If you've read my blog at all, you know how I feel about advertising. Basically advertising sets out to lie or, at the very least, bend the truth in order to convince you that a turd is actually a diamond, thus causing you to spend money they you may or may not have in order to purchase said turd. I saw a credit card commercial the other day for a new American Express card that promised to put a fraction of the money you spend with the card into a savings account.
On the surface, this card looks like a great idea. Wow, I get to save money when I spend money. Keep in mind that credit card companies are the ultimate in evil (pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies running a close second) and their whole goal is to make a buck. So on the surface, it looks like American Express is losing money by offering this deal. They come out looking like great saviors because they are willing to sacrifice profit in order to help the good customer save money. Newsflash: It's a gigantic steaming pile of lies packaged in a tight coil and handed to you through your tv screen.
The idea behind it is that you use the card more than you normally would because hey, you're putting money in a savings account when you use, thue increasing their profits more and more. Every time you use a credit card, they collect a fee from the store where you use it. When you use the card more, their profits increase. The thing about it is that you continue to spend money that you probably don't have, with the illusion that you're actually saving money. The problem is that, in the long run, you're losing tons of money because you're spending more than you are saving. The small fraction of money that they deposit into an account will never offset the thousands of dollars that you spend to accrue that savings. The result? You sink deeper and deeper into debt, and you continue to line the collective pockets of American Express investors. Rest assured, someone is getting rich when you use one of these cards, but it sure isn't you.
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14 comments:
Apparently you did not receive a good grade in econ in high school. This country is built on capitalism ie, making money. Businesses are in business to make money, nothing else, being a good corporate citizen, environmental friendly, etc., is not their focus. Why do you have to criticize everything in society? Why can't you ever see good in something? You don't like gov't, you have no use for the organized church, you don't like this, you don't like that. Wow. American Express was not the first to do this. Bank of America has been doing it for a couple of years.
All I'm saying is that they're suckering people into mountains of debt so that they can line their pockets. As someone who has bought into this crap in the past and is now spending the next 10 years or so digging out of it, I can say without a doubt that this kind of advertising is beyond dangerous. It's time for Christians to start calling this crap what it is and to start living in a way that puts credit card companies out of business.
I never said it was a Christian concept. There is a place for credit and like everything else it can be abused. If it wasn't for credit you wouldn't have a house, car, you name it. To call all credit bad is not correct. To call the abuse of credit bad is absolutely correct. I just think you over did it.
do i need to separate you two? dad's probably right. without credit we don't buy a house (unless your Dave Ramsey who thinks everyone can pay cash).
on the other side, people are stupid and some dumb college student will buy into that lie, out spend what they earn and spend 20 years with bad credit trying to dig out for daylight. it's a necessary evil, but like you've said before junior we only like capitalism when it works for us not against us. if people were smart and only spent what was necessary it wouldn't be an issue.
the deeper issue is america's need for more, more, more. that's where debt comes from.
Listen to you two - I'm thinking SOMEONE needs to get between the two of you! Do I have to come down there and take care of the both of you!?! You boys behave!
Shut up Gangy! And as for Matt, at least you understood what I was hinting at in the post when you said:
the deeper issue is america's need for more, more, more. that's where debt comes from.
Hey - it's not nice to say "shut up"! I get such a kick out of your blog and the comments. It most always brings a smile or at the very least, a smirk to my face. Aren't you glad that you can make an old woman's day?
I agree with both you and your dad on the issue. America is a sick, stuff-oriented country - most people don't get it - they have no idea what's important - wouldn't the world be a GREAT place if everyone was just like you and me?!? How much fun would that be?
If the whole world was like us, it would at least speed up Jesus' return, unless he's waiting for enough righteous people to spare.
In reference to your brother who apparently received a better grade than you in Econ, I agree 100%, overuse of credit is terrible. Speaking of which I am going to start charging interest on the lawn mower. Just kidding. We need to be like the Muslims, pay no interest and accept no interest. I'm glad you produced Ezra, at least you have 1 redeeming quality. Gangy, I think it is time we take joint custody of Ezra, to save him from all of this liberal mumbo jumbo he is getting fed by his dad.
i'm all about the year of Jubilee as well. cancel all debts.
I just stumbled into your blog and I am enjoying it. I think you correctly estimate the power of media manipulation and its effects on those who buy into it. I recently saw a documentary on Edward Bernays. He was part of the force that changed advertising from catering to people's needs to catering to their desires (only disguised as catering to their needs). Funny to think at one point in time advertising was about how these shoes will last you half a lifetime or those stockings won't break... and products were made to live up to said expectations, rather than you need these products to look like this young or you need this kind of vacation or shopping spree to be happy or what not. The same mastermind was also hired by a large tobacco company to make smoking appropriate for ladies as they felt that they were missing out on profits. So Bernays gathered a crowd of influential women to all light up a cigarette at a certain time and hold up the cigarette in a 'statue of liberty' pose, thus connecting the ideals of feminine liberty and beauty to smoking. The press documented it, women started buying cigarettes and voila! - you had product placement.
Sorry to rant on but just wanted to point out that it is always refreshing to read how individuals like yourself are not buying into this 'we NEED more, more, more...' that is constantly and most ingeniously being pushed down our throats.
Good thoughts Michball. Welcome to the blog. I didn't know much of the history behind advertising. Thanks.
This is my third and final attempt to post a comment on this...so if it doesn't work so be it...if it does...we'll see how it turns out. So when I first read this post I was sitting in and around my Christmas loot and I must say enjoying it. I'll assume since you wrote a blog about it you want people's two cents...so here goes...
Capitalism works in theory but when corporations don't have a conscious and decisions are made solely for profit and literally life hangs in the balance something is seriously broken! ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22357873/)
And why don't the masses speak up? Because Americans are in debt up to and past their eye balls!!! Student loans, credit cards, medical bills (paying for the Ezra's of the world because health insurance isn't affordable because they were deregulated and their CEO's make on average 400x + more than their average worker) http://www.forbes.com/2005/04/20/05ceoland.html or http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/executive.html - click on facts and figures in the middle…
Is it too late for America…look at some other industrialized nations were socialism is working. School is paid for; health care is paid for, more vacation time, etc. Perhaps if we did that here we could afford to pay for cars, houses, etc. with cash and not credit. Sure we would have higher taxes but if we weren't paying so much on student loans and medical insurance what would that hurt? Perhaps if people looked on education and health care as a basic human right and not a political hot button every child would be educated and healthy? Then there would be no need to blog about "Now I'll be Famous". People wouldn't have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet and have other people raise their children. I could go on and on but I'll spare all of you. Good day my friends…
Credit is completely Biblical. Think Lord's Prayer. Debt/debtor's
The problem is not credit it is consumerism. It is not advertising, it is greed. It is not capitalism, it is the misuse of capital. It is getting one up on your neighbor. That is not loving your neighbor. As Christians we need to get to the root of the problem and not address the machinery of wrong headed consumerism. If you do not like abortion, stop unwanted pregnancy. If you do not like crime, address the social problems that spawn it (in most cases drugs and alcohol and despair). If you don't like greed, stop the pain of a society that values only material things. Big order, big God.
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