Just Getting By

Courtesy of The Henry Rollins Show

Advertisers and companies who attempt to set the trends for the American consumer are slowly but surely separating good people from their hard-earned money by changing the perception of what "getting by" looks like.

Getting by used to mean that when you didn't have much money, you were careful with it so you could...get by. The new version of "getting by" looks like pretty large living to me and has for many proven to be a costly and potentially dangerous trip into financial insatiability. I wonder how many people can really afford to run up those cell phone hours, drive a new car, take a vacation when they don't even work full-time and buy a home when they can't even pay their rent. It's this one that the banks really sank their teeth into. Offering sub-prime loans that even the poorest Americans were sure they could afford. Through a non-stop advertising assault by banks and lenders, many Americans got it in their heads that they couldn't get by without a house. The president says there's more people buying houses in America than ever before. He leaves out the part about the rise in foreclosures though.

I've seen so many ad campaigns that promise a life of relative leisure and contentment that can be yours, should be yours, and will be yours by just calling this number, what are you waiting for?! If you can just ease a little more into credit debt, you can have it, for awhile. How ironic that people I know who actually have money live way below their means and those who have very little money seem to be hell-bent on having even less. My bottom line is this: There are lot of people in America who will insist that when they drove that new car down that gentle slope laden with warning signs to the abyss -- they were just getting by.

-- Henry Rollins

Comments

[islander800]

The parallels between the present situation and the run-up to the 1929 crash and following depression are depressing.

I recall learning the history of the 1920s in high school during the 1960s. We all were amazed at how everyone bought everything on "the installment plan", how Wall Street wizards created all kinds of funny money investment instruments sold on margin, the lack of government oversight - and how it all came crashing down when it became unsustainable, to be followed by a brutal economic depression that people today simply cannot imagine.

John K. Galbraith wrote an excellent book in 1969 titled "The Great Crash" that clearly explains how it all happened. I have just finished reading it, and it is chilling to recognize all the same symptoms at play today. It seems we are doomed to repeat history. One difference this time: we now have a Federal Reserve that didn't exist then, and this is often given as the reason why another depression is not possible. "It can't happen again".... Trouble is, we boomers have forgotten the lessons we learned in our history classes and failed to pass them on to our children, everyone who was around during the run-up to '29 and learned the bitter lessons firsthand is long gone and deregulation is our current economic God. Finally, an effective Fed presupposes that they know what they're doing.

After the '29 crash, it took a good two years to fall fully into the econonic malaise, and it likely will take a similar protracted period if it happens again. Fasten your seatbelts, we're in for a bumpy ride......

[leftLibertarian]

I love Black Flag Bro!

[ThomasDoubting]

The bank never loses. The brutality of the capitalist system becomes more apparent when you realize that YOU are part of the great majority of people at the bottom and not among the small minority at the top. When Chrysler needed help, they got it. When New York City needed help, they got it. When the Savings and Loans needed help they got it. What happens when the city of New Orleans needs help (still waiting) when the Iraqi vets need help (patch them up and send them back)when the 911 rescue workers need help (Hold off treating them, they won't last long) These banks and credit card companies will survive with the help of the U.S. Government. These are the same bastards who wrote the new bankruptcy laws. How many lives will be lost? How many families will be forever broken? How many suicides? How many murders? How many robberies? How many more alcholics? How much more untreated mental illness? How much homelessness? Do you think that a Democrat is going to save us from all this?

[realitytrumpsbull]

For years now, decades even, the saga of Low Monthly Payments has been a by-line to the American Scream, a generational practice that's been encouraging people to sell their homes incrementally to some financial institution, and Congress has whistled the siren song of perpetual indebtedness while countless families have quite literally mortgaged off their future, their childrens' future, and so forth.
It is estimated that the average american family is 20-30,000 dollars in the red, that's the average, not the high end. This is not an accidental circumstance, and the wheels are starting to squeak pretty loudly pretty much all across the country.

While it can be argued successfully that we've done it to ourselves, it can also be fairly and honestly stated that we've had a lot of help.
Global lending institutions didn't come into being last Wednesday at 3PM, they've instead ariesen from banks that were first local, then national, then international.

I know more than one family that knows EXactly where their breadwinner(s) will be at 8 AM on Monday, and for that matter, so do the people that lent them the money.

I call it self-indentureship. People not operating in good faith, but having large sums of money to lend, have baited large numbers of people into near-financial ruin, deliberately, and according to some, with malice aforethought. Yet, these lending practices are tolerated by the powers-that-be that apparently cannot themselves see past the end of their wallets, and indeed it would be most informative to discern out just how many campaign contributions come from the aforementioned financial institutions that've had their fun with our economy, or 'con me', which is what it amounts to at the end of the day, because there's no way to describe plastic-based loan sharking, usury, grand larceny, rent-to-own shysterism other than AS a con game, that goes on daily and in broad daylight. I say 'turn the lights up a little hotter', and let's examine the sinister and morally questionable inner workings of this entire business...

[planetjose]

there is slavery
and
it is not limited to sudan

wage slaves
(with chains of debt)
sacrificing their freedom
on the altar
of
capitalism & materialism

a nation of sheep
(feeding on the glass teat)
run by wolves

shut down your credit cards
and
open your eyes

break your chains
and
taste freedom

end corporate control
of
media/politics/military/medicine/etc
and
think for yourself
for
only you can make you free

living simply so the banks cant find me

peace out
jose

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

The people who took these loans wanted that part of the "American Dream", owning a home. Many people like to have something of their own. There's nothing lazy, stupid, or short sighted about that. I have rented and owned, and preferring renting, but most people don't. I find Mr. Rollins's post a little short sighted in that Henry blames this almost entirely on the advertisements and the people themselves, discounting the human desire simply to have something they can call their own. It sounds borderline right wing almost about "blaming the victim", which I don't believe is Rollins's intention (or hope not).

[baronmerlot]

JaneaneT, just out of curiousity...why do you prefer renting over owning? Are there benefits to this for you? My biggest concern was that I would eventually not be able to afford my rent and be homeless unless I owned something down the road. I wanted the security of owning my own home in my later years.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

After owning for many years, renting is a relief. Property taxes (which never go down, always up), home insurance, repairs, maintainance fees, Gestapo like homeowner boards in a condo complex...renting is much easier. I'm not really responsible for anything. My fridge recently broke, and the maintainance man fixed it without me paying a cent. Despite owning, I never felt secure about it. I don't know if I'll rent for the rest of my life, but for now it's fine.

My mother is in her later years, and she feels like you do in owning her own home.

[yellowdogSC]

Maintenance, for one.

[LNWells]

Yes people make horrible financial decesions for themselves- that is why there are banking regulations. Opps... sorry I am posting from Canada where we have banking regulations George Bush Senior and Ronald Regan got rid of yours in the 80's. This current disaster is a spin-off of that short term gain republican economic policy. (very similar to the de-regulation of natural gas disaster)In the end a few in the inner circle get extremly rich and the American taxpayer is left paying the bill for decades.
A little bit like Iraq- a few Haliburton executives and private contractors get rich- and for how many decades will you schmoos be paying the interest on the gadzillions owed to launch this war.

[groovychaos]

per what "zengasm" wrote....

i, too, am simplifying my life in many of the same ways. the key one being eliminating credit cards from my life. but, it is a fact in this society that you are prohibited (or nearly so) from many options.

example: i proudly drive a 20yr-old car, which is more than sufficient for my day-to-day needs, but when recently embarking on a long trip, i rented a fuel-efficient compact car online. when i arrive to pick up, i am told that almost no rental company will accept a debit card as payment. does it matter that the money is there and the car paid for in advance? of course not. dose it matter that there is a little Visa icon on the card and may be used as a credit card? no, of course not. (big props to Hertz, btw, who was the only company who would provide me with service)

anything travel related is made quite difficult. try making hotel reservations or renting any car without a cc. i realize these are not major crises. i merely make the point that anyone who chooses to live within their means, pointedly without credit cards, is punished in the society.

[scottarino]

Everything we read, see, and hear from the time we are born is to consume, consume, consume. The high life is broadcast into our homes, cars, computers, and mp3 players constantly. People are considered successful according to the amount of stuff they own. You can't be an idiot and survive in this country let me tell you. Wolves are everywhere. It does not take a college education to realize that if it's too good to be true, it's bogus. If it's seems easy, it's a lie. Believe nothing in advertising of any sort.

[kardwell]

Sorry Henry -- but while you do have a good point, the problem goes a little deeper than our distorted perception of "getting by." The economic system, the values, the socio-political framework in this country ensures that no one will ever 'get by' whatever their perception of the 'good life' might be.
Frankly, the crux of the problem lies within the very mentality and soul of the American population:
we don't value education -- or we would have access to it, for free, rather than being forced to sell our souls to Citibank to earn a BA
we don't value healthcare for all -- if we did, the masses would have mobilized long ago to demand a national program
we don't value health in general-- obesity is now the #1 health epidemic...not to mention the the sub-standard quality of food we readily consume
we don't value our civil liberties - period
we don't value justice -- on the local or international scale
we don't value children or seniors -- the most vulnerable of our population suffer the greatest exposure
I could go on, but I think you get my point. The quick-fix consumer gluttony is nothing more than a symptom of a nation with distorted values and exceedingly poor self esteem .

[Desiderata]

I just watched a "Safe Auto" insurance commercial. I didn't know they accepted post-dated checks for coverage.

It just get better and better. I love this country.

[yellowdogSC]

Legally, there's no such thing as a postdated check.

The courts don't recognize time travel.

If your signature is on it today, you signed it no later than today.

We had a magistrate involved with such a scam.
"Date the check NEXT WEEK, then we'll take it to the bank."
As the customer went out the front door, the check went out the back door, straight to the bank. Then to the magistrate.

"You don't want to go to jail? Gonna cost ya."

Went on a LONG time.

[centsworth]

Stupid is as stupid does. It's all God's fault, RIGHT?

[JuniperSunshine]

Doesn't anyone here see the connection between corporations paying less-than-cost-of-living level wages and the explosion of easy credit? Gee, maybe it has something to do with the fact that people would start to complain (heck, maybe even riot) if they were starving and homeless with no solutions. So instead, they put the groceries on the credit card, and duck the bill collectors when they call.

There is also a MAJOR difference in the housing market these days as opposed to 30 or 50 years ago. The price of a home, as compared to percent of average income, has skyrocketed. For most folks, this means that they need two family incomes to buy a small house in a crappy neighborhood. They better not plan on having kids, because both adults must work fulltime.

Of course, much of this is because of the rush of young families trying to move into a better school district. They don't do this so their kids can get into an ivy league college, they do this so their kids don't get SHOT. That's where all these "idiots" securing mortgages they can't afford come from - the inflated cost of housing, and the desire to keep their kids from getting shot at the local inner-city public school. How selfish can you get?

[wild1a]

For those interested in probably the first analysis of these excesses of materialism one should read "The Theory of the Leisure Class" by Thorstein Veblen, published in 1899. Truly, nothing really has changed in the pursuit of conspicuous consumption except for, perhaps, the decline of the influence of frugality in our culture.

[Floralgirl]

Very well put, Henry. The new VISA commercials are a great example of the pay for it later mentality. People using their card sail right through checkout and everyone is dancing and happy until some fool actually tries to pay with cash and is portrayed as out of touch and is slowing the whole system down. The dancing halts and we are lectured on why we should be paying with credit, it's way cooler! I paid off and then cancelled all my credit cards, this took years, I have no one to blame but myself for getting into that position, but it will never happen to me again. Cash is king!