc. It is actually just a working relationship between your local bank and yourself. IT IS NOT CREDIT. Of course, being on a conspiracy site, you are going to point out that ~Them thieving governments peoples will track what I buy!!!~. News flash sparky, they do with cash as well.

            • I stand in a store, and it is the dopey cash buyers buying cigarettes and lotto tickets, then dump a pile of pennies and nickles on the counter and takes the lady 5 minutes to count it all. Saw a guy a few weeks ago with like $20 in quarters buying gas. Like WTF? Its dopes like that I have to wait behind at the store burning my clock up, I’d like to smack. It was probably you Mr Genius or Bravefart. There is a time and a place for cash, and a Gas station is no place to cash in your pennies when there is a line. Cash is good for when buying stuff off Craigs list or yard sales.

              ~WWTI…

          • The store gets charged a fee for taking in those CC’s. I wish they would go back to a 3% charge on purchases using a CC like many gas stations used to do and have a regular price for cash and check users. Higher Prices are in groceries now days because it includes the CC amount they are charged, like when shoplifters increased the price of dry goods.

      5. I use my credit card for virtually everything. I cut my expenses across the board by exactly 1% with the cash back purchase policy on the card.

        I’ve never had a late fee, and I simply live within a budget and pay it off every month.

        The credit card company hates me.

        • But the bank loves you because you are part of the anti-cash army of fools.

          • The banks love you as well, although perhaps not as much as me.

            I simply use the system when it benefits me. The banks benefit no matter what happens, no matter what you do. No matter what, where or how you purchase, a bank is involved pocketing their share at some point in the transaction.

            When you work and are taxed, a bank benefits. When you are forced to file with the IRS you are working indirectly with banks. They benefit. They are pocketing their share of your cash, and you cannot stop it.

            The taxes you pay. A bank is involved. The roads you drive on. A corporation built the roads. Banks were involved for loans, paychecks and were used to hold and distribute your tax dollars. Banks are again involved.

            If you work for someone, a bank is paid to manage the companies finances and cut you a check.

            Live remote? Don’t interact with society? You will at some point, and if anything is purchased or service used in any way shape or form you just helped a bank.

            Everyone is part of the ‘army of fools’. Including you.

            You cannot escape the power of the central banks.

            Since 1913 the Federal Reserve has ruled our fiat system with an iron fist.

            Unfortunately, it won’t be changing anytime soon.

            Have you been paying attention to Europe. One by one those countries are attacking and doing away with cash.

            Our freedom in the US is being stripped away, no question about it.

            Am I anti-cash? Of course not. I use it, when it benefits me. If that’s being a fool, so be it.

          • Genius. The banks make money off balances and swipe fees. If it’s over lays his bill in full each month he wins and gets the 1 %. He doesn’t pay the swipe fee unless he buys gas at a station that charges more for credit. If someone is smart and has self discipline it will pay off. Anti cash fool? For using a cc? I don’t understand your logic. Buying with a card is not anti cash. In fact, I don’t think you understand basic business. Perhaps you should stick with cash. The banks hate people like over.

            • Credit cards drive the prices of goods up because of the fee the merchant is charged. You are aiding the enemy (banks) by filling their pockets. You also lay out everything you buy including where and what time you were someplace. Saying I have nothing to hide is a stupid arguement, it is the PRICIPLE of it! Soo feed the beast with all your info and drive up prices and enrich the bankers, what’s wrong with that picture?

        • Mac your site is so loaded down with spam adds and Popups you can barely scroll down to read the comments. And it is your site only, all other sites it is normal operating, including streaming video sites like Youtube. So what are you doing to bombard us with nonsense. There are seconds of delay just to type. Maybe your server is running like a burned out train. Or the spam adds are so polluted with viruses. Anybody got that software link for Add block?? Sheesh…

          WWTI…

          • Maybe software knows you are full of shit…

        • Risky to spread your card number all over where hackers can get it or your info stored on the card. Remember Target? There are thieves who can scan your card walking down the street or in a store. Thieves can steal your mail in transit to take your renewal cards and use it without your knowledge until you notice a bill because the US Post Office is riddled with criminals. I have one card which I pay off when I get a bill IF I use it. But I use it very sparingly with a protected jacket and with a few small local businesses I trust, and only when cash is not acceptable.

      6. Snyder: the economy will absolutely collapse by the end of 2015. This guy is so full of crap. I imagine his economy is doing well writing the same crap over and over again. Too bad he’s wrong over and over again.

        • Yup. Snyder and then Celente (crash of 2013!) and “Dave” of X22 Report (the economy’s been “totally falling apart” for over two years now).

          Yes, it’ll collapse sooner rather than later. But setting dates makes them look like fools.

      7. Plastic is great for taking advantage of sales on stuff you need, internet buys, and for unexpected expenses away from home, but carrying a balance for dining out and such things is pretty silly.

        • Plastic is good for sales? I hardly ever have less that 1000 bux on me. If I need more my wife can bring more or western union it lol. When Im away and find a deal I jump on it with CASH not some bullshit atm or go to the bank and beg them to give me some cash from my own money lol. Try using a credit card at a yard sale or on craigslist ha ha ha.

          • I have watched hundreds of people at my work when times were good buy big assed houses, new big trucks, the latest big screen, the trophy wife, all that bullshit while I lived in a cheap assed place and saved and paid for my land and the structure and older vehicles and preps and etc. etc. etc. These idiots are and have been eating shit now working like good slaves begging for work while I get more than I want (good people are in high demand). Expenses are low, more than 1 way I make money, no cloud over my head, life is good except I am sick of working. Takin a hietus from work now to get my personal stuff done. It’s good to be semi-free. Now you know why I am GENIUS lol 😛

            • G: Since we think alike, does that make me a…

              Chaos, fists slung, crazy people at Trump rally in Shitcago. Postponed.

              Be well all…

              • eppe, we have a lot in common yes. We definately took different paths later in life though. You have kids I do not. I worked my ass off to make sure I was never dependent on a job or having to work all the time. I have secured virtually all my goals while I am still young enough to do it. I respect your choice to be a father but that isn’t my deal. People with kids think your crazy for not wanting them but I never had the desire to be enslaved by kids (not a bad thing if you love it). I still have my deep desire for individuality and freedom even after all these years I just cannot accept the system and it’s troglodites. I cannot stand control or controllers and am a self described anarchist. That is why I hate government and religion (one and the same) and almost always think the opposite of the herd. The truth is not that hard to figure out once you grasp the plan of the ruling class.

                Does that make you a…. No, it makes you a good man 🙂

                • Good, just a couple of nights ago, I was an Union asshole, for giving the best advice one could give here.

                  The first poster here was ‘peteroplis’.

                  Take time to read the archives, everything one wants to learn is there, plus how people post…

                  • Non union people are jealous and cry how unfair it is instead of joining together to have a real voice. They deserve what they have, Nothing lol.

                    • Dude, I want some of what you got going tonight….

                    • eppe, what is that? TRUTH? You got that everynight if you choose lol.

                    • Just messing with ya.
                      Be well all…

                    • WOW, Genius, Watch out. He says, “Dude, I want some of what you got going tonight….” Like WTF!!!!!!

                      I guess since his wife cut him off, he is looking for a new Gay Lover to fill the voids. Sounds like a depressed mental case. Probably drinking and typing again then goes to bed drunk and gets up to play The Cable Guy again the next day.

                      When he starts calling you CUZ, that means he is really feeling you out for adventure.

                      ~WWTI…

                  • Yep the Union Seniority History Buff claiming his position. Like who gives a rats ass who was the first poster here. Geezuz man are you that shallow and boring, got nothing to do with your time but day dream about the past? You offer nothing here but down on your kneepads to the site host, and kiss his ring, and come here to take your daily digital shit with nonsense/ zero.

                    If anybody wants to learn something, just skip over all your meaningless posts.

                    ~WWTI…

                    • No, actually asked the question to see who went back and researched the archives.
                      No one came up with the answer.
                      If you would not be such a fuckwad, you would have known the answer.
                      Go order a call girl to your swamp…

                • Genius, Tell us how that next IRS audit goes when they discover all these assets you have with no verifiable income over the last few decades. Get pinched once and you will think twice.

                  I do agree with you about the No kids, BS. Religion Fraud, etc.. Talk about being a slave half your life to raise kids, who many grow up and kill their parents to scoop up their inheritance early. Or the kids who invite Negros into their homes and discover all your preps and steal your crap before you get home from work. Kids are the biggest OPSEC blowers out there. Come home pregnant, always begging for money then live with you till they are 35. Or college debt of $100K.

                  Carry too much cash on a Tennessee Highway and you are taken to jail, and your cash taken and you need to prove how you got all that cash. I do not condone asset forfeiture in any sense, but this is the set of criminal policies of reality out there now by Nazi cops..

                  ~WWTI…

            • Genius, spot on. I use cash on all my trips, even to the BOL, speaking of which I’m leaving for in the morning.. Making another supply run and having a few days of R&R. You’ve definitely earned your moniker. Great minds really do think alike.

            • What line of work are y’all in?

          • Gee whiz, Genius, thanks for that advice not to use credit cards at yard sales, no one here had any idea they like cash there.

            Boy, they don’t call you Genius for nothing.

            Keep on telling us how smart you are, Genius, you’re good at it.

            • I did point out how smart I am in the above posts minimus. If you can say for real you are in my position or bravehearts then you MIGHT be a genius too. You are obviously to retarded to discern sarcasm about using cards at yard sales so It looks like that went waaayyy over your head. Keep up the good work and maybe someday you too can ride the long bus lol 😛

              • Genius, sounds like smokey came in on the short bus. Last time I checked, short buses can still be found at the ‘buy here pay here’ car lots. LOL.

                • ha a ha, He probably got took on that deal too lol.

            • Smokey, neither Mr wanna be Genius and Bravefart have any credit and so they try to spin their deficiencies in a positive light. And when they Ban Cash all together or it becomes worthless toilet paper their game is over. Sum Zero credit to adapt to any new system, and will be crying in their soup preps. Bravefart is soon to be jobless and going to go mooch off his cousin’s generosity.. See how long that lasts as he will be just a doorknob away from being homeless, if she decides she is tired of hearing his broken record parrot BS. I give him about 6 months and he is broke and homeless and run out of his food preps stored in his cousins shed out back, and goes limping off in his beat up pick up truck sleeping on the side of the road or at a Wallmart parking lot.. Genius I have not fully figured out just, but his posts tonight shows me he is in the similar situation, not too bright, or game over finished also after the IRS gets done with him. You can run but you can’t hide. Mr Karma comes a knockin.

              ~WWTI…

              • WWTI – I concur with your assessment. I’m not American and despair at the economic illiteracy of people like Bravefart and Genius (anyone who gives themselves the soubriquet “genius” is very suspect in my book). Use the system, do not let the system use you, has always been my mantra.

                What really annoys me though is that Bravefart is always talking hard man tough. Well,I’ve served in a few places where his type is soon exposed for what they are. Frightened braggarts.

                He’s got to remember he’s a 58 year old fat guy eating big Macs am and pm! He’s literally full of crap. My 14 year old could take him out – and she’s a girl!

          • Genius fails to mention that Western Union charges a transaction fee to credit him cash from another location. Besides looking like a Dope sitting around in some Western Union store for hours like a deadbeat shlep waiting like a slave to get his cash transfer. How embarrassing. Plus his pissed off wife that has to take time out of her day to run cash transfer errands for Mr Genius, who has no credit. Thought you were smart Mr Ego Genius??. You look like a dope on this issue. I call it like I see it.

            If I want something I buy it in seconds, with the $25K in Credit in my pocket, and I am on my way doing something else productive with my time. And I sure don’t waste other peoples time like you, because you fail to know how to manage your money and credit properly.

            ~WWTI…

            • I have never had to do that but if I had to I could. I manage my money just fine thats why I have it and do not need credit. I do not have to worry about any accounts getting frozen or siezed and no one knows my business. Laying all your info out on the table for everyone and your money on the same table is for fools. Good luck holding onto your money after it is siezed in a lawsuit or irs or any number of things that can happen. Like money in the bank ha ha ha. Your arguement is pretty piss poor.

        • You are right Smokey. Dopes have no clue how to use credit. I get email flyer sales on stuff like Ammo. Just bought another 1000 rounds of 9mm dirt cheap cause of their 1 day sale. Logged on and bamm credit card, done deal and within a few days My sweet box of practice FMJ 115 grain arrives. Have to say it on this issue. Genius is No Genius, he sounds pissed. Probably has bad credit so that is why they say shit like they always pay cash for everything. You can almost always but stuff cheaper online with a credit card than cash at some local store. No doubt have a car breakdown on the highway and a credit card will get your car towed fixed nice hotel and your babe gives you great sex all night Vs. Sleep at a grease monkeys shop cause you for no doe, wife is Po’d you look like a dope trying to figure out how you will get home and your vacation ended early. Plastic is king if you have a clue how to use it. TOOK a snow ski trip up to Whistler Canada. Much cheaper using a credit card with the exchange rate 30% less than paying with cash. Smart people know how to play the credit game. Dopes will always be dopes.

          Business that accept credit cards will increase their business sales by about 40% more when accepting credit cards. Grocery store sales average sale went from $30 up to $70 by accepting credit and debit cards. And it costs businesses a lot of money to handle cash in man hours to count it and store it and secure it. Business like restaurant’s are about 70% in credit cards sales ‘s cash. Plastic is king. Again Dopes don’t know how to manage their own credit.

          -WWTI…

          • Thats good that you bought ammo on credit, now everyone knows what you have, good opsec there bud lol. The rest of your comment is just stupid. If I break down I have AAA service and enough CASH for a motel and whatever else I need.

            • You sound pretty paranoid Mr wanna be Genius. I got nothing to hide. Maybe you are wanted or have a warrant out for you someplace, Shaddy background or a felon and why you Need to pay cash. I suspect you are years behind in income tax payments or a guy not paying child support in some other state. Millions of people buy ammo and guns using a credit card, and I hope it puts the far in to gun grabbers how big our army really is. Besides Using a credit card to buy Ammo does not disclose what the purchase was for on a statement, only the place where the purchase was made. But since you have no clue how credit cards work or ever get a statement, and use cash only, you are clueless, so pay attention to what I say as I will never lie to anyone here. Besides you pay a hell of a lot more, by paying cash exclusively for ammo locally in most cases. I also pay cash for ammo locally if I see a deal. But the best bulk sales are on the internet. So who gives a rats ass other than you. So tell us what you are wanted for and paying cash only?

              ~WWTI…

      8. Nobody has to pay there Credit card off, most contracts you have with the bank are null and void. Just ask the bank for the original contract. THEY WONT HAVE IT!

        • strawman – You’re right. I’ve heard of people who were sued by a collections agency for $thousands of debt and they told me they went to court and got away with it because the debt collector couldn’t provide the original agreement/contract. I guess these deadbeats don’t believe in Karma.

          So I asked a friend of a friend whom I had heard put some medical expenses on their credit card and said after it went to collections (due to a second serious illness and overwhelming out-of-pocket medical expenses) the debt collector kept playing games with them, and as a result they were afraid to deal with these collectors and couldn’t and didn’t pay off the debt.

          They said that these debt collectors were too crazy and abusive to work with, changing the agreement and calling every other day screaming at them to pay more when they were making payments, and so on. They were afraid of them so they let it go to court thinking they would tell the judge about the abuse and also request the original docs in front of the judge. The debt collector was unable to produce the originals. The case was dismissed.

          Of course, their credit is ruined, but I guess they can eventually build it up again. I had thought once you start making payments it’s an admission of debt. But the judge concluded that they did so under pressure. I was surprised as I thought judges always sided with the debt collectors.

          They said they don’t own, they rent a condo, and have two older cars that are well maintained, and all their stuff, appliances, furniture etc, is paid for and they don’t need credit.

          They said they now have a decent emergency fund in case the furnace or something major breaks and only have one prepaid credit card and always pay cash. Hard to believe, but that’s what they told me and their close friend.

          • Yes, I remember the days fearing those debt collectors. Nowadays I laugh when I get them. its just the banks and agencies passing around a hot potato, they just tack on a fee and resell, they dont want to cancel the debt on the books because it would prick the debt bubble. they want to keep the music playing in this game of musical chairs. this is an assurance its all null and void.

            It is pretty simple to settle your debt dispute outside of court. you just need a couple certified letters mailed.
            its also easy to correct your credit score after the falsely muck up your score.
            google; mindwarpsector4 for some sample letters

            once your comfortable with the process, and are free and clear you can move on and basically do the same with your mortgage ( death pleage). its called a MERS mortgage. during the 2008 collapse for the housing bubble the BANKERS put all the mortgage contracts together sliced, diced, and resold them. just like a debt collector resold your credit card “contract”. So, basically paying your mortgage to someone you dont owe mortgage to. Will they tell you? no. So ask them for the original contract.

            they dont have it I promise.

            dont be scared bc your house is on the line.

            did you know, within 30 days you signed your orignial contract the bank sold it to some other bank rendering it, you said it, NULL AND VOID. and your house is FREE AND CLEAR.

            thats right, IT IS YOU AND ONLY YOU THAT CAN FIX THIS ILLUSIONARY SYSTEM .
            NO KING or POLITICIAN can save you.

        • Hey Strawman, that is pretty funny really.

          Reminds me of a story about a Guy who got a Credit Card Offer in the mail and he crossed out the Percentage rate and wrote Zero 0%for life, next to it. Well the card company gave him a credit card charged a bunch of stuff on it, and the card company tried to charge him interest. He sued the bank and, provided a copy of his original application in court. The Court Ruled in favor of the Guy and Zero % interest rate for life. The dopes at the banks process applications and shuffle paper work and failed to even look at what they are approving. That’s funny.

          So always read your contracts in full. Well try not paying your credit card off and they will destroy your credit like Bravefarts.

          Genius who like cash cannot show proof of income so that is probably why he is rejected and doesn’t even qualify for any type of credit. And with no income or paying taxes he will not get any social security benefits and have to work till he drops to make a living. You can read right through their BS and spin.

          ~WWTI…

          ~WWTI…

          • Damn you are stupid, I have a fuckin job and pay fuckin taxes. I like how you make shit up idiot. I cash my check and keep it out of the banks hands and private. Keep posting made up shit and lies you make yourself look like an idiot lol.

        • Hey Strawman, that is pretty funny really.

          Reminds me of a story about a Guy who got a Credit Card Offer in the mail and he crossed out the Percentage rate and wrote Zero 0%for life, next to it. Well the card company gave him a credit card charged a bunch of stuff on it, and the card company tried to charge him interest. He sued the bank and, provided a copy of his original application in court. The Court Ruled in favor of the Guy and Zero % interest rate for life. The dopes at the banks process applications and shuffle paper work and failed to even look at what they are approving. That’s funny.

          So always read your contracts in full. Well try not paying your credit card off and they will destroy your credit like Bravefarts.

          Genius who like cash cannot show proof of income so that is probably why he is rejected and doesn’t even qualify for any type of credit. And with no income or paying taxes he will not get any social security benefits and have to work till he drops to make a living. You can read right through their BS and spin.

          ~WWTI…

          ~WWTI…

      9. It is hard to talk about debt and credit in a debt and credit society. Peons to sobriety and parsimony do not work when the entire economy is based buy now, pay later, maybe. This is where Austrian economists fall on deaf ears. Ramping debt to buy stuff works for most people most of the time. If it gets out of control just declare bankruptcy, and rinse and repeat again. I know of a couple that split from the US to move to Canada after they maxed many c-cards. Crossing the border got them away from the creditors and they then did not come back for 10 years, by then they had a kid and good jobs and it didn’t do them any harm.

        The thing to do is to buy hard assets – land, etc. – with the credit and then sell that stuff if you get in trouble. Inflation will ensure it has risen in value and will pay off your debts.

      10. This is an interesting subject. There are so many people including politicians pointing fingers at evil and greedy bankers, I never hear anybody say anything about a citizen consumers personal responsibility and the choices they make. The choices people make have as much to do with the financial problems that we as a country are experiencing. People lack discipline, They are selfish and are in constant pursuit of instant gratification. This has as much to do with the coming collapse is those greedy bastards that run banks and sit in political office. I have a hard time feeling sorry for people who get themselves in over their heads financially. I teach my kids not to live beyond their means, My oldest at 27 just graduated college and is debt free. It took him longer to get through school only because he worked his way through and paid along the way. I’m very proud of him. My youngest son sells old stuff to buy new and now he’s generating a small income from his YouTube channel. I have to think that I had something to do with all of that. I wish more people would think before they go out and credit card themselves into oblivion. I don’t like politicians or bankers because they are guilty of greed but they can’t take your money unless you give it to them.

        • jackknife, excellent post. Nothing I can dispute. It’s true that people don’t think before they act and they go out and learn too late what their limits really are. They should set up a budget and try to determine their own limits before they do anything. They need to get their priorities straight before deciding on anything. That’s common sense. Oh, I forgot, today’s generations DON’T have common sense. My bad. [SARCASM]

      11. The biggest increase in debt happens before Christmas.

        We spent very little this year.

        We bought some boxes of brownie mix on sale for 79 cents and some platters at thrift stores for around 50 cents. We gave out a number of platters of brownies. Everyone loved them.

        My wife knitted a few presents. I made some music CDs for a few people. We recycled a lot of excess 30-year-old wedding presents also. The old patterns of Corningware were seen to be treasured antiques “just like Mama used to have.”

        We also gave out a few gift cards to used book stores and restaurants.

        Never again will I spend on credit.

      12. Here’s how to get out of debt:

        Live below your means
        Stop going to Starbucks
        Stop going out to eat
        Stop all fast food
        Stop going to movies
        Stop going to clubs
        Stop going to concerts
        Stop smoking
        Stop drinking
        Stop buying clothes
        Stop buying jewelry
        Stop shopping at malls
        Cancel cable/satellite TV
        Stop watching TV
        Cancel smart phones/gadgets
        Get a cheap prepaid tracfone
        Cancel SiriusXM
        Stop buying new cars
        Stop leasing new cars
        Stop buying presents
        Stop going on vacation
        Have garage sales to sell unwanted stuff
        Stop buying stuff
        Go to the library
        Buy used books at the library sales
        Stop trying to keep up with the Kardashians
        Plant a garden
        Learn how to can your garden food
        Only buy what you really need
        Live more simply
        When shopping buy in bulk (Costco)
        Live somewhere cheaper
        Learn how to mend and sew
        Fix things instead of tossing things away
        Reduce medical expenses
        Exercise
        Take a quality multi vitamin daily
        Eat healthy foods
        Eat less meat
        Drink more filtered water (Brita)
        Study an herb book
        Reduce dental expenses
        Brush your teeth daily
        Floss daily
        Rinse daily with clove mouthwash
        Eat less sugar
        Be happy with less
        Be happy to be alive

        • What you say is so true Yellow.
          We’ve all been programmed to desire needless, worthless trinkets, and we’ve allowed our attention and our critical thinking skills to be numbed(and destroyed) by mindless entertainment that’s meant to keep us fat, dumb, happy, and above all, UNQUESTIONING.

          We “need” far less than we think we do, and I fear that nothing short of a catastrophic economic meltdown, pandemics, war, etc. will rouse the average American from their stupor.

          May I add to your list: learn how to read a map.
          Today’s brain dead minions will be the first to go once their smart phones no longer work.

        • Curios Yellow, good list, but in the sheeple’s minds, they’ll think you’re telling them to stop living. LOL.

          • Braveheart, you are correct.

        • Curious
          bam! No wonder I’m not in debt.

          • Me too.

        • Hey, so that is why I have thousands laying around in cash…

        • Curious Yellow, How about get off your ass and go make more income or money to maintain a lifestyle you enjoy. Being a coward and cutting yourself off of life, so you can sit in your hole like a hermit is not living life. Your list is for those small minded peeons, on fixed incomes or worker bees, who do not know how to go work for themselves.

          Like I said, if I ever wanted something I would create another opportunity to work smarter or longer to obtain it. Its called goal setting. Its all in the attitude you adapt yourself to. Challenge yourself and the reward is so much sweeter when you achieve your objectives by being self employed, and your income is unlimited, like I have been doing for 25+ years. Being self motivated is the key. Expand your horizons. Lots of sunshine out there if you look. Start by opening up more doors and creating more relationships.

          ~WWTI…

      13. I use a card for online purchases, but decided about 30 years ago to eschew credit card debt. Now I eschew mortgage debt, too.

        • Rebecca

          Credit Cards are the best method of on line payment. We use it for that and never carry a balance. Simply put its all about financial discipline.

          • Kevin
            I never got into trouble with credit cards back in the day, but decided to get rid of them anyway. I do have one that I also use for travel, but more often for online purchases. It has been a lot of years to approach mortgage free!

      14. In the end it comes down to discipline. At one time Americans possessed it in abundance. Discipline’s brother is Responsibility. Together, they, as a family, built a great country. Unfortunately Responsibility left home swayed by an associate named Unaccountability that was sheltered from bad actions by government. In the end Discipline often decided to join the ranks of his brother and his friends and pick up the nick name Lack Of.

        All of the above are about to loose their home to a guy named Crash.

        • Well written!

        • And I guy named I didn’t have cash lol.

        • Kevin2, that is one of your best posts ever. BRAVO!

        • K2
          Outstanding!!!!
          Sgt.

        • I disagree. The past it seems is always viewed with a lens of bias. The truth is that in the “good ole days” credit card companies made it very difficult to get credit.

          People were not more or less fiscally responsible because they choose to be. Rather, they were this way because the had to be.

          Now you have the opposite extreme with credit where everyone can get it. No matter your income level.

          Personally I am tired of people in the past being painted as wiser, more moral, and just plain better than the folks of today. Because there was scum bags back then too. Even regular folks had their own levels of integrity and honesty. Which may or may not have been better or worse than people today.

          People think nothing of doing harmful things to others, yet are the first complain, piss and moan when a nearly identical thing is done to them. Why do you think that is?

          • RJ
            I don’t think the past was more moral. The things that were done openly would be scandalous today. My grandmother had some bad stories to tell.
            I lived in Mexico for a few years, and in some ways it was kinder than the US… but other things stood my hair on end… men are all powerful and openly molested young girls in their household, for one. Come take a nap with me on demand. Holding tiny girls squirming on a man’s lap and laughing about keeping her there to feed his erection. People do bad things and the preachy types usually do the worst. Shudder.
            That is why I am an advocate of rule by law. I do not advocate for any all powerful group that has no check or balance. Scalia gave that power openly to big corporations with Citizens United and to individuals with McCutcheon. Nothing good comes out of too much power over others.

      15. Credit card what’s that? A handy tool to drag the seeds away from your buds. Never had one, I guess that makes me a crimnal to the banks.

        • Aljamo – I bought all my Prepping Heirloom Seeds off the Internet using a credit card. I also just recently used a credit card to buy feed cracked corn to attract wild life. Lets see #100 Lbs of corn seed only $22, bagging unlimited turkey and deer for months of food for the freezer? Priceless. And the the card is paid off.

          Its called leverage and smart planning. Your quote is clever, but not exactly accurate in the real world.

          ~WWTI…

      16. almost everyone dose not have to pay their credit card debt. Most credit card contract are null and void. Just ask your banker to see the original contract, He wont, because it doesn’t exist

      17. Post-Christian, post-modern America:

        We buy things we don’t need, to impress people who don’t like or will never meet, with money we don’t have.

        It STILL is true, as Charles Mackay(1814 – 1889), wrote in his famed book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841) “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one…”

        Speaking of mindless herds, I guess it’s time to dash off to my daily Dear Leader “Yes we can/Yes we have no bananas” chant-in, just after I get my “free” chicken from the govt, that I ordered from my “free” Obamaphone

        **This post was sent from my $1,000 “free” Obamaphone. Sign up at yourself at http://www.wheres-my-free-chicken.gov/. EVERYONE qualifies (even your dog)!

        “PhreePhonesPhorEveryone” is a division of the U.S. Dept. of ObamaPhones and the U.S. Dept. of Sphelling, and is a paid for by “everyone else.”

      18. Of topic, but for you Gordon Lightfoot fans:

        THE WRECK OF THE HIL’RAY FITZGERALD

        The legend lives on, from the Chippewa on down, of the big fake they call Hil’ray Gumi;
        Hil’ray’s emails, it is said, were a-bound to be shred, when transparency turns tot’lly gloomy.

        With her load of BS ore, 32 thousand emails or more, the Hil’ray server was emptied;
        The public and the truth were a bone to be chewed, when the lies of November came early;

        Hil’ray’s server was the pride of the of the Communist side, coming back from fund raisers in Wisconsin;
        As big liars go, she was bigger than most, with her fibs and deceits well-seasoned.

        Including some terms shaking down firms, for money from LA to Cleveland;
        then later that night when the BS bells rang outta sight, could it be yet more lies we’d been feelin’?

        Her lies in the newswires made a tattle-tale sound, as her techs did their email a-slashin’;
        When afternoon came, Hil’ray was fibbing again, with the force of a hurricane west wind.

        When suppertime came the IT guy came on deck, sayin’ fellas there’s more lies to feed ya;
        at 7 PM Hil’ray’s main campaign caved in, he said fellas is been good to know ya.

        Hil’ray’s spin meisters wired in, they had water comin’ in, and her tissue of lies was in peril.
        And later that night, when her lights went out of sight, came the wreck of the Hil’ray Fitzgerald.

        Does anyone know where the love of truth goes, when her lies turn our faces so dour? The bloggers all say, Hil’ray’d be raking in political hay, if she’dput 15 more bald lies behind her.

        Th’server might have split up or it might have capsized; but it sure rolled deep and took water;
        And all that remains are the blank emails and the games of Hil’ray and her Wall Streeter bankers
        Old Bill Clinton rolls and Hil’ray flings, in the rooms of her ice water mansions. Harry Reid steams an old liars dreams, and Pelosi’s pronouncements ring hollow;

        And further below, the lamestream media all know, they take in what the leftists can send them.
        But as the big liars go, the public now knows, Hil’ray will lie in November.

        In a musty old hall in DC we prayed, for the restoration of the Constitution;
        the church bell chimed, it rang 32,000 times for each email “lost” on the Hil’ray Fitzgerald

        (and yes, you are free to copy this and pass on!)

        • Good old Gordie comes through, thanks.

          Someone did this for the Clintons back in the 90’s, too. It was hilarious then and a great update now.

      19. Credit card debt isn’t just from being irresponsible. Hell, I’ve got about $10k now and I’m working it down, but it wasn’t from flat screen television, eating out, or anything else. It was necessities while I was out of work from an injury. Workers comp in my state screws you over and the company certainly could care less. So who covers your mortgage, groceries, bills, etc. then? Visa, MasterCard, Discover? Or you can kindly default, lose your home, and file bankruptcy. That’s the new reality for Americans.

        And to be blunt, the interest rates these companies try to slap on consumers is downright odious.
        I hope they all fail, and the system collapses. They did it to themselves by hiking interest rates and fees. How do you expect upwards economic mobility? Morons!

        • WhiteWolf – I totally agree. I suggest checking out Strawman’s three posts upthread.

      20. I once got into trouble in my late 20s. Owed about $2k, but had a very, very poor paying job. I got out of that debt, and have never, ever, EVER gone into debt like that again. They always used to tell me “Well, you need to build pay raises into your budget.”

        As far as I was concerned, as I am not some parasite govt worker, I had no guarantee I’d have a job next week, so I never built ANYTHING assumptions into my budget, other than I figured I would probably not be fired during that week.

        Still the same way. My wife and I generally save 50% or more of our income, and have for years. We’ve inherited nothing, and at 60 years old, between the two of us (total of over 80 years of driving time), between the two of us have probably spent less than $65k on cars (cars are THE biggest transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor you can imagine). ALL of our neighbors here in suburbia have his n’ hers SUVs (or mini-vans), even tho the majority take the train to work. Why?? When we both needed a car for work, I bought a little crud box from a neighbor (Hyundai Excel) for $3k – now power steering, no power brakes no power windows, no a/c, no nuthin. Another time I rented. You can rent on the weekends. Walk, bike. Cars are a HORRIBLE waste of money, as nice as they are.

        My philosophy is, if I don’t have it today, on what basis would I ASSUME I will have it tomorrow??? I might have a stroke or cancer tomorow? I might be out of work for months tomorrow.

        Hard to believe we are the children and grandchildren of those self-reliant types of yesteryear. All that socialism has sapped the very essence out of self-reliance, self-dignity and personal responsibility.

        But, thankfully we’ll have serial liar nana Hitlery and her flying monkeys to take care of us after Dear Leader Obungler is gone….

      21. Use frequent flyer credit card for everything…recurring bills, internet purchase, gas, groceries but pay balance in full monthly. No interest and I accumulate miles to fly daughter home from college. Made credit mistakes early in our lives but learned quickly and didn’t repeat. Credit is like fire…a great tool if used properly, but a consuming monster if neglected.

        • Steve;
          We do the same thing. If you use those miles on long international flights in first class it is amazing. Real silverware, fabulous meals, no mouthbreathers on your right and left. I read you loud and clear but don’t expect many people here to agree. This is the credit card haters club.

          • Skeptic, I have to agree. Went on a free trip to Maui years back because of all the points I racked up on my credit card. That was almost $500 for free flight tickets from Florida to Maui. Even bought a ticket for my Girlfriend. Almost 2 weeks basking in the sun on the beaches out by KulaFarmer. Probably passed him on the road by Maui Winery. Loved that trip. Also have taken about 15 snow ski trips over 12 years to all the great resorts many times of of Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Steamboat, Whistler, Lake Tahoe, Beaver Creek, etc…. Met a lot of friends and Put it all on a credit card and paid them all off. Anybody who travels needs a credit card just to simply rent a car..

            People can sit on their asses at home their whole lives and brag about having no debt, then die with no memories, or every living a full life of travel and adventure.. I lived alot in my life and will keep on doing it. Being self employed, if I wanted something I just worked a little smarter and longer and created more opportunities. People who work for others on a fixed income, end up with nothing but a bad back and maybe a watch.

            ~WWTI…Smarter than a Genius…

            • Not so, your arguement is bullshit. I used to have cards and debt and since getting rid of it my life is a LOT better. I don’t have to work as much and I spend a lot of time doing things I love to do. Now get back on that hamster wheel and pay your bills lol.

            • You don’t need credit cards or plane trips to see the country and make memories. I’ve been on lots of trips. I drive so I can everything in between. Flying over “fly over country” is not the same thing as driving through it.

              Have you seen tobacco being harvested in Ontario, or fed peanuts to prairie dogs, or seen the Crazy Horse monument, or walked around DC while avoiding a huge demonstration, or sat in Capt. Kirk’s seat from Star Trek, or walked the swinging bridge out to Chimney Rock, or left a county courthouse in the midst of an anthrax scare, or seen the Corn Palace, or seen buffalo up close on the prairies of Kansas, or rode the cable car up to Ghost Mountain, NC, or driven through Intercourse, PA?

              I’ve been to all those places and done all those things, plus thousands more, all without flying or using credit cards.

              I don’t believe you’re smarter than this genius (no brag, just fact).

              • Archivist
                This troublemaker is a shallow nitwit. On top of which I it sounds like he was up all night watching some dumb James Bond movie and pretending it his real life. Not an ounce of quality in anything he said. Or God forbid it is true… how empty.

              • I’d pay money to feed peanuts to Mr Genius. Watch him chase the little nuggets as they go rolling off.. Just tell him that it is cash.. That would be a hoot. lol…

                ~WWTI…

      22. I remember getting my first credit card in my second year of college, my bank just sent it to me without me even asking for one. Well as time went by, every time i got close to my credit limit the bank would just raise my credit limit higher and higher. By the time i got out of college i had over a 5000 dollar credit card debt. Now the thing you need to remember is this, this may not seem like alot of money in today’s terms, but i finished college over 40 years ago. Along with the loans i had to pay for school, and now this credit card debt it took me years to pay off. This was a BIG life lesson for me, after this i NEVER again looked at credit cards or loans the same way, from then on i set personal limits, and NEVER, EVER, went over them.

      23. We have few bills and pay off the CC every month. Its liberating! Electric,gas and fuel is it

      24. Credit card companies call people like us “deadbeats”, meaning we pay them off every month.
        How’s that for a play on words?
        Every once in a while I’ll pay all but a little off, then pay it all off the next month.
        The annual statement on the master card showed we gave them $4.00 in interest for the YEAR. Just messin’ with them..haven’t done that in a while, though.

        • Ketchup, my bank HATES me because I don’t try to get any credit card or loan. Poor mofos. LOL.

          • Bravefart, your bank doesn’t hate you. They barely notice you as a blip on their radar!

            As has been so eloquently pointed out by WhoWTFknows, financially you are a nobody living from hand to mouth, pay check to pay check.

            I’ve said it before, but if I were your boss I’d double check the store room every time you venture near it!

            • Funny.. Touche’ Anon…!!!!! Bravefart aka: Broken record parrot is living in a fantasy world in full denial of his current circumstances. Bankrupt of ideas or knowledge of basic economics. It is what it is, but entertaining at the least.

              ~WWTI…

      25. Check out CNN right now. Shtf commenses.

        HCKS.

        • Bout time dammit. I will have no tv or internet at the retreat. If it is on AM radio news I will hear it maybe lol. Otherwise who cares 😛

        • Interesting, hcks, sounds like what goes on here, just verbally.

          Everyone misbehaving…

          • Eppe, I’m on the way back to GA in the morning, FINALLY.

        • almost everyone dose not have to pay their credit card debt. Most credit card contract are null and void. Just ask your banker to see the original contract, He wont, because it doesn’t exist

          • Been there, done that, wrote of 14K in credit card debt. People aren’t smart enough to figure it out though straw lol.

          • Straw, you ask for the original contract, they can’t produce it, loan null and void? Do they remove it from your credit report too? Just asking.
            Thanks

            • no they will try and scare you. they will tarnish your credit, but you can easily fix that. showing the credit agencies original copies of your letters ( which are legal evidence) to the debt collector.

              google windwarpsector4 for some sample letters.

        • Now might be a good time to bite the bullet and use that credit card to top off preps. Crap is definitely coming down this summer or sooner. Especially if Trump get the delegates he needs, but also no matter who the candidate is. This is Barry’s go-time. Riots by his cadres, martial law, postponed elections, false flags, executive orders on guns. It’s all coming in this next season regardless of the economy.

      26. The biggest mistake is supporting politicians that vote for horrifically bad ‘free trade’ agreements that send US jobs and wealth out of the country.

        No jobs = no income = no consumers = no economy.

        People are desperate, and using credit in lieu of an adequate income (I’m not saying this is smart, but it is what is happening).

        • Well Golly gee, I wonder how the natives (the owners) of this land ever got by without chinese shit????? You might find out sooner than you think 😉

      27. Someone stole all of the credit cards my wife had but I didn’t call to report it. They were not spending any thing close to what she had been spending!

      28. Some one stole all of my wife’s credit cards but I told her not to report it. Whoever took the cards was not spending anything close to what she had been spending!

      29. I don’t need $ from banks I got my own. I never went out on injury in my life worked with a broken bone in my foot kept walking on it limping. Oh well worked with the flu out side at night during the winter sick as hell. Sinus infection once so bad that I had a headache for a month before I couldn’t take it anymore then went into get antibiotics. Had my appendix rupture almost killed me woke up in hospital bed with tube down my throat had an abscess on my bowel so was kept in hospital for the week six inch scar to prove it. People make excuses not to work or game the system work 6months then out on injury for rest of year. Nobody can bullshit me I’ve seen it so many times. Life is pain and you just gotta deal with it. There is work just take work and make a living. It’s all sucks people who the fuck wants to do it. You do what you need to do and don’t make excuses put the weed down. I don’t take handouts earned everything fair and square. Will fight to the death to protect it all too. Don’t give a fuck prepared to die if need be. Don’t borrow $ from the banks go without or work more. Glad I do the right thing it’s paid off. Banks need me I don’t need them.

      30. Off Topic!
        I see the Zombies and Leaches are acting Like Animals at the Shitcago/Chiraq Trump Rally. Let a bunch of Patriots act like this at a Hellory rally and you might come out alive.

        If this is how these animals are acting now wait until he is PREZ.

        Looks like Mags and ammo might be needed.

        Aim Small Miss Small
        Sgt.

        • Crazy stuff…

          ht tp://www.zerohedge.com/node/526347

          • EPPE
            Have you heard or seen anything from Sixapck, or Illini Warrior lately?
            I hope all is well!!!!

            How did The shoot out go? I hope to be at the next one.

            Sgt.

            • Neither.
              But way too much of wwti.
              Must not have much of a life to post at 3am.
              A legend in his own mind.
              Too bad he does not really know me.
              But he does the same here everytime, bash most all.
              And he wonders why he is on a 12 hour leash.
              Does that answer his question?

              • Wwti came here 27 months ago, wanting good debates, is this what he spews now?
                He says he made a tidy profit on a house he sold in Tampa, but has to have a gun beside him while showering.
                What 1-5 k?
                Then buys swamp land, 5 acres, for 5k?
                Pays 10k for a 500sf cabin, pops 3k on solar, buys a few prep gears, and is top of the world. With neighbors that would cap his ass in seconds to get what he has.
                Then pays for prostitutes because his hand has gone numb?
                And gigs posters because they do not think like him.
                Then he bashes posters here for not doing the same as him.
                Glad to say, my wife and kids love me.
                He has no one. Is that the way to live life?
                My assets passed the million mark years ago.
                Not bragging, stating that be careful whom one listens to, wwti is a low life that thinks he is high life.
                He also takes posts and wraps them around how he thinks. One fucked up individual…

                • eppy snail spends most of his boring life, seeing and wondering what I am doing. What a boring bipolar dope out of a Dementia womb. Then hits on Genius, cause he has what eppi wants. Like WTF gay line is that about???? Read that post in this article. Closet Gay, Cable Guy, drinking and typing again. Wishy and hopy dreamer. Shot his shotapolusa wad.

                  ~WWTI….

      31. Sarge, that could be the plan. Hope you city slickers got yer shit in order cause I don’t wanna spend too much ammo on the overflow lol. A man has to hunt ya know. I seriously doubt too many city folk will show up around me though, I am in the middle of nowhere lol. Whatever my IP address says is a long way off ha ha ha. In fact its not even in my name lol. Niether is my address ha ha ha. I figured this shit out years ago. Cheers! 🙂

        • “G”
          In Shitcago last night there was three more shot. By Monday morning there will be about 6 to 10 more. Keep up the good work I too ne3ed my ammo for hunting.

          Sgt.

      32. Hey jimB..your ass is now banned your Gay Agency ass clown troll.. I find it insulting to criticize the Genius..Genius may talk crap, but one thing is that his advice has hardened and fortified My preps from water damage.. not bad advice for from a supposed moron.. JimB your ass is now banned your phucking.

        Aka,

        HCKS..

        Agency ass clown Super moderator..yep still am

      33. Yes Sarge, that rally is literally the beginning of a civil revolutionary war in the very near future..sh…t Cago…is still pure bull sh…t as a city. That rally was one hell of a scene as me and my lady watched in a restaurant earlier when she said HCKS, look…I almost chocked in the damn growth hormone infested restaurant chicken breast. black dred lock thug punches a white dude, cops grab white dude off to arrest him..wtf?… sh…cago…I was so busy working my as off all week and didn’t even know that this crap was going on.. Gad ddaaaaam.

        I am afraid that some of th things I predict will start to happen unfortunately..

        Aka,

        HCKS..

        Shtf event horizon commense.

        • Damn man, I might have to get satellite tv so I can watch this shit lool.

          • “G”
            Don’t forget the POPCORN!!!
            Sgt.

        • HCKS
          Yep they are trying to start a Civil War.
          Did you see the black guy take an American flag away from a white guy and stomp on it. They should have found a tall tree and a short rope for that Bastard!!!!

          Sgt.

      34. HCKS…. I know you are serious, while being funny at the same time, good combination.

      35. I’m in Australia. Australians now have the highest levels of personal debt in the world. There are people around me with multiple mortgages, multiple credit cards, etc. Personally I have zero debt but it is scary to think what will happen if the economy crashes and people lose their job.

        • nexus, keep us informed on what’s going on there, please.
          We miss one of your compatriots called “Ready Down Under”…or, is that you 😉 ?

        • You are lucky: it is a very beautiful country; much nicer than the US. Drove across the country and barely came across any police. And the women:), very healthy and beautiful and friendly.

          Unfortunately, the financiers targeted Australia as they did Canada for their debt-blowing games to keep their game going during the crisis. As the US went down the crapper, the dirtbags fled to Canada, Australia and other places (emerging markets etc.) to keep the debt ponzi going. All these countries have been set up and will get flushed when the dirtbags think it is in their interests.

      36. I have found most of these comments most disturbing. Our country has set Us Up…..especially for the younger generation.
        Where is the compassion for our younger generation who is oblivious for obvious reasons? Have we not all noticed that this has been going on for years now? This is a Boil the Frog situation.
        Wow, I’m UP even early for me. Happy Saturday All!
        Wishing all a new and Blessed Day!

        • tishie

          I got stoned and I missed it.
          I got stoned and I missed it.
          I got stoned and it went right by.

          I got stoned and I missed it.
          I got stoned and I missed it.
          I got stoned, oh me, oh my.

        • “T”
          I have to admit that it was done by part of my generation.

          The ones that believed tat it was every bodies job to see to it that everyone was given things to make them equal.

          The problem there is that if it is you or I that they take from to lift them up it knocks you & I down. The problem is that there are Leaches & Zombies out there at have figured it out and they stay or make themself look like they are down and they get free stuff to help them.
          They have good cars, TV, Food, Health care, Ect. and thy don’t work. So now I see what they have and they go to bed after being out all night until 3AM sleep till 1200 or 1300 hrs and repeat.

          The question is when is it my turn. I have worked for over 50 years now and am still working because I don’t want a hand out. I’m stupid I guess?

          That is why there is no Compassion. I like thousands of others are tired of the BS. You don’t work I don’t care what it is you do as a job. YOU DON’T FRIGGING EAT. That simple. Now when you get to your golden years and you have paid into S.S. and M. C. YOU SHOULD GET IT FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

          “Compassion” The Federal Guberment way. Not from me no more!!!!!!!!!! I should have the RIGHT to help who I want to HELP.

          Little saying “God helps those who help themselves”!

          Sgt.

        • Tishie
          People who are choked on fear have no room left for compassion.

          • “R”
            Maybe it is because I worked 11-7 last night and only slept for 3 hours, but what do you mean by “choked on fear.”

            Thanks
            Sgt.

      37. it sometimes amazes me the dumb shit you read on here.

      38. Drop the d and it’s ebt that’s what you get. Gov dependantcy for irresponsibility. Honestly how do you go into debt. I haven’t spent a dime anywhere in a long time. Really just making do as if I don’t have the $. Gonna rotate some gas into my truck and refill cans with fresh gas. Needed to get gas anyway. Gonna bring my gas trimmer and blower in to small engine guy to get them up for the season. They need carb service. That will cost a few bucks no big deal. Gotta get truck inspected front is making a noise will need to fix that. That’s ok no vehicle payments.

      39. Excellent list curious yellow live better without Walmart ha ha . Stop trying to keep up with kardashians will get you far. I never had a smart phone ever just a cheap trac phone I’ve probably saved thousands cause of it. Reduce dental expenses by going to dentist regularly and having good dental insurance. I got a root canal and crown and only had to pay $100 for the crown. This is $1800 worth of work I got for $100. I mean you gotta take care of your teeth. Go to the best dentist in your areas they are not all the same believe me. Stop buying new cars just get a quality car like Honda or Toyota or a pickup truck. Maintain it well. Smoking drinking clubs and casinos are sure to clean you out. Gotta disagree with living somwhere cheaper cheap housing usually attracts the free shit subsidized bums. Not always but in my area it does. I like when they raise taxes it keeps the area nicer cause only folks that can afford it will live here. Having a nice car and living in a shitty place is what idiots do. Gotta have good house. Stop buying crap is big stay out of retail stores if your not there you cannot spend $. Make a list of things you need go in get only those items and leave as quickly as possible. If you forgot something wait till your next trip to get it. Only buy what you need is excellent advise. I used to take vacations a lot and spent a bit of $ doing it. The best way to vacation is to take your car yes drive. Hauling your family in your car is far cheaper than $200 round trip flights per person. I can drive my minivan to Florida for around $400 round trip with tolls. 5 people times $200 is $1000. Save $600 can get a hotel room for the week with the $600 a lot of times. You just got pay for the things you wanna do when you get there. With a vacation package from travel agent you pay a lot of $ for my family it’s like $4000 for a package and you don’t usually get your $s worth. I’ve traveled by plane got a passport been many places so I do know what I’m talking about. Went to Jamaica for $2000 all included drinks. Was one of the best deals taking a vacay for me. Drank a lot and it was included. Taking a cruise doesn’t include drinks so if you drink a lot be prepared to spend $. I use a travel agent we know. Rented a minivan one time for $400 once with unlimited miles to put on it. It was just a timing thing when the agent did it there was a deal for a short time if I didn’t get it then it was gonna go up significantly. Travel by car is nice because you can go where you like. Don’t gotta wait for plane or worry about missing a connecting flight. Can bring back stuff without headaches. Gotta say I love traveling. I work from sun up to sun down so if I didn’t have these getaways I’d go crazy. It’s something to look forward to.

      40. Since it takes like 12+ hours to get your comments posted, you really need to go back a full day or 2 to read follow up comments, with the real info posted. The Daily Dopes aka sacred cows, get their crap posed immediately. Amazing. The Continued dumbing down of Americans. Yeah check the archives and learn way more than from the Insti-ChittyChatters. lol

        ~WWTI..

        • Sacred cows, funny.
          If you were not such a condensending asswipe, you might have the leash taken off.

          You truely are a prick with no life…

      41. Other peoples problems. Not mine.

      42. For those interested. Trump rally in Chicago shut down by violent commies. I posted a warning here 3 days ago about what would happen. He chose a bad location and then let the bad guys get all the tickets they wanted. No surprise at the result.

        • “O”
          I read your remarks the other day. I also posted.

          That this is just an idea as to what is going to happen in Ohio during the convention. Shitcago was just a trial run! Just think the convention is going run a 5 to 7 days I think.

          I hope I’m wrong, but I think you will see blood in the streets.

          The 1968 Demo convention in Shitcago is something to look at, because it will look like a walk in the park to what I believe is coming to Ohio. With black lives matter, black panthers, jihadies, ECT. This summer is going to a rough one. Might be time for all Good Patriots to come. If you get my drift.

          Sgt.

      43. This all out last gasp ad campaign against Trump is pitiful. Can’t get no traction or satisfaction. Why the big staged opposition in Chicago, slimy Obama and existing thieves provoked madness to thwart the Trump steamroller. I don’t get the opposition, there is something being left out as to why, a loose cannon? A yes man pretending to be something else who is upsetting the snatch and grab status quo? What is really known about Trump besides that he is a wealthy TV celebrity. Parted people from money they could not afford to lose gambling, just like the evil crooks in Vegas. A slimeball. They all suck, America played once again. In the end creepy murderous Clinton cackles all the way to victory, just not for American’s. I fell off this two party BS psyop a long time ago.

      44. It’s quite simple you live in a world run by $. You need $ to live. Employment is how $ is made. Quit smoking pot so you can pass the drug test and get a job. Problem solved. There is a defense contractor in my area they hired a bunch of people they said 60 percent of all applicants tested positive for drugs mainly marijuana. The other 40 percent were hired and they say they may retain 10 percent. Why is it so hard for people to get and keep a job. This is a good job that pays top $ with bennies. Easy as shit just come to work. Fuckin losers can’t get a job. People it’s not hard to survive in this world but if your smoking dope your not gonna get a good job that pays. good employers don’t hire stoners it’s just that simple. Forget wishing the world worked without $ it’s not gonna happen. You gotta get $ or your fucked and will end up being a shill on the gov tit. I love the suck of being at work I really do. My work is filthy dangerous with no heat in the winter hot as hell in summer. I will be honest it fuckin blows and it miserable the guys I work with are pricks. The company wants it to suck as much as possible and they have done a good job. Go work in a shipyard or construction site. It sucks people and everyone just wants to go home ASAP. Not me I love misery people are cunts and whine about nothing IMO. Most have nice heated offices with hot food delivered and they complain shit that’s luxury to me.

      45. I am in a position of customer service where I get to hear a lot of personal stories from people who are striving to be more self-reliant.

        WhiteWolf is not alone, a lot of people have had to use credit just to keep their boat afloat when they lost jobs. Some were injuries, some jobs exported, some government failure to maintain infrastructure, the list goes on. The civil engineer delivers pizza while searching madly for a firm with projects. Students who bought the line that education was the ticket to employment and not only were student loans ‘cheap’, you had a whole year in your great new job before you had to start paying it back.

        I know some people who were living frugally and debt free who felt compelled to prep all at once using credit cards. The theory being; if the whole thing collapses at once, nobody will be paying because the banks will all be bankrupt and there will be some great debt forgiveness before we start from scratch (jubilee). 2008 Charge to the limit! Oops, they kicked the can back into the taxpayers court.

        Now to the they, them, those people, the can kickers. They make a percentage of EVERY transaction on plastic. Even though you pay your credit card off every month or only use a debit card, the merchant pays ‘merchant services’ transaction fees. The cash back, air miles, or whatever incentive you get is paid for by the merchant not the bank. There was a recent class action suit that finally freed merchants from having to accept American Express who charges 6 percent for every transaction. It is against the law to charge a CC fee to the customer and the merchant can not advertise a discount for cash. What a beautiful deal “they” got when the government converted food stamps to Electronic Benefits Transfer cards. Who’s in bed with who? The same thing happened with student loans, Pell Grants and even institution scholarships – no more checks, all on plastic. It’s only a matter of time before tax refunds that are not electronic deposit come on plastic.

        As long as we are following the money, let’s keep stumbling down the rabbit hole. The ‘peaceful demonstration’ we saw last night was no accident. Rubio in an interview last night said this was coordinated, not some grassroot response. He’s right. One channel had a banner that looked like an advertisement for MoveOn.org. From Wikipedia,”Contributors to MoveOn.org during the 2004 election cycle included financier George Soros who gave $1.46 million to MoveOn.org Voter Fund; Peter B. Lewis, chief executive of the Progressive Corp., who gave $500,000 to MoveOn.org Voter Fund; and Linda Pritzker, of the Hyatt hotel family, who gave $4 million to the joint fundraising committee.” Hmmm, a political action committee, wonder what those folks are contributing in the 2016 election cycle. Didn’t Trump, in the last debate, say that PACs were dangerous and the rules needed to change? This appears to be but another move by “them” to prevent Trump’s nomination.
        Why do they oppose him? What are they afraid of? Does it seem that every time they attempt to retaliate, they further expose themselves? Could one conclude that if “they” hate him, he might be good for us?

      46. Per conservative African-American Thomas Sowell, of Stanford Univ. For your reference:
        ————————————————–

        “…Now that Rubio is being badly beaten almost everywhere, and is substantially behind Trump in the polls for his own home state of Florida, the most obvious person to have the best chance of beating Trump one-on-one is Ted Cruz, especially after his primary victories over the past weekend. The Republican establishment is not about to go down that road, even if that would increase their chances of stopping Trump from becoming the Republican nominee. This is because they don’t want Cruz to become the Republican candidate either. Senator Cruz has been fighting against the Republican establishment for years before Trump decided to become a candidate. Nor does he have Trump’s new-found “flexibility.” (My question: if he is so hated by the establishment, does not that, ipso facto, qualify him to be considered by those not wanting status quo?)

        “But, whatever his merits or demerits, Ted Cruz is not the Republican establishment’s idea of the kind of candidate needed to win. Neither was Ronald Reagan. The kinds of candidates the Republican establishment has chosen — from Romney and McCain in recent times, all the way back to Thomas E. Dewey in 1948 — have had an almost unbroken record of losing, even to Democrats who were initially unknown (Carter, Clinton) or unpopular (Obama, Truman).”

        “Most of Trump’s primary victories were with less than 50 percent, and even with less than 40 percent. In the general election, less than 50 percent usually means losing. Even more important, while Trump’s style and substance may endear him to his followers, both that style and that substance are deeply offensive to many other people. Polls repeatedly show higher negative responses to him than to any other candidate.
        Trump is not just in danger of losing this year’s presidential election, which the Republicans would otherwise have a high probability of winning. He can poison the whole Republican brand, taking Republican members of Congress down with him, along with Republican governors and other state and local officials.”

        Above from Thomas Sowell, cited from http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2016/03/11/desperate-tactics-n2129954

        Hint to you purists and obscurantists: We understand no one is perfect. That, mes amis, is NOT an answer…

        • “Senator Cruz has been fighting against the Republican establishment”

          Cruz is the controlled opposition to the establishment. His wife works for Goldman Sachs. Remove Assad from power? Check. Iraq? Check. Libya? Check. Not audit the Federal Reserve? Check.

          Trump has the balls to tell Jeb that their were no WMDs in Iraq and they knew it. WOW, unheard of honesty.

      47. I can’t figure out why all these people pour down into Florida anyway, to escape the cold? Must live in some very dismal places to see this as a nice place to visit or work or live. It ain’t!

        • Florida is fantastic as long as you bring money as its damn difficult for common people to make a living here.

          Up north is grey, Florida is green, blue, orange

      48. On credit… the people who use it responsibly are not the group that need chastisement. It’s a tool- nothing more, nothing less as a firearm is. Aim small, miss small. The day that little card can’t be paid off in the month is the day it’s shredded in the can.

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