til debt do us part.

I just finished Maxed Out, a documentary on personal credit crisis. The film was released prior to the current subprime fiasco; perhaps, there will be a sequel =P Banks are loaning the unloanable “undeserving” money, collecting ballooning payments partly due to over-the-limit, late, this-and-that fees, etc. The film sympathizes w/ the victims, pointing fingers at the corporations and their despicable tactics.Years ago, I fell into the same trap. I opened accounts w/ many of the banks mentioned in the film: MBNA, Citi, Chase, Providian. A poor college student missing payments and dodging collectors, m’ mother saved the day, knocking out the debt to zero. I never paid her back and she still gives me shit about itand I deserve every bit. Now, I loathe debt, paying off monthly balances; the mortgage is m’ only ball and chain.The scariest fact in the film is how the government is buried in debt, dating back to the Reagan era. Since, all presidents have taken ’loans’ from Social Security and foreign countries to stimulate and grow the economy and plenty of federal taxpayer dollars are spent making the minimum payments. And, of course, anything left is funneled via Iraq to private corporations =) A house of cards …. just waiting to fall. I hope not.