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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Pookie again.
I am not necessarily saying debt is good or bad, just that it is part of doing business. Spain and Greece have a different situation than the US, they accumulated a higher proportion of debt in a shorter time frame than the US has. Further, the US in the long arc will bounce back and begin to sort out its budget gaps. My real beef is not to say "debt is good or debt is bad" but to criticize hypocritical politicians who manipulate the narrative as if (a) trickle down economics isn't the problem with our revenue streams and (b) they ever substantively planned to do anything about it 
What is worse, the common analogy that Americans tighten their belts when the chips are down is a farce. Americans still have mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards, and all kinds of other debt obligations to pay, chips down or not. Often times when folks are paycheck to paycheck, its the credit card. When folks can't exactly afford the car they'd like, its the car loan. Dreaming big for a house? Mortgage. Need to repair or add on? Refinance. See what I mean? Debt is part of doing business. Structural budget gaps/deficits contribute to long term debt, true, but that is a separate issue than just talking about the national debt in general.
How do small business grow? Bank loans, investors, even venture capitalists. See, borrowing and spending is reality. The problem is that right now corporations are sitting on $ TWO TRILLION in capital and the government is short about 1 TRILLION a year, so clearly we see where the money went |
People do and should tighten their belts of they fall on hard times.
I can't afford to have a brand spanking new car or to get a loan out to buy a huge 40 inch tv. I'd like to but there's no way I could afford to pay back the loan bills and I know in this current situation many, many more people are in the same boat. Would you rather I get into more debt and risk getting turfed out of my place? It's a shitter especially when you know that the rich/poor divide is only gonna get worse.
You seem to be making out that even if someone can't afford a loan they shold take on out anyway.
As for small business loans I'm a painter and decorator by trade, but when I got laid off my last employer due to lack of work nearly a year ago I had to go on the dole. A few months later of unemployment and nobody hiring I said fuck it and decided to try and go and do it on my own.
Thing is I knew I needed a loan. It worked out I would've needed 2 grand to buy a van etc. I ended up having a meeting with my bank asking for a loan, and lo-and-behold as they have done to many more people wanting to set up a business I got denied.
If I had been approved and I had been able to build up a good steady level of customers I could've a)paid the loan back easily and b)had a hell of a lot more disposable income. As it stands I'm now in a shitty warehouse job with bare minimum level of disposable income.
I more than understand that banks and the government should be giving more help people set up businesses.