re: #165 Amory Blaine

These credit card companies and retailers have been negligent with our data for a very long time. They figure it’s cheaper to push their losses on comsumers with higher fees than it is to produce a halfway decent secure method. Are CC companies able to push fraud/theft losses onto taxpayers as well?

Probably. I’ve seen credit cards move from a high interest rate of maybe 10% to 29% and higher.

That’s not credit, that’s usury.

It’s become a matter of whether or not you can pay off these credit cards every month or not. If you can’t, or pay only the minimum payment, you are hooked for life.

I don’t have any credit cards and haven’t in almost 20 yrs, simply because I know I don’t have the income to carry one. Our economy is too centered on consumption, something I’ve always thought, and it means you must continually keep buying, keep replacing, keep in debt. Nothing lasts anymore—and that’s for a reason. At the same time, we’re wasting resources and inviting disaster.

What we teach our kids about mindless consumption is going to have a big impact on their future, and I don’t see a lot of that happening.